The Rise in non-surgical cosmetic procedures and its impact on the medical industry

Hi,

I hope that your August has been pleasant!

In my family, August is the month where most of our family members birthdays occur, so I decided to take a week off of work to kick back and relax, as well as enjoy a long weekend away at a lovely B&B in Port Macquarie to celebrate my birthday, our family dog’s birthday as well as my father’s birthday.

It was so relaxing and was exactly what I needed in order to come back to work ready to hit the ground running and steer us headfirst into the pre-Christmas rush!

First of all, I just wanted to share the statistics for our Medical Negligence Triage Service from July 2024.

In July there were 48 Medical Negligence Triage Cases lodged through our service! Out of those 48 cases, 25 of them requested Free Preliminary Opinions, 10 of them proceeded to teleconferences, 5 of them proceeded to a full report while 33 of those requests are still currently in progress.

7 out of the 26 Free Preliminary Opinions requested received a “negligence not probable” response from the specialist and did not proceed any further.

We are happy to have been able to provide the plaintiffs with the closure they need as well as helping them avoid the emotional and financial burden of proceeding straight to a report, only to receive an unfavourable/unsupportive opinion

This month’s topic is The Rise in non-surgical cosmetic procedures and its impact on the medical industry

The non-surgical cosmetics industry has boomed in recent years with the growing popularity of injectable and semi-permanent procedures, such as dermal fillers and chemical face peels, influenced by various fashion trends in the media and online. As demand for these procedures continues to rise, the medicolegal industry is experiencing an increase in potential medical negligence claims relating to alleged negligent treatment provided.

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The difference between surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures are that cosmetic surgery is where there is an incision through the skin, whereas non-surgical procedures are all those that do not involve an incision through the skin. Significantly different laws and regulations apply to cosmetic surgical procedures vs non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

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Medical Negligence claims relating to non-surgical cosmetic procedures are largely made when a patient has an allergic reaction to products used in the treatment, when a practitioner administers the treatment incorrectly, or when patients are misinformed of the risks of treatment prior to undertaking the procedure.

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Non-surgical procedures account for less than 40% of the 15 billion dollars spent on cosmetic procedures nationally each year. These procedures are being performed by physicians across a multitude of both surgical and nonsurgical specialties, dentists and nurses. Although non-surgical procedures are often viewed as a low-risk alternative to cosmetic surgery, they are not without their own complications. Consequently, physicians assume the risk of malpractice litigation when performing or supervising such procedures.

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I’ve invited Dr Lara Wetton, who specialises in both surgical and non-surgical cosmetic procedures to further discuss the topic, and provide her insights as to why the medicolegal industry is experiencing in medical negligence claims relating to non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

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Anti-wrinkle injections and dermal filler injections are now such commonplace, that they are akin to getting a manicure or going to get a haircut at the salon and patients treat them as such. Patients often do not consider the risks or the skills of the practitioner performing these procedures. Aesthetic injectable clinics set up in shopping centres and hotels allow easy access and suggest to the public that they are frivolous beauty treatments rather than serious medical procedures with severe potential adverse risks and complications.?

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These procedures have consistently grown in their popularity, largely due to their prominent presence in social media, which drives the desire to resemble social media influencers and keep up with the next beauty fad.?

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Moreover, individuals and companies have tapped into this booming industry and have been capitalising on chain clinics focusing on industrial scale patient turnover.?

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There are numerous examples of cosmetic injectable chain clinics where one doctor is the prescriber for over 30 nurses. The injecting nurses operate satellite clinics and inject hundreds of patients a week. This is an inherently high-risk model, because often the prescribing doctor who is ultimately legally responsible for the patient outcome, is prescribing remotely via telehealth, and may be hours away. The injecting nurse is not required to be trained to deal with potential complications, such as vascular occlusion or tissue ischemia. ?

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In terms of education and training, there are a multitude of weekend courses run specifically for newly graduated nurses, where they learn the basic skills of injecting in a few hours. They can then be injecting unsupervised in a clinic days later, with remote medical supervision, very little knowledge of facial anatomy, and no protocols to deal with serious complications.?

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A similar level of high-risk practices occurs in other non-surgical cosmetic procedures, such as facial cosmetic peels or the use of cosmetic devices such as lasers. In most states no qualification, training, or supervision is required for performing such procedures.

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We are witnessing a rise in negligence claims in the area of non-surgical cosmetic procedures, firstly due to poor consent processes and secondly due to poor management of complications. As an example, patients often do not appreciate that dermal fillers can last longer than is advertised by the pharmaceutical companies. Studies have demonstrated that dermal fillers can last in tissue planes for 5-10 years, and can migrate to other areas of the face, causing distortions. Adverse events do occur with dermal fillers, such as occlusive events and tissue ischemia. Although blindness caused by dermal filler injections is rare, other ischaemic events commonly occur, and if speedy and appropriate treatment is not instituted devastating consequences can follow.?

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There has been an ongoing focus on the regulation of cosmetic surgery in recent years. There have been indications from regulatory bodies that the non-surgical sphere is next on their agenda. The hope is that with a more stringent regulatory process, the risk to patients will be mitigated. Until such time, the non-surgical cosmetic procedures industry remains inundated with high-risk practices.?

Spotlight on our Medical Negligence Specialists

Dr Rusell Knudsen has been a full-time hair transplant doctor since 1984. Over the past 38+ years he has performed more than 10,000+ hair transplant operations. He is a world leader in his field of hair restoration and is at the forefront of the latest technology. Dr Knudsen was the first doctor in Australia to offer the minimally invasive ARTAS robot. His area of expertise is the medical and surgical management of all types of hair loss.

Dr Yi-Lee Phang is a GP and an Occupational Physician at Essendon Fields Medical Centre. He has interests in Occupational Health, Medical Acupuncture, Clinical Governance, Minor Procedures, and Medical Education.?

Dr Andrew Gal is an anatomical Pathologist which means that he deals with tissues and not fluids like blood or urine.? He commenced expert medico-legal practice in 1996 and as of 2021 has provided two thousand reports on pathology related to illness claimed to be due to exposure of inhaled asbestos. Dr Gal has provided expert reports on a variety of medical negligence claims including cases arising from both missed diagnosis and wrong diagnosis of cancer, as well as reports to Police pertaining to their investigations. During 40 years of practice has personally reported on more than 500,000 accessioned cases of surgical pathology, a similar number of accessioned cases of cytology.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries, questions or concerns?via my direct line or email address.

Kind regards

Taylah McGregor

Medical Negligence Lead & NSW Business Development

Direct Line: (02) 9056 4471

Medical Negligence Bookings & Queries: (02) 8090 7616

[email protected]

[email protected]

Don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn

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