Jeremy Kyle rocked… There are three words I never thought I’d say! I’m not a massive fan of Mr Kyle, I’ll admit, although it’s been many years since I’ve watched daytime TV. In fact, Richard & Judy were still presenting from This Morning’s sofa when I last watched! However, I’d heard that in his latest episode of The Kyle Files, Jeremy decides to investigate problems in the facial aesthetics industry. Of course, I had to give it a watch!
The premise
If you’ve never watched The Kyle Files before (I hadn’t), it’s basically a series where Jeremy Kyle investigates high-profile issues impacting Britain today. As a self-confessed fan of Botox (you didn’t think a man who angrily challenges so many people on TV could be that smooth naturally, did you?) Jeremy Kyle’s mission this episode was to find out if all practitioners were as responsible as his own. The answer, of course, was no – he’s clearly had his eyes opened to the crisis in our industry!
The aesthetics crisis
What crisis, you ask? Well, as of this moment, anyone in the UK can train anyone to inject, and inject they do – to any victim willing to let them try! Despite legalities such as accessing prescription-only drugs for treatments and to use in emergencies, these issues seem to be of trivial detail to some practitioners and trainers. Where there is a will there is a way… and where there’s a way there’s an inappropriately qualified person injecting who has been trained by an equally inappropriately qualified person. Messy, eh?!
Inadequate training
It sounds mad, and yet these unregulated training courses do exist. In this episode, Kyle interviewed the owner of a training company who had clearly warned her delegates not to answer his questions about course fees. He felt her £3,500 training course couldn’t possibly make safe practitioners when nurses and doctors undergo training lasting a minimum of three to six years (which makes sense when you think about it!). He made no secret of whose hands he would rather be in. I chuckled when he snapped “This is like trying to interview in Korea” – that’s how evasive these people are. The owner herself clearly wasn’t going to buckle even under Jeremy Kyle’s scrutiny!
The realities of illegal practitioners
If you don’t believe how bad the situation is, I would say definitely watch the part of the episode that followed Kyle’s colleague as she went undercover to a suspicious Essex clinic. There the owner/practitioner (who had no medical qualifications whatsoever!) was willing to inject her without so much as a face to face consultation. Her receptionist had completed a pre-treatment questionnaire on arrival in the waiting area… as if that makes it okay!
Here is the reality: a decision to prescribe cannot be made by someone without a prescribing qualification. If they do, it is illegal and that’s a fact.
Dodgy products, dodgy ethics
Kyle’s colleague then questioned the practitioner about the products she was using… the “anti-wrinkle” product box didn’t even have writing in English printed on it! Make sure you know what you’re being injected with, at least!! You couldn’t make this story up – but sadly, we know this goes on all the time. Indeed, Cherry Healey made a documentary about imported Botox and fillers not so long ago – you can read my review of that here.
Needless to say, Jeremy’s colleague made her excuses and left. I will add at this point that both the training company owner who was interviewed and the clinic filmed undercover are renowned in our industry for making up their own rules!
Save Face
Throughout the episode Kyle spoke extensively with Save Face Director Ashton Collins to get her perspective on the issues involved. She always presents the case of safety in aesthetics so eloquently. I am deeply proud that Skin Deep Clinic is Save Face accredited and on their Professional Standards Authority register – Save Face is recognised by the Government, The Department of Health and NHS England. You can find my official profile here.
Final thoughts
There is increasing media coverage nowadays detailing ‘injection horror stories’ experienced by unsuspecting members of the general public. None more so than lip fillers gone wrong – yes I’ve shared a few of these myself on social media! If this subject interests you like it does me, this episode of The Kyle Files is a must-watch. If it doesn’t, I would still say it’s worth checking out, just to understand the state of the industry right now. As Kyle says himself, “it’s pretty frightening if you’re Joe Public, isn’t it, that you could fall for something that is unclean, unsafe – people don’t know what they’re doing”.
I applaud Jeremy Kyle. He presented the facts in his trademark no-frills way, true to his reputation. Hopefully his angle gave some of his viewers food for thought when choosing a practitioner. In my opinion, any publicity in the pursuit of awareness and safety is to be encouraged. You can watch the whole episode on the Save Face website, here.
Until next time,
Wendy
