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The Cosmetic Treatment Registry

Amid growing concerns over cosmetic treatments being done at inappropriate settings, the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services (IHAS) is launching a voluntary register of injectable cosmetic treatment providers for botox and dermal fillers.

After its start in the early 90’s for cosmetic purposes, Botox has continued to be in use by people from all walks of life, such as celebrities and regular folk. It works to reduce wrinkling when people make facial gestures by paralysing nerves in the upper face. Dermal fillers on the other hand, fill in imperfections on the lower face and can also produce a lip pout or bigger cheeks.

Despite undoubted risks, many still continue to turn to these treatments. Currently in the UK, there are over 5,000 providers carrying out nearly 200,000 treatments each year. Some of the fillers offer temporary solutions, while others are permanent. With so many providers, it’s about time more regulation was put in place for the safety of consumers.

The new register requires treatment providers to pay registration and annual fees, in addition to promising a face-face consultation with all clients prior to any treatment. Providers must also ensure that the treatments take place in a safe and sterile environment by either a doctor, dentist, or registered nurse. The IHAS has yet to disclose where the collected fees will go and how they will be put to use.

Though some say it’s an attempt by the industry for self-regulation, heavy criticism has already started coming from plastic surgeons. A recent poll of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons concluded that only 4% would consider signing up. However, the consensus is that a separate set of new European regulations that are being discussed currently are said to likely be more robust and not disguised with other small changes not as widely known.

This registry begs the question for both providers and consumers, is it really worth it? The providers profit off consumers who wish to attain immortality in looking young, but the technical process for providers to keep their business in accordance with the law now seems quite tedious for the upkeep of such practices. Though it is pro-consumer by demanding more in standards, the future looks dim.

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Most Dentists Favour Offering Botox In Their Practices

Botox training has become extremely popular and widespread amongst dental professionals. No longer accepted just among the Hollywood elite, average people have begun to see Botox’s benefits and use it themselves. When surveyed, nearly two-thirds of dentists don’t see any ethical problems with adding cosmetic Botox to the list of services they provide.

After all, dentists are very experienced in performing injections on a daily basis. Most dentists are also extremely knowledgeable about the anatomy of the entire head and neck area. With appropriate training, it is a small leap for dentists to begin incorporating Botox treatments into their daily practice.

The survey, which included 144 dental professionals, found that 62% not only accept Botox, but dermal fillers as well. Only 31% feel that it would be inappropriate for dentists to offer these cosmetic procedures in their practice. A mere 7% favor limiting the availability of Botox in dentists’ offices to therapeutic procedures.

Survey results not withstanding, there are as many opinions on the use of Botox as there are dentists. One dentist in general practice supports the idea, stating that the Academy of General Dentistry supports education and training for dentists in the administration of Botox. A cosmetic dentist from Kuwait makes the point that Botox is right at home in a dentist’s office, as it can help to correct a gummy smile. A prosthodontist agrees, recommending Botox for the treatment of TMJ.

One dentist in Minnesota advocates dentists as the most appropriate medical professionals to deliver Botox injections. Dentists have extensive training in head and neck anatomy, making them quite capable of performing the procedures. Perhaps even more importantly, dentists have a tendency to be somewhat artistic, as they deal with patient’s appearances every day. When dealing with aesthetic adjustments, this is an extremely desirable quality in a practitioner.

Despite the overwhelming numbers of dentists who approve of the use of Botox in dental practice, a good number of dentists dissent. Among this group, there seems to be a feeling that dentists should stay within their expertise and allow others to do the same. An oral surgeon in Florida feels this way, remarking that dermatologists and plastic surgeons do not attempt to perform complicated dental procedures.

Fortunately, the allowance of Botox treatment in dental offices is a personal choice. Dental professionals can decide on an individual basis whether or not to incorporate it in their own practices.

Botox Training for Dentists at Cosmetic Courses

If you are a dental professional considering a facial aesthetic courses then please contact our friendly and informative team who will be more than happy to answer any queries you may have.

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Increase in Botched Plastic Surgeries

Cosmetic treatments and surgery seem to be recession proof with people still being very interested in turning back the clock. But, there is a fear that with the lack of regulations being so immense just about anyone can set up shop. A rise in bungled non-surgical cosmetic treatments has been reported recently, and cases are popping up at an alarming rate in courts.

Even with the recession, it is estimated that these procedures have grown in popularity by nearly 25% in the last year. There were about 5,000 facilities in the UK practicing around 200,000 procedures, in total, over the last year.

These non-surgical procedures are carried out with lasers and injections and should be performed by well-qualified medical professionals. However, the truth is, this is not always the case. This equipment can be easily obtained by non-medical personnel and anyone can open a salon and offer these services.

