Almost weekly, the tabloids provide us with cosmetic procedure horror stories – tales of untrained and unlicensed practitioners, filthy ‘treatment’ rooms, and inappropriate procedures being carried out on unsuspecting members of the public, lured in by discount offers and rock-bottom treatment prices. Unfortunately, despite increased awareness of Cosmetic Procedures, this happens far too often, leaving victims both out of pocket, and in some extreme cases, having to live with long-term disfigurement.
One recent report carried out for the BBC by Claire Savage of ‘5 Live Investigates’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-32942543) looked into the cosmetic handiwork of a fake ‘nurse practitioner’ from Liverpool. The reporter spoke to a woman who had received Botox injections and Dermal Fillers from someone claiming to be a ‘Nurse’, but had suffered from unsightly blemishes and lumps forming around the injection sites following treatment. This patient resorted to visiting a Cosmetic Specialist, Dr Vincent Wong from Harley Street, in order to resolve the issues. Upon seeing the results of the botched treatments, Dr Wong had stated that “the person who carried out this work may not have been trained… this is a very delicate region and if not done properly (inappropriate treatment) may have serious consequences”.
At Appearance Based Medicine, patient safety is our number one priority: Everything that we do – from taking a patient’s detailed medical history, to carrying out high quality, professional treatments in our fully equipped and clean medical practice, to the carefully tailored aftercare advice we offer, and our recovery ‘check-up’ service – is done to ensure that the patient receives the highest possible level of care before, during and after treatment. We also work extremely hard to ensure that every patient receives a treatment plan appropriate for their unique needs, specifically tailored to give the very best results possible.
I have been a general nurse since 1988 and am an Independent Nurse Prescriber and Advanced Procedure Aesthetic Nurse with more than 16 years of experience in the aesthetic field. I have also been an Advanced Techniques Trainer in Botulinum Toxin Treatments and Skin Fillers for National Cosmetic Courses since 2004 – all of these factors help to ensure that I am constantly at the forefront of best practice procedures and advances in my field. Thanks to my qualifications and wealth of knowledge and experience, patients can rest assured that I have the skills required to treat them appropriately, efficiently and correctly.
Appearance Based Medicine are also proud to have been one of the first Aesthetic Clinics in the UK to be officially accredited by Save Face as safe and qualified to carry out non-surgical cosmetic treatments. Save Face (http://www.saveface.co.uk/) was set up to tackle the unregulated field of Non-Surgical Cosmetic Procedures, with the aim of putting members of the public in contact with a carefully collated group of fully trained and licensed Cosmetic Practitioners who meet the robust Save Face standards of training, experience, and patient care. This has made it much easier for patients considering non-surgical cosmetic procedures to ensure that they are approaching a legitimate practitioner when considering treatments.
You probably wouldn’t trust a car mechanic to give you a filling, or a professional mime artist to complete your tax return – so make sure that the Cosmetic Practitioner you choose has the necessary skills and qualifications to carry out appropriate and safe treatments on your skin. Check that they are Save Face Registered, or find a practitioner in your area who is, by visiting the Save Face Website today: http://www.saveface.co.uk/
