Singapore doctors concerned about increase in cheap botched aesthetic procedures

Lured by the cheap prices advertised by home-based “aestheticians”, some Singaporeans have ended up paying more when procedures go wrong.

They then turn to qualified practitioners, who say they have seen a consistently rising number of people seeking to correct botched procedures carried out by these unlicensed operators.

A recent court case of a woman sentenced to one week’s jail for performing unlicensed home-based lip reduction surgery has cast the spotlight on a small industry of unauthorised operators offering aesthetic services.

While the patient in the court case suffered no ill-effects from the procedure, some have not been so lucky and have had to pay the price.

“Usually rectification surgery costs more than the primary surgery itself because reconstructive surgery is a lot more complex,” said Dr Leo Kah Woon, a plastic surgeon at Dr Leo Aesthetic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

“The whole cost of treatment for them ends up being more than if they come to a licensed practitioner like us to begin with.”

Chinese actress shares photos of ‘nightmare’ botched nose job

Dr Woffles Wu, a plastic surgeon at Woffles Wu Aesthetic Surgery & Laser Centre, said: “Some of them come in quite desperate, they realised … [it was] a silly thing to do and instead of saving the cost, they end up having to spend more to correct it.”

Singapore Medical Council guidelines on aesthetic practices for doctors state that aesthetic procedures, whether they are invasive or not, should be performed only by a licensed doctor at a registered clinic or operating theatre.

The practice is also outlawed by the Private Hospitals and Medical Clinic Act, which states that any premises to be used for healthcare purposes must be licensed.

No such licence is available for home-based businesses, which offer invasive and injectable treatments on online platforms.

A Today reporter approached three such businesses that advertised services such as Botox and lip fillers. All three claimed to have licensed practices and certifications, but when asked to show documentation or photos of them, they all declined.

These operators then reassured the reporter that invasive procedures are safe by producing “evidence” such as Facebook posts of their “awards”, claiming they had years of experience in the medical field.

They also claimed to have a private limited company registration, and that their products are softer on the skin than those available off-the-shelf and would not cause infections.

They quoted the reporter prices ranging from S$138 (US$103) to S$238 (US$178) for Botox and lip filler procedures.

Dr Adrian Ooi, consultant plastic surgeon and medical director at Polaris Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, said that the same procedures could cost between S$200 (US$150) and S$2,000 (US$1,500), depending on the amount injected.

Dr Leo said that home-based operators misrepresent the products they are promoting by claiming, for example, that they have natural ingredients.

He said this gives patients “a false sense of security”, even though in reality there is a high risk of infection by using these products administered by an unlicensed operator.

Dr Leo cited a particular case involving a patient who underwent botched procedures after finding the service on Chinese social media and e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu.

Dr Leo said there is also peer influence, when patients see that their friends did not experience adverse results.

However, all three plastic surgeons interviewed cautioned that it is not worth patients risking infection by going ahead with these procedures, with some extreme cases even resulting in death.

Dr Wu said it is difficult to clamp down on such practices as government agencies do not have the resources to monitor the illegal operators, and so they rely on complaints.

In most cases, “people are just too ashamed to talk about it”, he added.

Full story available at todayonline.com