‘Cowboy’ cosmetic surgeons put profit over patients

Cosmetic surgery is booming — but fears for patient safety and a culture of under-reporting has prompted this move from the regulator.

Fears that rogue cosmetic surgeons are compromising patient safety while chasing huge profits have prompted a review of the booming Australian medical industry.

Amid concerns current medical regulations are not able to safeguard a cosmetic industry that now sees surgeons advertising in shopping centres and becoming social media celebrities, the

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency will reconsider the checks and balances needed to better inform and protect patients.

The review announced on Tuesday will also examine the co-operation between different authorities – such as state health departments that license private cosmetic surgeries – to prevent further issues falling through the cracks.

AHPRA chief executive officer Martin Fletcher said practices and marketing methods were raising ethical dilemmas as cosmetic clinics rapidly grew into a “multi million dollar entrepreneurial industry” in recent years.

“There are some worrying features of the cosmetic industry that sets it apart from wider healthcare,” Mr Fletcher said.

Social media posts can emphasise benefits and downplay risks.

“Among them, corporate business models that are allegedly placing profit over patient safety procedures being undertaken for no medical need (and) limited factual information for consumers and the exponential growth in social media that often emphasizes benefits and downplays risks.”

A review of the 16000 notifications lodged against Australian practitioners in the past three years revealed only 313 related to cosmetic surgery, however Medical Board of Australia chair Dr Anne Tonkin raised concerns there was a culture of not reporting patient safety concerns within the cosmetic surgery ranks.

“While some practitioners in the cosmetic industry have gained a reputation as cowboys, this is not generally reflected in our data about problems which are reported to us and that is a matter of concern to us,” Dr Tonkin said.

“Mandatory reporting is currently present in the national load so that we get the most serious issues in front of regulators to keep patients safe. But there seems to be a weak safety and reporting culture in cosmetic surgery.”

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Led by outgoing Queensland Health Ombudsman Andrew Brown, the cosmetic surgery review will begin public consultations in early 2022 with a report to be ready by mid-2022.

Mr Fletcher said issues of informed consent will be a key component, with fears many practitioners are failing to explain the full risks of cosmetic procedures to their patients.

Potential limits or changes to advertising and the spread of cosmetic procedure marketing on social media will also be examined.

Dr Tonkin and Mr Fletcher also acknowledged widespread confusion over who could call themselves a cosmetic surgeon was fuelling many of the concerns levelled at the industry.

Currently, GPs and others with basic medical training can use the title of surgeon, however Australian health ministers have committed to national consultation on changing and limiting the title of “surgeon”.

“It’s a very confusing situation at the moment where any medical practitioner can call themselves a cosmetic surgeon and you don’t know what lies behind that in terms of their training,” Mr Fletcher said.

Originally published as ‘Cowboy’ cosmetic surgeons put profit over patients