Young girls are traveling to Wales and Scotland for Botox injections after the treatment was banned for under-18s in England, campaigners said.
It comes after the age limit for cosmetic procedures, including Botox and lip fillers, was introduced in 2021.
But there is no such law in Wales and Scotland, creating a loophole that industry professionals say some teenagers are dangerously exploiting.
Save Face, a government-approved registry for medical cosmetic treatments, said it had received reports of girls as young as 15 traveling to the devolved countries for Botox injections.
Ashton Collins, director of the organisation, told The Telegraph: “The unintended consequence of the laws here is that young girls who are desperate for these treatments are crossing borders to find people willing to inject them.
“We have seen an increase in people living in border towns in Wales and Scotland traveling to access treatment – usually young people from Bristol or Hereford or Wrexham.
“We also have reports of people traveling from Newcastle to Scotland to have these treatments.”
“Hot” of Instagram
Lip fillers are by far the most common procedure among teenage girls, but there have also been reports of cheek fillers and non-surgical nose jobs under the age of 18, Ms Collins said.
Also called dermal fillers, these procedures involve injecting collagen or hyaluronic acid to add volume or reduce wrinkles, with results lasting up to 18 months.
Ms Collins believes social media and reality TV have led to an increase in young people desperate for such treatments.
“We generally see a spike in reports when programs like Love Island come on,” he said. “I guess a lot of these contestants are open about different processes, and when teenagers follow them on social media, the algorithms understand what kind of content they’re interested in.
“They start showing before and after pictures and can go down a rabbit hole, which sparks a really strong desire to have these treatments.”
Ms Collins said Instagram has been a “hotbed” for beauticians offering cheap deals, which appeals to teenagers who may not have hundreds of pounds to spend on Botox.
He explained that as the trend becomes more visible on social media, some teenagers may feel pressured by their peers to get Botox.
In one instance, Ms Collins said the organization was contacted by a member of staff from a concerned secondary school who said an entire friendship group – about nine girls – had returned from the holidays with lip fillers.
Blindness and tissue death
Save Face said it had received 61 complaints about Botox and fillers gone wrong from under-18s in the UK since 2021.
About 28 of them reported swelling and bruising, nine developed lumps or nodules, and six said they developed an infection after treatment.
Another seven young people said they had uneven results, five reported filler migration and four reported a hematoma – a bad bruise where blood collects under the skin.
Two people reported vascular occlusions – blockage in blood vessels – or necrosis, death of body tissue.
Of the 61 complainants, 58 people had found their doctor through social media.
Ms Collins added: “There is a perception among young people that these treatments are low risk or not dangerous, however, they can cause serious complications such as blindness and tissue death because people willing to inject them are unscrupulous and anarchists.
“You can imagine the psychological impact on young people when things go wrong, as they didn’t expect it to happen, and then when they approach the person who injected them, they’re blocked and ignored and left to fend for themselves. “