Typically, clinics using high-powered lasers must be registered with Healthcare Inspectorate Wales, but these cosmetic treatment facilities are not being regulated. The Independent Health Advisory Service has also failed to regulate the use of Intense Pulsed Light (IPL) treatments, and these treatments are causing most of the problems.

With no regulations being issued, the people practicing these procedures are doing so without proper training. They are practicing with nothing but an interest in making their money back on the very costly equipment they have purchased. This leads to an interest in quantity over quality, and people get hurt.

If these high-powered lasers are used at an inappopriately high setting clients can be severely burned. Clients are being left with burns resulting in permanent scarring. If the victims of these bungled operations are lucky, Clients are being left with burns resulting in permanent scarring, but the deeper burns are there for life. This irreversible damage can lead to severe psychological distress for the client.

If you are considering a cosmetic treatment, do your research. The British Association of Cosmetic Doctors has a list of licensed facilities which offer these treatments. Doctors practice under a code of ethics and are required to give you a realistic assessment of how cosmetic procedures may help you. Furthermore, if anything were to go wrong during a procedure, an investigation could be held through the General Medical Council. If this investigation found the physician to be negligent, he/she could lose their license. Please protect yourself.

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Is Botox Losing the Dermal Filler War?

Starting in May of 2009, a battle broke out between two different kinds of wrinkle smoothing injections. Botox, a product by Allergan which has been the market standard for years, faces a new competitor. This new competitor is Dysport, by Medicis. The facial injection wrinkle treatment industry is a multi-billion dollar section of the market that has traditionally been most heavily driven by Botox. While the economic crash did have an effect on many of the more costlier cosmetic options, it did not seem to have any effect on the sales of Botox. Botox, of course, is not the only facial injection on the market. It was, however, the only muscle paralyzing injection available, with all of the other options working to rejuvenate the skin rather than relax the muscles. Dysport has changed that dynamic. This puts Allergan and Medicis on more equal footing, both companies now offering both a neurotoxin and a dermal filler.

Allergan has responded to this change in the market by creating the “Botox Brilliant Distinctions” program. This program allows customers who purchase treatments from Allergan to redeem points which can be used on other Allergan treatments. Medicis, on the other hand, has created the “Dysport ‘Love it or Leave it Challenge.'” This option allows new customers to try out Dysport and receive a seventy five dollar rebate. They can then decide how much they are satisfied with the treatment, and then after three months they can buy either Botox or Dysport, receiving a second seventy five dollar rebate no matter which of the two options that they choose to go with.

According to Jeffrey Adelglass, the surgery director for SKINTASTIC which is a cosmetic company that runs its operations in Texas, customers are taking advantage of both of these programs, and truly are trying both available products. He says that there are in fact “distinct benefits to each of the treatments; they do behave slightly differently.” The savings are exciting to Adelglass as well, because they mean that his patients have more money available to use on some of his other procedures such as cosmetic laser surgery. Customers should always verify that any one who is injecting anything in to their face is a licensed medical professional and that they have had a great deal of experience with facial injections. Understanding how much experience that they have with the procedures is something that a customer should probably be aware of before they even visit their office.

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Botox Training and Certification

According to a survey by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the low cost of a botox cosmetic treatment compared to plastic surgery, the ease with which it can be done, and the efficacious way it can restore a youthful appearance makes this one of the most popular anti-aging solutions. Moreover, this non-invasive treatment only takes about 10 minutes to administer. The botox injection can be done in a medical practitioner’s office with little training.

However, someone who wants a botox injection should be cautious about where they get their treatment. While it may be cheaper to get an injection from a health spa or a hotel beauty salon, for example, this can also pose some serious health risks.

Unless, the injection is by a trained medical practitioner, there is a risk that the dosage is either too low or too high, a risk that the injection is not done properly, and a risk that the needle and syringe are not sanitary. The FDA itself stipulates that a botox injection should only be administered by a medical practitioner trained in the procedure and done in a medical establishment.

Proper Treatment Procedures

Proper treatment by a medical practitioner involves several steps.

First, the consultation should begin with a study of how the patient smiles, frowns, and makes other facial expressions.

Second, the patient should fill out a detailed questionnaire. This will include references to their complete medical history as well as answer everything about their skin type and how much time they spend in the sun.

Third, the skin surface that will be injected has to be thoroughly cleaned.

Fourth, the skin should be treated to a local anaesthetic before the injection.

Proper Qualifications

The best physicians to choose are those who have had hands-on training on how to inject someone in the face. A theoretical understanding about this procedure is not enough. Additionally, since many cosmetic training schools are founded and taught by instructors who are not qualified, it’s important to get a physician who was taught by a certified and experienced instructor.

