Members of Parliament are calling for a ban on Botox and lip fillers for those under the age of 18.
This follows concerns that reality TV stars are encouraging teenagers to undertake potentially risky facial treatments.
As a result, calls were made for stronger industry regulation in a bid to drive down cosmetic complications.
MP Laura Trott is heading up a bill aimed at criminalising Botox and fillers to under-18s. Speaking in Parliament, she said: ‘We must stop the dangerous and unnecessary non-medical procedures that can ruin children’s lives.
‘The absence of a legal age limit for Botox and dermal fillers means any 15-year-old could walk into a shop and get their lips injected by someone with no qualifications whatsoever.’
She said one survey suggests 100,000 under-16s have had cosmetic treatments.
Fellow MP Luke Evans emphasised that fillers and Botox should not be ‘demonised’.
‘They themselves are not the problem,’ he said. Highlighting the medical benefits, he also said cosmetic treatments on an aesthetic basis can improve a person’s wellbeing.
Dangerous and difficult
Additionally, MP Simon Baynes also spoke out in favour of tighter regulation.
‘As the father of two young daughters, there’s a world they inhabit in terms of social media,’ he said.
‘And inhabit they do because it takes up a lot of their life. Particularly within the debate in the context of lockdown, where their actual ability to see their friends and family is very limited. So the whole world of social media has become more prevalent.
‘So you’ve got this dichotomy between the desire to have the perfect body or the perfect face against actually what is a very dangerous and difficult intervention.
‘The fact those interventions hitherto have been unregulated, when you sit down and actually read about it or discuss it within this chamber, seem quite extraordinary.’
Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
