Why Non-Medics Should Not Be Injecting Dermal Fillers

following the recent NHS Keogh Report and the PIP breast implant withdrawal. Many customers prefer to be injected by medically qualified practitioners rather than beauty therapists, but this is not law...yet...

Who should inject dermal fillers?

Here are some of key points made in recent article on dermal fillers in "Consulting Rooms" a online newsletter written by some of the industries most experienced and well respected practitioners. These are their key reasons why non-medics should not inject dermal fillers; They have inadequate training and study time devoted to facial anatomy.They are unable to take and understand a detailed patient medical history to determine contra-indicating factors to treatment.They have limited knowledge of sterile techniques, clinical waste, infection or cross contamination risks.Over filling, asymmetric correction or minor reactions to hyaluronic acid products can be treated with Hyalase®.This is a prescription only medicine so is not readily available to non-medics.Rarely, hypersensitivity to hyaluronic acid can occur causing an anaphylactic reaction. Treatment required includes respiratory assistance (provision of oxygen) and the administration of adrenaline (epinephrine), these are not readily available to non-medics.The use of permanent and semi-permanent fillers pose more problems than temporary (hyaluronic acid based) products. Non-medics using these readily available products will not be aware of the risks or specific injection protocols required for these more complex products and could do permanent harm.They are not able to recognise or adequately treat other known complications which can occur from filler treatments, e.g., infections, migration, granulomas, necrosis etc.There are several documented cases of blindness and other complications of the eye and ocular region as a direct result of dermal filler injection by medics, this makes the risk of non-medics causing injury much higher.Non-medics may have difficulty obtaining fillers through many of the traditional supply routes open to medics (e.g., direct from manufacturers/distributors, or through wholesale pharmacies) so may be tempted to source products online, cheaply, which poses risks that counterfeit or copy-cat products whose provenance is unknown may be used on the UK public.In the case of an adverse incident they would be not be aware of the need, nor would they want to draw attention to their activities by reporting it to the MHRA. You can read the full article on dermal fillers in "Consulting Rooms" and summary of the Sir Bruce Keogh report. Qutis Clinics only use medically qualified staff for Dermal Fillers and Botox. You can find our more about our practitioners here.