Australian plastic surgeon national registery push after complaints

New figures say hundreds of Australians have undergone botched plastic surgeries in the past several years, with calls for a national register of doctors.

More than 300 Australians had their faces and bodies disfigured in botched cosmetic surgeries over the past three years, concerning new figures from the country’s health regulator show.

The complaints were made against 183 surgeons, according to data from the Australia Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) in response to questions on notice from a senate inquiry.

Lauren is one of 313 patients who was disfigured at a hands of a surgeon over the past three years.

AHPRA chief executive Martin Fletcher wrote last month that the agency had received 313 notifications of “botched” surgeries where there was a complication or injury.

The complaints related to a wide range of procedures, including dermal fillers, anti-ageing injections, laser, tummy tucks, breast augmentation, facelifts and liposuction.

The figures also reveal that almost 40 per cent of the ­complaints were against plastic surgeons, prompting calls from industry members for tighter regulation of who can dub themselves a cosmetic ­surgeon.

Concerns have been growing that Australia’s lax regulation around the title allows even GPs or plastic surgeons with no dedicated cosmetic training to carve up people.

One woman, who asked the Daily Telegraph to refer to her only as Lauren, was given a breast augmentation using PIP breast implants that are now banned, before a second surgery left her with a “uniboob” deformity where both her breasts were merged.

“I knew something was wrong within a week. My cleavage, the sternum was very swollen. It looked like I had one boob,” she said.

“I can’t make my bed. Putting on a seatbelt hurts. I’m in pain every single day. My mum called me one day because she was just devastated because I didn’t want to leave the house.”

Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery and Medicine president Dr Patrick Tansley said the data proved the need for a national accreditation for all doctors performing cosmetic surgery and a register linked to this training.

Dr Patrick Tansley is calling for a national register to accredit doctors who can do cosmetic surgery. Picture: Supplied

“Accreditation in cosmetic surgery by the Australian ­government will significantly reduce the number of botched procedures taking place each year, as all practitioners wishing to undertake it will be forced to undergo specific training and demonstrate ­specific competency in this field of practice,” Dr Tansley said.

“If they do not, they will be unable to use the title ‘cosmetic surgeon’,” he said.

Dr Tansley said plastic ­surgeons had pushed back against the national accreditation solution that would require them to have additional specialised training.

“If they succeed, many patients will be denied the right to some of the best trained and most experienced cosmetic surgeons in Australia.”

A spokesman for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) said their plastic surgeons came from a “highly-competitive five-year program” with “ongoing assessment and review”.

“Public criticism of the program by non-FRACS practitioners of cosmetic surgery erroneously cites historic and out-of-date claims: specifically... a ‘gap’ in the aesthetic training. We addressed those concerns in 2017.”

Originally published as Australian plastic surgeon national registery push after complaints