IHAS is the regulation authority for Botox and non-surgical treatments launched by the UK government.
This is supported by a website – “Treatments You Can Trust”.
Under this voluntary scheme, clinics can register with the IHAS organisation and are then regularly assessed and audited.
Says Mr Adrian Richards (Expert Cosmetic Surgeon and founder of Cosmetic Courses training centre), “Whilst I think regulation is certainly necessary in the industry, my main concern with the IHAS is that it is voluntary.
This means that some clinics will register and others will not, without it being mandatory for any clinic to register.
The paperwork required to register is very extensive and time consuming, and there is a significant cost to a clinic to register.
The government budget for publicising the IHAS scheme is relatively small and I am by no means sure that it is sufficient to adequately publicise the scheme to the general public.”
Mr Richards’ concerns are therefore that the scheme is:
(1) time consuming and costly;
(2) voluntary; and
(3) may not be publicised well not enough to the general public to gain general acceptance.
Cosmetic Courses hope that Mr Richards’ concerns are proven wrong.
Only time will tell whether the IHAS regulation scheme will be an effective way of policing the Botox and Dermal Filler market in the United Kingdom.
