'No plans' to ban cosmetic injections for under-18s in NI

Under-18s in Northern Ireland are able to have cosmetic injections with no checks on their age

The Department of Health has said it has no plans to legislate on banning under-18s from getting cosmetic injections in Northern Ireland.

A new law came into force in England preventing under-18s from getting Botox-style injections or dermal lip fillers for cosmetic reasons.

The law aims to protect young people after years of campaigning to regulate the non-surgical beauty industry.

Legislation is expected to be passed in Wales and Scotland in the near future.

• Young teens now banned from getting Botox

• Call for Wales to follow Botox ban for under-18s

Under-18s in Northern Ireland are able to have Botox-style procedures and dermal fillers with no checks on their age.

Botulinum toxin injections - often known as Botox - are anti-wrinkle injections used to relax the muscles predominantly in the forehead, between the eyebrows and around the eyes, that last between three and six months.

Dermal fillers are used to plump and hydrate the face and the most common areas are lips and cheeks to create volume.

Non-surgical treatment provider, Save Face, said it had been campaigning for change across the UK since 2014.

Unregulated industry

Ashton Collins, its director, said with the advent of reality TV and the increasing popularity of social media, Botox among teenagers is becoming more common.

"These very young people are influenced by the things they see on TV and fillers are now ubiquitous with programmes," she told BBC NI's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"Once you go down that rabbit hole online and start liking this content, you're then presented with a flurry of adverts promoting these services for cheap prices.

"That's where the problem lies - social media is a hotbed for unscrupulous practice.

"That's why we see so many botched treatments," she added. "The industry is pretty much unregulated."

'It's a no brainer'

Ms Collins said she was "perplexed" by the decision by the Department of Health in NI not to legislate on the issue.

"We haven't had any in-depth explanation as to why - it makes no sense, it's a no brainer," she said.

"If you can protect young people from falling foul to these treatments and implement something, it makes absolute sense.

She said it was important to "nip it in the bud before it becomes a real wide spread issue."

Ashton Collins, director of Save Face, said dermal fillers can cause 'horrible reactions'

"These treatments are so trivialised that younger people especially think they are beauty treatments as opposed to medical interventions."

She said some women have suffered "horrible reactions" to dermal filler injections, which give plump lips and cheeks.

"So they are extremely dangerous in unsafe hands."

She added that she is not against people getting cosmetic treatments "for the right reasons by the right persons" but advised people to do their research.

"To most people it seems ludicrous that under-18s would even want these treatments, but the fact is they do and they will go to extreme lengths to get them - they will go to social media to get the cheapest deals."

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "We have no plans to legislate on this."