Woman left with dozens of scars after botched beauty treatment now struggles to leave her home
Watch the video report by Richard Morgan
A woman who has been left with scarring after a botched cosmetic procedure is urging people to "stick to the professionals".
Jayne Bowman, 59, paid £500 to have fibroblast work to tighten the skin on her neck which she says went badly wrong, leaving her with hundreds of red blotches and scars.
Originally from Mountain Ash, Jayne had the work done in Hampshire, where she now lives.
She has told ITV News it was such a traumatic experience that she struggles to leave her home over fears people might see her scars.
"I don't go out without a scarf on. In fact I don't like going out at all, I'd rather go out in the rain where I've got a hood up and nobody can see me.
"I'm not slating all beauticians because they're not all the same, but there are many of them out there that are bad. Stick to professional people."
ITV News has contacted the beautician who carried out Jayne's treatment but they have not replied.
The latest figures from the industry watchdog, 'Save Face' show there were 2,083 complaints about unregistered practitioners last year, an increase of 466 on the previous year.
Of those complaints, 96% were women and 48% were people aged 18-25.
Now there are calls for better regulation of the sector, following the surge in cases where treatments have gone wrong.
Jeremy Isaac is a dentist and qualified cosmetic doctor. As well as performing procedures, he spends much of his time rectifying other people's mistakes.
He said: "To poke a needle into somebody's face you need specific, underpinning knowledge, qualifications, regulations and to be accountable. The marketplace is full of unregulated, unqualified, unaccountable, non-medical professionals.
"There should be a mandatory qualification that everyone who practices cosmetic medicine should have to differentiate themselves from the lay person.
It is one measure a group of MPs wants introduced to the industry.
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is calling for a nationally recognised qualification for beauty practitioners as a way of protecting people from botched jobs. They also want everyone to have a psychological screening before having a treatment done.
Welsh Labour MP Carolyn Harris, the Co Chair of APPG on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing, says she has met lots of people who have had poor quality procedures that have been life changing.
"I've seen people who have gone blind, I've seen people who are permanently disfigured. There was one young lady who I spoke to where the actual end of her nose had dropped off.
"We need to make sure that when somebody is having a procedure, there is a medically trained person in the building."
The UK government has said it is considering whether there needs to be stronger and more robust safeguards to regulate providers.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Anyone considering a cosmetic procedure should take the time to find a reputable, safe and qualified practitioner and consider the potential impact of surgery on both their physical and mental health.
“Patient safety must always come first, which is why we are considering whether there needs to be more clarity around how treatments are classified and stronger, more robust safeguards for the regulation of providers of these treatments.”
Nayema Williams from Caernarfon runs two beauty salons, one in Y Felinheli and another in Colwyn Bay. She is a fully qualified nurse and aesthetician and she is calling on politicians closer to home to better regulate the industry.
"I’ve been talking to my local MS, Sian Gwenllian, to get this discussed with ministers in the Senedd. Something needs to be done soon, before something really bad happens to someone."Nayema says she has seen local companies advertise on social media that use a botox solution which is not even approved in the UK. She says these are often cheaper but not the safe option and there are serious consequences to using them.
"I've had one person come to the clinic on the brink of a vascular occlusion, where a non-medic had inserted the needle into a blood vessel," she told ITV Wales.
"This blocks the blood supply and can cause dead tissue where your skin falls off - luckily she got to me in time so I could dissolve it."
Ashton Collins, chief executive of Save Face, says much more needs to be done to prevent younger people falling into the traps of botched procedures when seeing deals on social media.
She said: "They want to look like the Kardashians and their favourite reality TV stars and they are quite willing to take the risk. When they see a lip-filler for £99 they think it's a bargain."
Data from Save Face has shown 81% found of complainants found their practitioner on social media. The main reasons for choosing the practitioners were:
Cheap Deals and Time Limited offers
Celebrity treatment packages
Number of followers
Before and after pictures
Celebrity Images and reality tv programmes used to promote treatments using
hashtags such as #loveislandlips #loveislandlips
Selfies and filters
For Nayema, those performing botched procedures impacts negatively on the industry as a whole.
She added: "These non-medics and beauticians aren’t properly trained.
"They reflect badly on aestheticians and nurses like me who have advanced training and years of experience."
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