Botox being administered and moved illegally in several counties, RTÉ documentary reveals

RTÉ Investigates found Botox is being illegally moved through hair salons, prescription medications are easy to buy and people are being directed to change labels to avoid being caught.

The investigation also found prescription medications are being moved across the Border.

There was an increase of more than 400pc in the number of Botox products seized by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) last year.

Four successful prosecutions for Botox have been secured by the HRPA in the past 10 years.

The investigation by RTÉ found links to illegal Botox use in counties Dublin, Clare, Carlow, Westmeath, Cork, Armagh and Limerick.

Today's News in 90 Seconds - March 4th 2024

"There is a fundamental misunderstanding about what the actual aesthetics industry is and about the products that are being used,” said beauty industry expert Nikki Dwyer.

“One of the problems that present in A&E's clinics around the country is botched filler. Filler is not considered to be a prescription drug. It's a medical device.

"So anybody can use a medical device. I can go and do a two-day online course on how to inject fillers and I can get insured and legally inject fillers in this country."

Through the investigation, aesthetic clinics advertising on social media were found referencing an online academy called Lips for Kiss (LFK).

The LFK website advertised 20-minute videos with training on how to administer Botox. After watching the video, RTÉ reporter Pamela Fraher was sent a certificate showing she had “successfully completed the course Botox by Lips for Kiss”.

Only a doctor, dentist or registered nurse under direction of a medical doctor can administer Botox under Irish law.

"This is a prescription only medicine. In Ireland the rules are clear. And anyone else is acting illegally,”  Chairperson of the Irish Faculty of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine Dr Eithne Brenner told RTÉ.

Undercover filming carried out as part of the RTÉ Investigates programme found one unlicensed individual operating a beauty salon from a bedroom in her Dublin apartment and advertising through Facebook.

"You don’t need to sterilise, with Botox I'm using a very small insulin needle,” they told RTÉ’s undercover reporter.

"That's just opening up you up for so many risks. Infection, abscess. Of course, you have to sterilise before an injection,” Aesthetics Complications Expert group member Dr Sana Askary said.

The documentary will show prescription products including Botox being flown into Newry, Co Armagh and collected by beauticians across the country.

"You put them in your bag, drive across the border. No police, no customs, no nothing,” a supplier selling unlicenced Botox from Korea told the undercover reporter.

The supplier named in the programme said people from all over the country come to pick up the products, including one woman from Clare “buying £4,000 to £5,000 worth of stuff every month”.

The President of the Irish Association of Plastic Surgeons Professor Jack Kelly said he was “shocked” and “stunned” by the undercover footage and patients are being put at risk.

RTÉ Investigates: Botox & Beauty at Any Costs airs at 9.35pm on Monday, March 4 on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.