The growing cross-border trade is possible because there is no Scottish ban on under-18s getting risky cosmetic work.
They warn that “horrific” rogue practitioners with no medical training are injecting the teens – including children as young as 15 – in gyms, hairdressing salons and the back of cars.
SaveFace, the group which successfully campaigned for a law passed in England in 2021 which banned Botox and fillers for under-18s, is calling on the Scottish Government to bring in a ban.
Some of the botched work had led to scarring, bruising and bad infections, she said.
“It’s mostly mothers who are shocked and looking for advice,” said Collins.
Collins said the 29 cases she had been involved in was the tip of the iceberg since girls in England had become aware there was no ban north of the border.
SaveFace has helped people suffering from bruising and infections after botched lip fillers (Photo: SaveFace)“The big thing they want is lip fillers – but they’re not told about the possibility of lumps, scarring, bad infections and tissue death.”
‘When something goes wrong, they block you’
“People tell us of having treatments in the back of cars, in the back of gyms, in the back of hairdressing salons. They use spurious names on Instagram, use aesthetics branding, and when something goes wrong, they block you.”
Susan McMahon, a qualified nurse who has a cosmetic clinic in Glasgow, said she had under-18s from England turn up looking for fillers “because they know there’s no ban”.
“It’s hugely embarrassing that we have this unregulated area [no under-18s ban] in Scotland. Unscrupulous people can do whatever they like.”
But Collins is worried that the SNP Government will not ban treatments for under-18s.
Health professionals said the failure to regulate “rogue” beauticians was harming people of all ages. They said they were regularly having to fix botched Botox work which had led to lumps, infections and muscle paralysis.
But an unknown number of “rogue”, non-medically qualified operators who often brand themselves as “aestheticians” on social media are not monitored by HIS.
“When I woke up, my face was frozen on one side,” she told The i Paper. “I couldn’t control it. It looked like I had Bell’s palsy. Water would be dripping out of one side of my mouth.”
Marie Snapps lost movement on one side of her face after botched Botox treatment in Glasgow‘I don’t think it was real Botox’
“I was so angry,” she said. “I asked for my money back. She [the beautician] blocked my messages. And before long, the salon was closed. I don’t think it was real Botox – God knows where she got it from. She didn’t have a clue what she was doing.”
“We have these black-market practitioners, who have no medical training, working everywhere – in the back of vans and cars, the back of hairdressing salons. It’s horrific,” said Partridge, a founding member of the British Association of Medical Aesthetic Nurses (Baman).
Darren McKeown, a qualified plastic surgeon who runs a clinic in Glasgow, added: “Even in the Wild West there was a code of honour. But there’s nothing to stop these rogue operators.
Nestor Demosthenous, a doctor who runs a beauty clinic in Edinburgh, has joined calls for the Scottish Government to ban non-medically trained people from injecting.
“In Europe it’s considered ridiculous that the UK allows non-medics to operate – it blows their minds. In Scotland, with the lack of a ban on under-18s, it’s a particularly bad shitshow,” added Dr Demosthenous.
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Read MorePartridge is worried the regulator, HIS, is not big enough to investigate all the non-medics delivering injectables.
Minto, Scotland’s public health minister, said: “We are currently analysing results of our non-surgical cosmetic procedure consultation, which included questions asking for views on age restrictions.”
The SNP minister added: “Our goal is to ensure robust and proportionate regulation is introduced. We will publish our consultation analysis and announce next steps before the end of June.”
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