A shocking report by British MPs warns that cosmetic procedures such as the Brazilian butt lift (BBL) are being carried out in scandalous conditions – in Airbnbs, hotel rooms, garden sheds and even public toilets – seriously putting patients' lives at risk.
BBL procedures should be banned altogether, while laws on cosmetic fillers and Botox should be tightened, according to a report by the Women and Equalities Committee in the House of Commons. MPs say people are being harmed by an unregulated system described as the “Wild West” of cosmetic medicine.
The report notes that more and more people are turning to non-surgical cosmetic procedures, driven by body image concerns and content they see on social media. Online influencers, the commission says, are “normalizing” high-risk and potentially deadly procedures like BBLs, which involve injecting fillers into the buttocks to make them appear fuller.
The cross-party committee accuses ministers of “not acting quickly enough” to put in place a licensing system for people who carry out these procedures – often without any formal training. Currently, there are no clear regulations in Britain about who can carry out non-surgical cosmetic procedures, such as fillers, botulinum toxin injections, laser therapies or chemical peels.
According to the report, the lack of regulation has led to extreme situations where procedures have been carried out in unsafe environments, causing serious health harm. The Commission welcomes the government's proposals to ensure that high-risk procedures, including BBLs, are only carried out by authorised health professionals, noting that this would effectively constitute a ban on them.
However, the report warns that the government is delaying: interventions with high harm, such as “liquid” BBLs, which have also caused deaths, should be banned immediately without further consultation. Meanwhile, a licensing system for lower-risk procedures should be put in place within this parliamentary term.
During the inquest, MPs heard moving evidence. One woman, Sasha Dean, tearfully told how she ended up in intensive care with sepsis and spent five weeks in hospital after a BBL failed. There was also the tragic case of Alice Webb, a 33-year-old mother-of-five from Gloucestershire, who died after a failed BBL in September 2024.
The chair of the committee, Sarah Owen, said high-risk procedures such as BBLs and breast augmentations with fillers should be banned immediately, without delay. She stressed that individuals without formal training were carrying out highly dangerous procedures in unsafe environments, putting the public at serious risk.
The report also recalls that as early as 2013, NHS leaders warned that a person undergoing a non-surgical cosmetic procedure had as little protection as someone buying a toothbrush. More than a decade later, according to MPs, the only thing that has changed is the increase in the number of people with life-changing or life-threatening injuries.
The commission is also calling on the NHS to collect data on cosmetic procedures carried out abroad, as many patients are being harmed in cheap clinics outside Britain and then seeking remedial treatment on the public health service.
In 2024, Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated that he would work to increase the safety of Britons traveling abroad for cosmetic procedures, after several deaths.
For its part, the Ministry of Health and Social Care said the government is taking strong measures to curb “cosmetic cowboys” and eliminate dangerous treatments, ensuring that only qualified professionals carry out high-risk procedures. The institution called on citizens to check the qualifications and insurance of service providers and avoid treatments that look “suspiciously cheap”, while promising to respond fully to the commission’s report in due course. /GazetaExpress/
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