When you say practitioners should have a medical background, does that mean doctors only, not nurses?

Hi and goodness no, I’m not against nurses doing cosmetic injections, as long as they have lots of training and experience with relevant aesthetic products and techniques.

When I say that aesthetic practitioners should have a medical background – that’s a basic starting point. Whether these practitioners are nurses or doctors, surgeons or dentists,  what really matters is how much training they’ve done and how much experience they have notched up, putting that training into practice. Can they recognise and handle the complications that can occur with cosmetic procedures? If they inject filler into a blood vessel for example, and block it (which can lead to tissue necrosis, where the surrounding skin tissue dies, if not swiftly treated) will they spot what they’ve done? And do they have a prescribing qualification, in order to be able to obtain the prescription injectable product needed to dissolve that blockage? These are all things to think about and factor in.

I don’t want, say, my GP (who has a medical background) offering me injections of fillers etc unless or until she has really learned the art and science of medical aesthetics.  If you look through the practitioners section on the website you’ll see there are nurses, doctors, dentists and surgeons on there.

NB – There’s also a handful of top laser practitioners listed on the site here who don’t have a medical background, but who have years of experience so they are extremely good at what they do., which is why they’re on the list.