Non- healthcare professionals will need a licence granted by Environmental Health Officers, to carry out cosmetic procedures such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements under proposals being put forward by the Scottish Government.
Treatments, such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements, are currently available in premises such as aesthetic clinics, beauty salons, hairdressers and other similar locations.
Non-surgical treatments such as Botox and fillers account for nine out of 10 cosmetic procedures in the UK and are worth about £2.75bn a year.
However, the non-surgical cosmetic industry is almost entirely unregulated.
The Scottish Government propose that those who are not qualified healthcare professionals and who provide higher risk, non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce/penetrate the skin are regulated by licence under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.
It is proposed that a licence will be required for carrying on a business which provides cosmetic procedures such as dermal fillers, lip enhancements.
It is intended that the licences would be similar to those required by tattoo parlours, so that local authority Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) would visit the premises and assess them against the specified conditions before a licence is granted.
When considering the license EHOs would assess whether the applicant is fit and proper person, where the applicant’s knowledge, skill, training and experience would be taken into account.
The Scottish Government is seeking views from the public and interested parties in a consultation that will run until the end of April this year.
Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said:
“We are committed to patient safety and want to ensure that all those who carry out non-surgical procedures, such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements, are competent and that the treatments take place in safe and hygienic premises.
“We plan to introduce regulations later this year and invite members of the public and interested parties to give their views as part of the consultation on our proposals.”
“In the meantime, we urge anyone considering any kind of cosmetic surgery to visit the Health Improvement Scotland website for regulated and approved providers.”
