Half of top 10 beauty treatments worthless

Five of the 10 most commonly used medical beauty treatments are without scientific support and, at the same time, impose high risk on patients, resulting in skin inflammation or even death, said the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Hong Kong on Monday.

Those five no-fact-based treatments include three types of whitening injections, platelet rich plasma (PRP) - which claims to be able to revitalize skin and reduce wrinkles, and phosphatidylcholine - which is promoted as effective in helping people to lose weight and stay slim, a survey by the society revealed.

The city was shocked after a woman died and three others suffered serious side effects after a beauty treatment administered by a beauty salon - DR Medical Beauty Group - in Causeway Bay in October. The government has assembled the Steering Committee on Review of the Regulation of Private Healthcare Facilities. One of its four working groups will focus on identifying high-risk medical procedures and beauty treatments. The group is expected to complete its review in the second quarter of next year. Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man estimated that it will take about two years to prepare legislation. Before that, Ko promised the Department of Health will strengthen its scrutiny over beauty treatment advertisements.

"The public are laymen, and they trust the doctors. One of the tactics used by beauty centers is that they claim that their treatments are carried out by registered doctors, so as to assure the customers, especially after the DR's accident," said William Chui Chun-ming, president of the hospital pharmacists' society. "However, being carried out by registered doctors doesn't guarantee the safety of the treatment, even when the doctors are specialists."

Chui said some treatments should be done by specialists with proper training. Admitting it is hard for consumers to do the qualification check, Chui believed the government should take the responsibility and establish a qualification examination system and require that such treatments be done only by doctors with proper training, as is the case in some foreign countries.

Chui said beauty centers exaggerate and even fabricate the effect of the beauty treatments, even for those with authentication from US Food and Drug Administration.

Take the PRP treatment as an example, the treatment involves a similar procedure, as the one taken in the DR accident, of drawing the blood from the consumers and concentrating the platelets before injecting the blood back into the patient's body.

It is notable that the platelet is only used to stop the patient from bleeding after major surgery. Chui went on that there is a high risk to take PRP, because the procedures need to be taken in a bacteria-free environment, or it will result in sepsis, which claimed the life of a woman in DR's accident.

Even after last month's fatal mishap, the society found that six of the 15 centers it surveyed still provide such services.

Chui also pointed out that some beauty centers tend to use some "fancy and complicated" procedures as a way of adding to charges. But these procedures not only are unnecessary but also pose high risks.

Earlier in November, the department reviewed about 400 advertisements and checked half of the 20 related centers, but no violation was found.

Chui said during the transition period, before the committee's report comes out, the department should take some measures to protect consumers and warn people to check the qualifications of the doctors before taking medical beauty treatments.

In response to an inquiry from China Daily, the department said that at the completion of the review, a list of medical beauty treatments prohibited from being carried out in beauty salons will be released. That list will also be factored into new legislation to regulate the industry.

In the meantime, law enforcement units will deal with medical beauty companies offering high risk treatments.