Following recent reports of botched cosmetic procedures at illegal clinics around the country, Australian Skin Clinics is calling for a crackdown on unlicensed facilities.
ASC national training manager Darlene O’Gara says the franchise supports NSW health minister Brad Hazzard’s call for a national approach to stamp out illegal clinics as “unauthorised medi-aesthetics clinics are cheating the system and putting patients’ health and safety at incredible risk”.
“As an industry, safety and training should be the top priority and we need to set standards and abide by regulations to ensure our clients are receiving the highest quality treatment possible and that they are in safe hands,” she said.
“It’s incredibly concerning to hear that contraband drugs and treatments that are not registered for use in Australia and could have potentially on-going or fatal impacts are being used on patients.
“Cosmetic injectable treatments should only ever be performed by medically-trained and registered doctors and nurses.
“Likewise, laser and dermal technicians should be highly skilled therapists who have undergone extensive practical and theoretical training to understand the complexities involved in medi-aesthetics and provide safe and quality service.”
O’Gara says the government needs to implement stricter reviews on clinics along with staff qualification verifications to ensure client safety.
“The results from these unscrupulous practices is why health authorities need to take steps towards stricter enforcement of regulations before more people become victims to botched cosmetic and medi-aesthetic procedures,” she said.
“The only way to truly ensure client safety is to establish national, industry standard regulations that hold all clinics and companies to account but at the same time are workable, commercial and practical for employers, trainees and educators.
According to O’Gara, all of ASC’s cosmetic injectable treatments are performed by medically trained professionals who have extensive experience as cosmetic nurses and injectors and receive on-going training in order to provide the highest standards of service.
In addition the franchise “operates under Queensland’s strict laser licensing laws, all laser and dermal technicians are qualified to The Advanced Skills Academy’s (TASA) training standards and clinics only use state of the art, gold-standard medical grade lasers with TGA approval”.
Founded on the Gold Coast in 1996, ASC currently has more than 45 clinics across the country “offering affordable, accessible and results-driven cosmetic treatments by trained professionals”.