Botched Beauty
In 2018, more than 17 million minimally invasive cosmetic procedures and surgeries were performed in the United States. This represents a 2 percent increase from the year before. But prices for these procedures can be high, and as result some people opt for the black market, risking permanent damage to their bodies.
“A lot of these medical spas that are popping up just want the end goal of making money,” said Doctor Amir Parvinchi. “So they will place RN’s (Registered Nurses), who are not supervised, for injecting people, and there are a lot of complications.”
Breast Augmentation is the most performed cosmetic procedure, costing around $3,800. Black market practices can be far cheaper, using industrial silicone and watered down silicone, leaving women with potential disfigurement, and even death.
“Everything that we use is FDA regulated,” said Nurse Practitioner Esmeralda Rodriguez. “There are a lot of illegal things out there: filler and botox things that look like the real thing, and are not.”
Botox is a toxin that is safe when injected in small doses. It is important to visit a certified dermatologist or a plastic surgeon to receive a safe amount of botox.
“One thing that should be a red flag [to consumers] is ‘botox banks’,” said Bella Skin and Body Medical Aesthetics Director Natalie Dempsey. “Some are real, and the botox is actually real, but many are not. If you are getting it at a price that seems too low, it is [probably] too good to be true.”
Non-invasive cosmetic procedures are safer than invasive surgical procedures, and can produce the same result for patients. But non-invasive procedures are not permanent, and last, on average, about three months.
“Before [these non-invasive procedures were available], people used to spend a lot of money and get facelifts, which were very expensive,” Parvinchi said. “Some of these [cheaper non-invasive or minimally invasive] procedures are kind of replacing those. You also reduce the risk of infection and bleeding astronomically when you compare it to surgery.”
More and more people are leaving the country for cosmetic procedures to save money. Brazil is now the plastic surgery capital of the world.
“Even in America, there are loopholes [for practitioners to get around licensing rules], and we are highly regulated by the FDA,” Dempsey said. “A lot of different countries don’t have these regulations. They will inject you with silicone.”
The most common side effects from procedures are hematoma, which is a pocket of blood that looks like a large bruise, and infections.
“Several months ago we had a lady come in who had a big abscess in her buttocks area because she had this Brazilian lift,” Parvinchi said. “Whether it was done in a non sterile fashion [or not], it caused a big infection in her backside, which tracked down to her lower extremities”.
The global cosmetic procedure industry is expected to be worth almost $44 billion by 2025.
“I feel like it’s become so popular,” said Rodriguez. “[It’s] more popular than going to get a facelift or… a chin implant.”
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