SOCIETY
Cosmetic surgery advertising ban urged by leading surgeons
Baku, January 23 (AZERTAC). All adverts for cosmetic surgery such as breast enlargement and tummy tucks should be banned, say leading plastic surgeons who warn that the industry is an under-regulated "wild west". The surgeons are members of the British Association of Aesthetic and Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), who work on reconstruction in the NHS and often perform cosmetic surgery at leading private hospitals.The group, based at the Royal College of Surgeons, has been concerned for some years about standards in the private cosmetic chains, which advertise widely in the tabloids and women`s magazines. They want a ban as part of a six-point plan proposing tighter regulation of the industry, including registration and audit of surgeons. "Over the last decade the BAAPS has worked tirelessly to educate the public on the many aggressive marketing gimmicks that not only trivialise surgery but endanger the patient," said the organisation`s president Fazal Fatah. Fatah and fellow surgeons are offering their proposed reforms to MPs on the health select committee, who have announced an investigation into the cosmetics industry. An expert group led by the NHS`s medical director, Sir Bruce Keogh, is also looking at standards and the need for more regulation. Nose straightening and breast enlargement are medical procedures, BAAPS argues, and advertising should be banned as it is for prescription medicines. They also want dermal fillers reclassified as medicines, so they have to go through rigorous licensing trials. There are more than 100 injectable products on the market in the UK that require only a CE-mark of quality assurance in Europe. In the US, they point out, where exacting food and drug administration standards have to be met, there are less than a dozen. BAAPS` other recommendations are compulsory registration of those working in the cosmetic industry - rather than the present voluntary database of clinics, mandatory safety audits of surgeons and "mystery shopping" checks of CE-marked products.