Woman suffers ‘shocking crotch burns’ following IPL treatment
A WOMAN suffered shocking crotch burns after a laser treatment went wrong at an Australian beauty salon. WARNING: Graphic images
WARNING: Graphic images
A PERTH woman suffered eye watering burns after undergoing an IPL (intense pulsed light) treatment on her crotch at a salon in Joondalup.
The confronting photos have been released by WA beauty association Hair and Beauty Australia to draw attention to the “alarming” number of incidents caused by unqualified workers in the sector.
HABA board member and Perth Salon owner Helen Golisano told WA Today that Western Australia’s beauty industry had become an “open slather” for untrained and unqualified workers, with nail bars and IPL laser treatment clinics among the worst offenders.
“It is so unregulated ... it’s frustrating,” she said.
“No qualification is needed in salons ... we’ve seen this in the pedicure/manicure salons, now we’re starting to see it really strongly in the IPL industry.
“The last three or four years I’ve been horrified the IPL price has devalued to cheaper than a wax and the drama and accidents we’re seeing now from that is alarming.”
The images of the woman’s crotch show burn marks after the worker failed to put a crystal head on the end of the machine.
In doing so, the light hit the woman’s skin directly causing the burns across the skin. Or, as Ms Golisano put it, it “fried her Brazilian”.
“When the girl went back — and this is where the training’s lacking — they then proceeded to do needling when in reality they should have treated her for a burn and sent her to get looked at ... it actually created a worse outcome.”
Needling involves running needles over the skin to create a wound so the skin becomes damaged, encouraging new skin to grow.
Unlike other laser devices, which are regulated under the Radiation Act, there are no laws on the use of IPLs for cosmetic procedures in Australia.
This means salons can perform procedures without any formal training and use machines bought off the internet or overseas, some for as little as $299.
It’s not the first time the WA beauty industry has been plagued by problems with IPL.
In 2012 a Perth woman suffered first-degree burns to her genital region after undergoing IPL.
It left her in excruciating pain for a month and worried that the procedure may have caused permanent damage.
Richard Choong, president of the Australian Medical Association WA, told Perth Now that regulation would help prevent injuries because salons would have to adhere to standards.
“I believe the beauty industry needs to take note and ultimately be accountable,” he said. “They are using devices which can potentially harm a client.
“The fundamental problem we have is that you don’t know if the machine is up to the right standards because there aren’t any. And you don’t know if the therapist has adequate training.
“In the hands of an untrained person they become a really dangerous implement which can harm and scar individuals.”
Chris Goodwin, director of the Australian College of Beauty Therapy in Perth, said there was a course that covered IPL and laser training for beauty therapists, but it was not compulsory.
She said she had heard “quite a few stories” about people being burnt as a result of IPL treatment and supported any bid to introduce regulation to weed out rogue operators.
“Generally there are reputable salons doing the right thing, but we have got other salons out there who think they can make good quick money out of it and unfortunately they are the ones that create the problem, and it is always that minority,” she said.
The Department of Health confirmed there were no regulations for IPLs in WA, but said a national code was being developed by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.
An ARPANSA spokesman said regulation was still the responsibility of individual states and territories.
The IPL issue in WA comes off the back of a woman who was left suffering from horrific toe injuries inflicted by a unqualified workers at a nail salon in Perth at the start of November.
The woman doing the pedicure sliced the woman’s toe with a scalp-like tool, WA Today reported.
The pedicurist poured what she thought was antiseptic liquid on the wound, but was instead a sterilising solution, a chemical only meant for metal instruments.
The customer said her toe bled profusely for 40 minutes and dressed the wound with a bandage.
HOW IPL WORKS
● An IPL device works by producing a filtered, manipulated white light to permanently reduce unwanted hair and improve skin conditions.
● Specific wavelengths of light are absorbed into melanin the dark pigment in hair and skin and haemoglobin, the red colour in your blood vessels. It then converts to heat which selectively damages target cells while leaving the surrounding skin unaffected.
● It can be used on freckles, sunspots, spider veins, red spots, broken capillaries, unwanted dark facial and body hair, uneven skin colouring and sun damage.