opinion | DereGuLaTion |
deregulatioN “the wroNg route”
Ashley Yeo reports on how less regulation of lasers and ipl are changing the market.
a
ASHLEY YEO, Principal Analyst, Informa Business Information
email
ashley.yeo@
informa.com
fTer Two-and-a-half years of wrangling, the use of lasers and intense pulsed light
(ipl)
treatments for cosmetic use became deregulated
in the uK, as of 1 october 2010. The move has split the industry. some operators will now benefit by escaping regulatory scrutiny, and will doubtless tailor their services to the market’s ability to pay. The government’s rationale is that the
cost of regulating the sector, and inspecting premises, which has traditionally been the regulatory framework for all providers of these services, is greater than the licence income generated. it took the view that this private sector
industry has become too expensive to police. The change came about as a result of the
passage of the Health and Social Care act 2008 (HSCa 2008), which states that providers of non-surgical lasers and intense pulsed lights currently registered under the Care Standards act 2000 for non-surgical cosmetic aesthetic purposes, such as hair removal by a healthcare or non-healthcare professional purposes, fell outside the scope of registration as of 1 october 2010. This exemption means they will no longer be regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the 2009 successor to the Healthcare Commission (HCC).
Industry in growth Skin laser treatment is a young but booming industry. The procedure is used for treating lines, wrinkles, scars, and removing birth marks, tattoos and hair. Hair removal is currently the most
62 ❚
popular cosmetic use of lasers in the uK, according to survey company mintel. The american Society for aesthetic Plastic Surgery (aSaPS) says that laser hair
March 2011 |
prime-journal.com
removal was the no 3 non-surgical cosmetic treatment in 2009, performed 1.2 million times. meanwhile, iPL can remove large areas
of hair from the back and legs, for instance, although long-term studies on effectiveness or safety have not yet been established for the procedure. it is the issue of safety that has the
established industry up in arms over the loosening of oversight of the sector. alongside this, reputable clinics are worried about customer numbers falling, given an expected influx of operators offering cheap services. The uK deregulation proposal was put
out to consultation in spring 2008. it met with a hostile response from bodies such as Which? and the British association of aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BaaPS). The latter was outraged at what it
considered an inappropriate and potentially dangerous relaxation of the rules. its president, consultant, plastic surgeon Douglas mcGeorge, branded the move as “absurd”, in an industry where clinicians have been demanding tighter regulations. another BaaPS member, Dr David
Gault, who invented the procedure of depilation by laser in a combined project with the Swansea institute, told Prime that cosmetic uses of power laser machines was not too trivial to merit regulation. The fact that they are used in the ‘beauty industry’ does not make them less dangerous than when employed for healthcare uses – especially in untrained hands. Dr Gault, a consultant plastic surgeon,
said the sector costs a lot to regulate, but this has always been with the safety of the population in mind. Laser hair removal as a procedure has been available since the late 1990s. The
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