Sweden’s national legislature and supreme decision-making body has passed a new law on patient safety and regulation within the aesthetics industry.
Currently, the aesthetics specialty in Sweden lacks regulation, with doctors able to operate without specialist training, and practitioners without medical training able to perform injectable treatments.
From July 1, thread lifts, dermal fillers and botulinum toxin injections will only be allowed to be performed by licensed nurses, dentists, and doctors.
President of the Swedish Association of Plastic Surgeons Professor Emma Hansson welcomes the regulation of the aesthetics industry in Sweden. Regarding surgery, Professor Hansson is content that the law requires surgeons to have adequate specialist competence and there is a connection between formal competence and the type of procedure performed. However, Professor Hansson outlined that patient safety could be increased further if the authorities defined which specialist certificate a doctor must have to perform non-surgical aesthetic treatments.
Professor David Sines, chair of the Joint Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP), which has been lobbying the UK Government for regulation, gave his thoughts on the new law. He said, “The Swedish Government has demonstrated due diligence in rising to the challenge of introducing new legislation to define in law who can perform invasive aesthetic treatments, such as injectables and insertion of dermal fillers. However, the new law falls short of defining the national standard of education and training that will be needed to provide members of the public with assurance. The JCCP encourages similar definitive action to be taken by the UK Government in the immediate interest of patient safety.”
