The President of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons has warned of danger to members of the public and said he is “shocked” and “surprised” after seeing undercover footage of the activities of some people working in the beauty industry in Ireland.
During a six-month investigation, RTÉ Investigates found individuals and businesses handling, selling and preparing to illegally inject botox-type products. Many used unlicensed products, often imported from South Korea.
Professor Jack Kelly, President of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons, was shown evidence of the video and said the research revealed “a huge gap in patient safety”.
“It’s eye-opening and shocking as well. I have to say I’m amazed and I think most of my colleagues in plastic surgery will be amazed at what’s going on,” he said.
“These people are creating problems for unsuspecting patients. They are actually misrepresenting themselves, their qualifications and abilities, and bringing dubious products for use on unsuspecting patients here in Ireland.
“It is unbelievable that this is going on. We cannot allow the unsuspecting public and patients in Ireland to be treated like this. It is absolutely appalling,” he added.
“Botox” is a trademarked name, but it is now such a popular product worldwide that the word has become a generic term for products containing botulinum toxin. Botox itself is licensed for use in Ireland, however some of the botox-like products discovered during the RTÉ investigation were not licensed for use here.
In one case uncovered by RTÉ Investigates, a man was spotted flying into the country one week a month to provide botox injections to clients in the waist.
By law, botulinum toxin can only be administered by a doctor or dentist. The regulations also allow registered nurses in some cases to administer it, but this must be done under the direction of the doctor or dentist. The person traveling to the country regularly did not meet any of these legal requirements.
When asked by an undercover researcher what the aftercare plan would be if the researcher’s facial muscles sagged after the injection, she said her advice would be to put a warm towel on the problem area, wait a few days and “it might come up himself.”
In another case, RTÉ Investigates secretly filmed a person offering to administer botox from their bedroom without having undergone basic sterilization. The person has been willing to inject someone since he was a teenager.
Separately, when an investigator posing as a salon owner asked about buying botulism toxin from another woman working in the beauty industry, she agreed and advised how to avoid detection by the authorities.
“What we do [is] we are removing all tags,” the person said.
Read more: Exposed: My journey into Ireland’s underground botox supply chain
Anyone selling such products in their bottled form is required to have a wholesaler’s authorization from the Health Products Regulatory Authority.
However, undercover investigators filmed and received products from a UK-based supplier who said he regularly transported large quantities of unlicensed Korean products to people working in the beauty industry across the Republic of Ireland.
It transports the products to a location in the border area where they are collected by people working in the industry in the Republic of Ireland.
“I’ve got girls driving from Clare, from Limerick, from Cork,” the UK-based supplier told our researcher.
When she saw it, Dr Eithne Brenner – one of a group of more than 60 doctors calling for regulation of the beauty industry – said she was “really shocked”.
“This is a prescription only drug, it’s not really a safe medical practice,” he added.
“It makes me so sad,” said Dr. Sana Askary, “It makes me think, like, ‘Oh my God, if it was my relative, I would put it in their system,’ it’s just not right.”
The regulator charged with overseeing the trade and administration of botox products, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), declined to be interviewed in connection with the report.
He provided a written statement to RTÉ Investigates.
“In the past decade… [the HPRA has] brought four successful prosecutions for violations of the law relating to the dispensing, distribution, sale or advertising of prescription drugs containing botulism toxin,” the statement said.
From 2022, he added, “the HPRA has instructed 135 clinics advertising botulism toxin online to remove the illegal content.”
The RTÉ Investigates report looks at activities related to the beauty industry and is not exclusive to botox products.
Unlike botox, there are currently no regulations on who can inject dermal filler, a popular cosmetic product offered legally by many non-medical providers.
It was hoped that the passage of the Patient Safety Licensing Bill 2016 would provide patient safety regulations for the use of the dermal filler, however eight years after its introduction it has yet to be enacted.
The Department of Health told RTÉ Investigates that it “continues to work on the Patient Safety (Licensing) Bill which will introduce, for the first time, a licensing requirement for all acute hospitals, public and private, and certain specified high-risk activities danger to the community.”
The HPRA further added that “RTÉ’s investigation and related and ongoing enforcement activities by the HPRA reflect a growing trend where some people offering beauty services may be operating outside the law by providing prescription drugs over the counter. In such cases, they aim to take the commercial advantage of consumers. Their primary concern is financial gain – not the health of the consumers who use these services.”
Cathy Maher, former president of the Irish Pharmacists Association, also saw the undercover video. She said it showed her that oversight of the industry’s needs is growing.
“I wouldn’t have expected things to be at this level, absolutely not,” he said.
“These are injectables. I’m shocked that even end users are ready to use it, not knowing where it comes from. So we need to look at enforcement.”
“RTÉ Investigates: Botox & Beauty at Any Cost” airs Mondays at 9.35pm on RTÉ One
