Wolverhampton City Council has served a notice to a business offering non-surgical ‘Brazilian Butt Lift’ buttock enhancement treatments, becoming the first UK local authority to take action due to such a procedure.
The premises in question is Clinique Modele Aesthetics in Tettenhall Wood, which was found to be offering non-surgical buttock augmentation injections with dermal filler. This is deemed to be a high-risk procedure due to the risk of potential complications including pulmonary embolism, sepsis, deep vein thrombosis and fat and skin necrosis.
After assessment, it was deemed by the council that the clinic’s staff did not have sufficient knowledge or training to ‘undertake buttock augmentation’, ‘adequately recognise and deal with complications that may arise during the procedure’ or ‘ensure adequate consent, including recognition of the need for psychological assessment of some individuals’.
Consequently, action was taken under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 so the clinic is prohibited from performing this procedure at the premises or anywhere else in the UK. The decision was made to take this step despite the fact that there is currently no standard licensing scheme in England for businesses offering the procedure.
Councillor Steve Evans, City of Wolverhampton Council’s cabinet member for city environment and climate change, said, “We have based our decision to issue this prohibition notice on expert medical advice and with the aim of preventing any harm coming to our residents. The provision of these procedures is currently unlicensed, and although work is underway to agree a standardised licencing scheme, it is not known how long this will take. Therefore, we have taken this action in the meantime as we believe people could be putting themselves at real risk.”
He continued, “When it is not carried out with the required level of training and skills, this type of procedure can cause serious injury, pain and even death. We do not want anyone to suffer these terrible outcomes. We are able to issue prohibition notices where we have concerns, and we will continue to take a pro-active approach. This will involve identifying and investigating other businesses offering this service.”
