Dermal fillers and injectables administered by unqualified physicians cause significant complications for patients.
According to the Global Cosmetic Surgery & Services Market Analysis 2015 – 2019 report, the global aesthetic industry (surgical and nonsurgical procedures) is currently worth over $20 billion and is set to rise to over $27 billion by 2019. Nonsurgical treatments (comprising of injectable products, energy based devices and active cosmetics) are projected to have higher growth in revenue and number of procedures to be performed – reported by Global Dermal Facial Fillers Market 2015 – 2019.
Three top factors contributing to this growth are easy access to medical clinics offering nonsurgical aesthetic treatments, the influence of celebrities (‘Kardashian effect’) and social media (‘Selfie Mania’). The cumulative result of these factors is seen not only as an increase in the number of patients, but the age of patients undergoing aesthetic procedures is also getting younger – often starting as young as 25 years and even teens in many cases.
Dr Malcolm Paul (MD, FACS), top US Plastic Surgeon consulting in Dubai says, “One of the most alarming trends is the commoditization of medical aesthetic procedures. Looking at surgical or nonsurgical services like Botox, dermal filler, body contouring or even hair removal on discount websites is extremely disturbing. This runs the risk of de-medicalizing what truly are medical procedures that should be administered in a controlled environment by a highly trained healthcare professional.”
The appeal of higher business profitability and availability of patients willing to avail these services makes medical aesthetics a productive service to include. Botulinum Toxin and Dermal Fillers, which may be perceived as simple procedures should be exclusively administered by physicians. Although the UAE regulatory authorities have set up guidelines for all medical aesthetic procedures, patients are at risk due to the lack of clinical training and expertise of the aesthetic physician performing the procedure.