Due Diligence

Although it may seem to be bothersome to find the right physician, it’s important to take the time to do it. Finding someone who is inexpensive but is either not a medical practitioner or is a professional who has been poorly and inadequately trained can prove highly dangerous. The wrong person can endanger your health or create less than desirable results.

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More Than a Million Women a Year Receive Botox Injections

The amount of women who decide to get Botox injections, collagen injections, and other similar procedures has risen fifteen percent over last year’s figures, meaning that for the first time over a million women are undergoing these types of procedures. There is no shortage of information available about some of the risks of Botox injections. They can have unwanted results, including resulting in a face lacking in emotional flexibility. Regardless of this, Botox is now being viewed by many as a normal part of women’s lives as they grow older.

Men are not immune to these changes either. Research conducted by Mintel predicts that as many as nineteen million women and men would undergo such procedures if they could afford the bill. Of the cosmetic options that do not require surgery, Botox is by far the most desired option. Botox is used to paralyze the movement of muscles in the face, which causes wrinkles to be smoothed out. And despite some of the high profile mistakes made on people who receive collagen injections and other lip enhancing procedures, there is a very large market for them as well. As an example, the actress Lesley Ash was left with a disfigured face when a lip enhancement procedure failed.

Another growing industry is the market for face lift procedures that do not require surgery. These dubiously called “organic face lifts” have become popular enough that the Duchess of Cornwall was recently discovered to have been receiving them. The specifics of the procedure are not known at this point, but it involves using bee venom as a replacement for Botox. According to the research conducted by Mintel, “With high profile celebrities – and now even royalty – choosing to help nature with fillers and lifts, non-surgical procedures have never been so popular, as numbers have passed the one million barrier for the first time in 2009.”

In addition to the non surgical options, plastic surgery itself grew by nine percent from 2008 to 2010. The most popular of these options is breast enhancement, a procedure in which saline bags are placed inside women’s breasts. Eyebag removal came in second, followed by surgery to the neck and face, the stomach, liposuction, nose jobs, and eyebrow lifts.

As a whole, the cosmetic treatment industry grew by seventeen percent over the past two years, reaching two point three billion pounds. The non surgical segment of the market has seen especially high growth. The main factor is thought to be the increased accessibility of such treatments. Mintel also discovered that only a third of the population feels like they don’t need plastic surgery.

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Botox Research Suggests Smiling Makes You Happy

Research regarding the anti wrinkle treatment Botox suggests that smiling may actually make you happier. Not being capable of smiling when you feel happy feeds information back to the brain that actually reduces the intensity of a person’s happiness. Botulinum is a highly toxic protein that is found in Botox injections, and it is used to temporarily paralyze the muscles of a person’s face, allowing wrinkles to smooth out. The means that there will be no smile or frown lines, but it also means that a person who receives the injections will not be able to move their face to express their emotions.

Recent research has found that this inability to move the muscles of the face may actually reduce our ability to feel the emotions as well. People with a limited amount of control over their facial muscles were found to also have a limited ability to feel the emotions they would otherwise be conveying. In people with normal control of their facial muscles, the brain receives feedback from the face causing them to feel the emotion more intensely. When these muscles are paralyzed, the person will still feel the initial emotions prior to the facial expression, but this lack of feedback from the face causes the emotion feel more dull.

Joshua Davis and Ann Senghas led a team of researchers at Barnard College in New York, performing research on how Botox effects people’s ability to feel emotions. The control group was given Restylane, an injection in the lips or wrinkles in the face that either puffs up the lips or smooths out the wrinkles. They were given Restylane because it has a similar cosmetic effect to Botox but does not limit their ability to move the muscles in their faces.

In comparison with the people who received the Restylane injections, the people with Botox injections were less able to feel their emotions across the board. When shown video clips that cause most people to feel happy, the people who had received Botox injections reported a lower score than the control group. It was also a lower score than before they had received the Botox injections.

The theory that feedback from the face influences the way that we feel dates back more than a hundred years. These experiments provide more evidence suggesting that our facial expression does more than just convey what we are feeling. Smiling actually causes you to feel happier.

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Dermal Filler and Botox Cosmetic Training Courses

Surveys done by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons have identified botox cosmetics and dermal fillers as two anti-aging solutions that have attracted a lot of public demand: because they provide a non-invasive solution to looking younger. Plastic surgeons should consider adding these procedures to their practice. They are not only popular but can also be done in the office.

Hands On Training Programs

Although there are training programs throughout the UK to supply cosmetic experts, the best training will inevitably be hands-on training by a qualified doctor/surgeon.

While its possible to learn much from listening to lectures, watching power point presentations and studying textbooks, the most important skill to learn is how to skilfully administer injections. This can only be learned through a hands-on approach. A trainee who understands all about Botox Cosmetics and Dermal Fillers but not how to inject a patient’s face is poorly equipped for the real world.

