The health minister has declared the country deserves better than being misled by cosmetic surgeons, some of whom have left patients disfigured, as the states and territories consider unwinding a ban on testimonials in the industry.
The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed last week how some cosmetic surgeons had built huge followings on social media, spruiking their patients’ new breasts, buttocks and muscled physiques to a generation inundated with images of surgically enhanced ideals of beauty online.
But some cosmetic surgeons failed to live up to their glitzy advertising, using heavy-handed legal tactics to avoid negative reviews online from patients dissatisfied or in pain.
“Australians were rightly shocked by the devastating revelations uncovered by the 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers joint investigation into cowboy cosmetic surgeons,” Health Minister Mark Butler said in a statement. “Australians seeking these treatments should not be misled by medical practitioners, non-specialist surgeons or those without appropriate surgical training.”
Butler would not say what action the government would take, especially on a state and territory push underway in Queensland to unwind a patchily enforced ban on testimonial advertising by the industry, but promised to consider two reviews under way. The Victorian government has recently closed consultation on further regulation of cosmetic surgeons — a title any doctor with minimal surgical training can use — and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is looking at the industry.