I’ve said it so many times before – Don’t Panic People. I’ve been working in aesthetics for 10 years and seen it all. In fact, it’s my 10th anniversary next week (You can all buy me a nice present) and today, yet again, I’m seeing non-medics running scared after a woman was featured on TV shouting out about a non-medic botching a treatment.
After that was on telly I’ve just read one girl on a forum say that after two years training (Which is loads) and then seeing the interview on This Morning that she is “more anxious than ever that I’m wasting my time trying to build a business as a non-medic”. No, you’re not wasting your time. No-one is going to stop you.
She says she even trained alongside medics! Of-course you’re not wasting your time – and you sound like a great example of a non medic who takes her professional and responsibility seriously – just like the vast majority of us.
I’ve been there, got the T-shirt and am now even writing my story about 10 years fighting adversity in a book which I think will be called Beyond the Needle. If you think it’s hard in aesthetics now, you have no idea what the pioneers in the industry like me went through in the early days.
The abuse, the reporting to this organisation and that – the criticism, the TV interviews with Piers Morgan and front-page news in the national newspapers.
It’s been tough over the last 10 years, but I fully expect to enjoy at least another 10 years helping train non-medics and medics alike. And here’s why:
Firstly, and most importantly The JCCP who are tasked by the Government to sort out the industry have said they will not report again until later this year – years after this all started and with no plans for a change in the law. Their recent Ten Point Plan for our industry does not advocate a change in the law and despite them calling for dermal fillers to become a ‘Prescription only Device’ which I can’t agree with at all, their plan is easy to understand, and it gives both medics and non-medics a clear understanding of what the JCCP hopes to achieve.
You should read it – it’s here:
JCCP 10-Point Plan For Safer Regulation In The Aesthetic Sector
I’ve always said we should focus on the best training especially with regards to adverse effects and first aid, the best procedures and in the best clinical environment to make sure clients are given the best possible care.
There will always be bad apples in our industry and a new BBC Investigation called “Under The Skin, The Botched Beauty Business” highlights some unsavoury practices.
That’ll probably create more panic.
But as long as we are professional and proud of the tens of the millions of treatments we perform
for happy clients then we have nothing to worry about.
My message is simple – Don’t panic – get professional!!
While I’ve been writing the book (Which you can get on our mailing list for here:
I’ve remembered some of the things that I experienced in the early days that would make your toes curl! Girls used to come to me for training in those early days because I was standing up for non- medics. So, nothing has really changed. I’m still standing up for non-medics and I always will.
I am even asking the TV stations to let me on and defend our industry when these cases come up – who else is doing that?
There are so many training providers now that some of them are going to be rubbish – and train bad practitioners. This is where I agree with the JCCP – let’s stamp them out and get nationally recognised training standards for both medics and non-medics.
Until then crack on and keep up the training and the expert work we all do 99.99% of the time.
