Beware Black Market Beauty
Grazia
March 2021
Grazia’s beauty journalist Laura Antonia Jordan investigates the “danger of rule-breaking injectables” as part of the UK’s nationwide lockdown. During the pandemic, aesthetic treatments like fillers and anti-wrinkle injectables have been labelled as “non-essential,” meaning that registered practitioners can only carry out the treatments when the country is not under the most severe lockdown measures.
Laura reflects on how this situation has sparked a “surge” in customer demand for “backdoor” injectable treatments carried out by “rogue back-alley practitioners” who are not medically qualified or registered to deliver them. She explores the dangers of this trend by chatting to a range of reputable practitioners, who warn customers against the temptation to get their wrinkles or lines fixed by such people.
Chatting to one practitioner, who has also worked on the NHS front-line during the pandemic, she reinforces the fact that no well-established or respectable practice would carry out injectable treatments when not explicitly allowed to do so by the government. “Any reputable provider will not accept clients during lockdown, which of course then opens up the doors for the rogue back-alley practitioners to scoop up these people.”
Grazia also reported; another dangerous trend that the journalist has highlighted is the “increased demand for DIY versions” of anti-wrinkle injectable treatments. Many beauty customers have started to “experiment” themselves with things like “self-administered online hyaluronic acid fillers,” which can actually cause skin necrosis if not injected properly and targeted in the right place. There is a huge “health and safety risk” by taking this “backdoor route,” and the journalist stresses the importance of the fact that “there’s a lockdown for a reason,” encouraging aesthetic customers to take the advice of established professionals like Dr Tracy Mountford of The Cosmetic Skin Clinic instead during this difficult time.
For “those desperate to get tweakments,” during the enforced lockdown, Dr Tracy Mountford highly recommended in this article investing in “high-grade skincare, including retinol products” which reduces fine lines and wrinkles by naturally boosting our skin’s production of collagen. Choosing cosmeceutical brands that have been medically proven for their efficacy is the way to go.
She also recommended something far simpler: “Self-care, what we know is generally good for us, is vitally important; trying to achieve eight hours sleep a night, minimising alcohol, drinking water with a good diet and regular exercise – all these play their part in skin health.”
Explore The Cosmetic Skin Clinic’s treatment options in the treatments section of our website. Alternatively, contact our London and Buckinghamshire clinics directly to arrange a treatment consultation.
