Cosmetic surgeons are sounding the alarm over hyaluronic acid. In a column published Wednesday evening on the site of the Parisiantwo hundred of these doctors ask the authorities to prohibit the delivery of these products to inflate the lips, available without a prescription in pharmacies.
“For three years, we have seen the alarming growth of illegal injections through complications, sometimes very serious, that we take care of in our plastic surgery practices and in the emergency departments of hospital departments”, they write. “Currently, hundreds of injectors, non-doctors, practice illegal acts on the population, in particular the youngest and most vulnerable, with great publicity on social networks”.
Victims “sometimes disfigured for life”
According to them, these illegal injections can cause often irreversible complications. In the most serious cases, “they might lead to sepsis, gangrene and hospitalizations in intensive care, threatening the vital prognosis of young patients”. “The victims are sometimes disfigured for life and psychologically broken” and “they dare not file a complaint, because they are often victims of physical threats”, they continue.
For the signatories, fraudulent doctors inject products that can be bought “freely in pharmacies or from online distributors”. Some people, “including minors”, (…) “inject these products themselves, for example to increase the volume of the lips, by following pseudo-instructions available on online videos”.
“Given the seriousness of this illegal practice, we, plastic surgeons, ask that the sale of hyaluronic acid and other injectable fillers be controlled, and that their delivery be made only to doctors authorized to practice these acts. “, they conclude.