The beastly cost of beauty's laser mavericks (2024)

MELBOURNE'S booming laser treatment industry is being fuelled by cheap, ready-to-use machines from China — and a complete lack of industry regulation of beauty therapists.

The president of the Cosmetic Physicians Society of Australasia, Mary Dingley, says she is extremely concerned about the alarming number of untrained therapists using intense pulsed light (IPL) devices and lasers.

"There are instances where melanomas have been treated with intense pulsed light sources totally inappropriately," she said. "That's quite a dangerous situation. They should be excised."

Dr Dingley said IPL machines could be imported from China for as little as $5000. Often they were not registered, as required, by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which regulates the supply of therapeutic and medical devices.

"These machines just arrive on your doorstep and away you go," she said.

"Because there is such intense competition, people are looking for very, very cheap machines and providing cheap treatments and promoting it for inappropriate things."

A recent survey of laser and IPL devices by Marshall Segan, a director of Premier Medical Technologies, found that fewer than half were actually registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, which lists equipment that can legally be imported, supplied or exported.

The survey identified about 170 beauty products and machines available in Australia that had not been registered as required.

The illegal importation or supply of medical devices that are not registered attracts penalties of up to 12 months' jail and a $110,000 fine for individuals and a $550,000 fine for companies.

Mr Segan reported the matter to the TGA in July, warning that many dozens of IPL and laser systems presented potential dangers to the public due to non-compliance with the law.

He told The Sunday Age that the TGA did not appear to have taken any action.

"My feeling is the TGA is letting down Australian taxpayers in a pathetic way," he said.

Mr Segan said he had been told by TGA officials that the agency had more than 2000 complaints about devices and did not have sufficient resources to cope.

A spokeswoman for the TGA denied there was a backlog of applications for registration of lasers and IPL machines.

The situation in Australia was not good enough, according to Kathryn Anderson, a consultant to Victoria's Health Services Commissioner, Beth Wilson. Ms Anderson spent four years working for the British Healthcare Commission, which acts as an independent watchdog for health care in England. Her job was to inspect beauty salons to ensure compliance with regulations covering lasers and IPLs.

Ms Anderson told The Sunday Age that in England therapists had to be registered and properly trained and were required to follow treatment protocols written by medical experts. Salons and machines had to be registered.

She said most "before" and "after" photographs used on laser clinic websites appeared to have been provided by the manufacturers of the machines used at the salon, rather than by the practitioner's own clients.

Ms Wilson said such photos were misleading. "You have no idea if it's the same person in the photograph," she said.

Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria president Joanna Flynn said some people who underwent cosmetic procedures were very vulnerable.

The board was concerned about "before and after" images used by some clinics but so far had not succeeded in having them banned.