Campaigners and healthcare professionals have warned that lives are being put at risk by a growing number of unregulated practitioners performing everything from Botox injections to 'butt lift' procedures without any medical training. An investigation by The Herald has heard of an alarming string of injuries and near misses, including 15 women hospitalised with life-threatening allergic reactions after being injected with counterfeit Botox from China which turned out to be beef gelatine. There are also cases of surgical procedures being carried out in hair salons, high-risk liposuction procedures performed by people straight out of retail jobs, and patients requiring emergency care from plastic surgeons due to "raging infections" after undergoing potentially dangerous thread-lift facials on the high street.
READ MORE: Threats, pain, regret: Can patients sue over botched beauty treatment? How did we get here?: The rise - and transformation - of cosmetic surgery Scotland Botox Explained: How it works, where it came from, and what are the risks? The Herald goes inside Scotland's booming cosmetic sector - Read all the articles here "It is a UK-wide issue but in Scotland we are the laughing stock of Europe," said Dr Nestor Demosthenous, a trustee of the British College of Aesthetic Medicine and specialist in non-surgical facial rejuvenation who set up his practice in Edinburgh, the Mayfield Clinic, in 2016. He questioned why Scotland has not yet tightened regulations nor followed .