Certified Instructors

While medical schools are taught by doctors who are experts in their specialty, the same criteria does not appear to be applied when it comes to non-invasive cosmetic training. Many of the instructors who teach about Botox Cosmetics and Dermal Fillers are not qualified. A trainee has to inquire about the qualifications of the instructors before enrolling in a school providing cosmetic training.

Post Training Support

Apart from getting hands-on training from a qualified and certified instructor, the trainee will also need post-training support. This will help with dealing with situations not covered during the training. While training programs may be able to cover a lot of ground, they can’t realistically cover everything, so questions based on exceptional situations will inevitably arise during the course of dealing with patients.

Additionally, the best training should also include ways to build an effective business practice.

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Misconceptions About Botox

Botulinum was once considered one of the most deadly toxins on earth, but in recent years is being used in an increasing number of medical applications. The pharmaceutical solution is available in varying forms as Botox or Dysport in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Allergen Company first patented Botox, but the name is commonly used interchangeably for both medications by the general public. In 2006, the solutions had gained immediate acceptance in the treatment of various medical ailments including depression, prostate disease, vocal problems and urinary incontinence. Though Botox and Dysport use has become increasingly common in the medical profession, many health care providers encounter patients with numerous fears and misinformation related to the treatment. Many acquaint the medication with the infamous food toxin or express concern regarding possible paralyzing side effects.

Many useful modern day medications are solutions derived from toxic substances. Well-known medications including adrenalin, atropine, digoxin and lidocaine are commonly used in cardiac patients and were formulated by extracting substances from animals, plants, or microbes that may be toxic in and of themselves. The foxglove plant is used to manufacture digoxin. The plant itself is very dangerous if consumed by an average person, as it causes cessation of the heart. However, diluted and formulated properly, digoxin is used to control abnormally fast heart rates. Likewise, atropine is developed from the nightshade family and though the plant can cause many serious side effects, a substance within the plant is medically used to control the nerves that regulate heartbeat. Ladies in ancient cultures used the substance to dilate their pupils, thus fooling suitors into believing they were attractive. Botox is derived from the bacteria that causes serious food poisoning, but the substance is carefully diluted. Trained physicians are aware of which muscle groups the solution can be injected into to prevent possible hazardous effects. It is not uncommon for newborns to receive such injections when suffering from cerebral palsy or other forms of muscle spasticity. The infants in these instances experience no adverse effects. Health care providers find that common widely used substances, including antibiotics and aspirin, pose a much larger health risk to patients. As with any medication, possible anaphylaxis can occur with Botox injections. Trained physicians should only provide the treatment in settings containing proper emergency medical equipment.

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How Well Do You Know Botox

Who would have thought that modern medical scientists could tame a substance once called “The most poisonous poison on earth” and harness its power to use for goodness? The miracle of controlling Botox, also called Dysport in the United Kingdom and Ireland has resulted in the successful treatment of voice tremors, urinary incontinence, prostatic disease and even depression. The cosmetic applications extend even further, Botox can help control underarm perspiration, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, lift the eyelids and make lips look fuller. So, what was once seen as a terrible poison is now a miracle drug.

Some people are concerned that Botox injections will give them a glazed, expressionless face, but at the hands of a skilled and realistic practitioner, that’s not likely to happen. Certified and expert physicians who use Botox for cosmetic purposes understand how the cells in the face toned to age and relax over time, and use Botox to work with the body’s natural weak spots, providing a firmer resistance. Properly applied, a patient won’t look fake, plastic or expressionless at all.

Another common misconception about Botox is that it’s toxic. True, it’s derived from a toxic substance, but before being approved for cosmetic purposes, it goes through a rigorous safety process that ensures it’s diluted and that the final injection isn’t strong enough to hurt anyone. In fact, most drugs are derived from toxins. In small amounts, they’re used effectively to treat diseases and disorders. In large amounts, though, they’re dangerous.

Belladonna is an example of this. A relative of the potato plant, Belladonna has been used over the centuries as an aphrodisiac, a poison and as a cosmetic eye drop. Today, ophthalmologist use a formula derived from Belladonna to dilate the patient’s upils for an optometric examination. Once dilated, the doctor can see the retina clearly. So any substance that can be called toxic, can also be diluted in order to work with the body instead of against it. “Everything in moderation,” so the saying goes.

The best thing a client can do, when considering whether or not to use Botox or Dysport, is to discuss the matter with a physician who’s informed and trained in using Botox effectively. When there are so many misconceptions and misconstrued information floating around, it’s no wonder that some of the people who would benefit the most from Botox injections may be afraid to pursue the matter.

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