Thursday, June 2, 2011

Injecting online Botox a health risk

COSMETIC physicians are warning of the dangers of self-injecting substances bought online. The health threat has been revealed as more and more patients report to doctors and ask them to inject substances - such as Botox and ''dermal fillers''- for them.

Such patients might also already have self-administered substances or got friends to do it for them.

The president of the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia, Dr Gabrielle Caswell, said doctors would not agree to administer a product that had not been approved by any regulatory body in Australia, and consumers were naive to think that because regulations about medical procedures were strict here that a product bought online might pass the same safety standards.

She said there was no way of knowing what was in a substance bought over the internet and there was a high risk of infection that might spread to other parts of the body. Other side effects include scarring and in an extreme circumstance, anaphylactic shock.

''In Australia the injecting is a doctor task. You need to understand the anatomy, you need to know the patient's medical history. I don't think you can short-change that process.

''If you use legitimate products in a legitimate environment with legitimately trained doctors, it's quite safe.''

The most extreme case Dr Caswell has seen is that of a woman who bought a ''dermal filler substance'' labelled "HA 40 mg/ml" over the internet.

The woman's reaction to the injection of the substance was ''severe and abnormal swelling'' to her lips and the development of infected abscesses on other parts of her face. She reported being in great pain and was unhappy with the effect it had on her appearance.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Ageing warned consumers against such online purchases.

''Unapproved products purchased over the internet are not evaluated for safety and may pose a public health risk,'' she said.

''Many drugs and cosmetic products are imported by Australians from overseas suppliers over the internet. Some of these products have been found to contain undeclared prescription-only ingredients or prohibited substances.''


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment