County Durham woman calls for Government to tackle ‘complete lack’ of Botox and fillers regulation

• Report by Katie Cole

A County Durham woman who says she was left unable to open her eyes after cosmetic surgery has welcomed a report calling for tighter regulation of the beauty industry.

A group of cross party MPs says the 'complete absence' of regulation for treatments like botox and fillers is dangerous and and is calling on government to take urgent action. 

It's carried out a year long inquiry drawing on experiences of people including Dawn Knight from Stanley. 

In 2012 Dawn Knight underwent an eye lift at a private hospital performed by a surgeon without the correct insurance. It left her unable to close her eyes properly.

Since then she's campaigned for a safer beauty industry.

Its an industry that has grown exponentially, with huge demand - but some are being exploited.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing (the APPG) found there is a total lack of a legal framework of standards around non-surgical aesthetic treatments, which has left consumers at risk and undermined the industry’s ability to develop.The APPG investigated practitioner standards and qualifications, the case for a registration of practitioners or licensing, ethics and mental health considerations, and the “serious issues” around advertising and social media.

Among its recommendations are the setting of national minimum standards for practitioner training and regulated qualifications in line with national standards.

It has also called for fillers to be made prescription-only, psychological pre-screening of customers and the extension of the ban on under-18s receiving Botox and fillers to other invasive aesthetic treatments.

The Department for Health says it will review the findings. 

Dawn's vision that this report is another step to making the cosmetic world a safer one - preventing others carrying the emotional scars of treatments that should never have taken place.