Toxic or counterfeit products, illegal clinics, botox applied in hairdressers. There are more and more complaints of intrusion in Portugal

Pressure for a perfect body is leading many to turn to cheaper solutions. There are worrying cases reaching the offices of real experts, such as that of a young woman who was left without lips after an infection

Complaints about aesthetic procedures being carried out by people without qualifications, as well as the use of toxic or counterfeit products, are increasing in Portugal.

The portrait is confirmed to CNN Portugal by three experts in Aesthetic Medicine as well as by the Portuguese Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SPME), which even created a department to combat intrusion.

Intrusion is a crime committed by someone who practices a professional activity without being legally qualified to do so.

“The number of complaints [de intrusismo] has been increasing”, confirms SPME. Between 2016 (when the office dedicated to this issue was created) and 2021, around 300 complaints had been received. In 2022 alone, 108 were analyzed, in 2023 another 177.

“It is possible that these numbers will tend to stabilize/drop, since a good part of the complaints we receive now are from entities/professionals that have already been previously analyzed and whose processes have already been forwarded to the competent authorities”, highlights the entity.

However, more and more cases with complications are arriving at the offices of Aesthetic Medicine specialists. As the world of aesthetic procedures continues to be inaccessible to many, there are those who, thirsty for a perfect body, surrender to those who have no technical knowledge or who end up applying toxic products to them, sometimes purchased on the Internet.

Doctors Sofia Carvalho, Andreia Monteiro and Isabel Hermegildo recognize that this is a phenomenon that is generating increasing concern among professionals in the field. And they warn that it is not always possible to reverse the effects of such practices.

“We have received several cases of unsuccessful treatments by non-medical professionals, especially victims of filler treatments with illegal products, which are definitive products, which cannot be injected into either the face or the body”, says Sofia Carvalho, explaining that “often” People are told that these products – for sale on the Internet, in illegal clinics or in hair salons – are “hyaluronic acid” or botox.

This is a reality that the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) is also aware of: by July 2023, the latest report released, it had initiated 90 criminal proceedings for usurpation of aesthetic medicine functions.

“There are situations that we can only improve and reduce the impact and consequences”, he adds. On the day of the interview, Sofia Carvalho showed us the case of a young woman who lost her lips after injecting a toxic product.

“We who are doctors are aware of the risk, we know what we are doing and where the danger is, so we are cautious, we know how to resolve complications that may happen”, argues Andreia Monteiro.