Avoid 'cheaper, dodgy Botox', warns clinic owner

Clinic owner David Kelly said regulators have warned people prescribing Botox "we're watching you"

People must be aware of the dangers of paying for "cheaper, "dodgy Botox" although regulators were clamping down within the industry, a clinician has said.

A undercover BBC investigation has found that some nurses and pharmacists have been putting patients at risk by supplying Botox without proper checks.

David Kelly who owns Tinkable in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, said some people were "more concerned with saving £20 than what's going to happen to their face".

But he said regulators had "taken their first steps" by warning those who prescribe the product for beauty therapists that "we're watching you".

The BBC investigation encountered a nurse trading prescriptions over WhatsApp, a pharmacist coaching clients to falsify records and a bogus doctor handing over Korean toxin vials for cash.

Medical rules require an in-person consultation and prescription to check Botox is suitable.

"Unfortunately people don't realise the consequences until things go wrong and when they go wrong, they can go seriously, seriously wrong," Mr Kelly said.

He said he was not surprised by the findings of the investigation as it was something that had been going on for "years and years".

There were two issues that concerned him - a lot of "dodgy Botox" coming into the country as well as "dodgy procedures".

"I don't think the public really know what the process of having a Botox procedure should be and if these processes were abided to and put in place, it would prevent people injecting dodgy product into people's faces," he said.

• The Botox Black Market

Mr Kelly said one case he saw was of a woman who had had regular treatments but came to him after some months of not being at the clinic because she said she had received treatment elsewhere for £20 less.

"But she said, 'Can you fix me?' because she was left with lumps and bumps all over her face," he said.

Mr Kelly said he discovered the person carrying out the injections "got her toxin" from a pharmacy which had no prescription and sent it out after it was ordered.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which governs botulinum toxin products, and the NMC, which regulates nurses across the UK, have "taken their first steps" he said.

"They've now said to people prescribing this for beauty therapists 'We're watching you. This is what you must do'."

In August, the government announced plans to crack down on unqualified cosmetic practitioners in England.