Is Lip Enhancement Treatment in London and UK Safe?

London lip enhancement clinics are famous  all around the world. You don’t need much statistics to know the hype created by lip augmentation in London; all you need is to visit the Harley Street in noon. Being a doctor working there, I am familiar with this scene: people from every corner of the world wandering in search of the right doctor to make them young and beautiful with many of them being there for the famous London lip enhancement treatment.

Have your ever wonder why people visit UK just for having lip enhancement treatment in London when they can have it back in their home countries? It’s all because lip enhancement treatment in London is much safer than in other European countries.

Your lips are definitely important. They add a special flavor to your facial appeal with their redness. They are prominent and you can’t hide if they lumpy or asymmetric. Not just beauty, they are an important functional organs too. You use them during eating, drinking, speaking and smiling. You can’t perform these functions if your lips get swelled or stiffened. Therefore, it’s understandable that you make sure that the treatment for your lips is safe and will not lead to risks like swelling, bleeding, infections, scarring, stiffening, allergy and even asymmetry.

Fortunately, in London, lip augmentation and improvement treatment is safer, thanks to the regulations introduced by UK government. But before you learn about them, read some details of the types of methods available for lip enhancement in London, the risks involve with each treatment and finally, the regulation ensuring the safety against those risks.

Methods of Lip Enhancement Treatments in London

Basically lip enhancement can be done through two ways: surgically and non-surgically. However, there are many variations within each method. The non-surgical method for lip enhancement involves injections. There are multiple types of injectable products though among which the most popular product of lip enhancement in London clinics is hyaluronic acid based fillers. Although they produce only temporary results, they are safer than other products like Artecol and fat injections where there is high chance of allergy and swelling.

The surgical methods available for lip enhancement treatment in London include fat grafting, collagen grafting/alloderm, local flap grafting and implantation of some other synthetic materials like SoftForm. However, fat grafting is getting more popular day by day due to its permanent results.

Risks with Surgical Lip Enhancement

Lip enhancement surgery involves all the risks common to any surgical treatment. As it involves injection of local anesthesia, there is chance of allergic reaction. Some cases of nerve damage during lip enhancement surgery have also been reported in the media. Last, if you face any problem with the implant you’d have to go through another risky surgery for the removal of grafted material.

Risks with Non-Surgical Lip Enhancement

Non-surgical lip enhancement is usually not as risky as the surgical ones. That’s the reason behind the increase in the use of non-surgical lip enhancement treatments in London. The side effects are usually temporary like bleeding or redness or swelling. The most serious side effects are usually rare like ulceration of lips, allergy, infections or cysts formation. You might also suffer from lip asymmetry because of misplacement of injection or due to injecting over or smaller dose of filler. However, if you have opted for temporary fillers like Restylene or Radiesse, you’d get your old shape of lips back after some months. The asymmetry would neither be permanent nor would it require you to go through another session of injections or surgery. Your body will automatically absorb the filler.

Regulations for Surgical Safety

An organization with the name of British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has been working since 1982. The main job of this organization is to make improvement in the surgical education to ensure that the cosmetic surgical practices become safer for the public. They also give guidelines to people planning to go through any cosmetic surgical procedure and believe that in many practitioners prefer the grafting of tissues from patients’ own body rather synthetic tissues. The Department of Health also makes guidelines for people planning to go for surgical lip augmentation treatment in London or somewhere else in the UK. They are currently working to ensure that all private clinics on the Harley street London have qualified practitioners and, if there is any case of poor performance, they can guide you about the medical and legal procedure to take. They have recently recommended the government to ensure that

• In case of any surgery (including lip surgery) the surgeon must provide a record of procedures involved to the patients and their GP.
• All cosmetic procedure should get registered so that if any complication or concern occurs, the authorities can have a record of it and they can investigate if it is cause by product failure.
• A written consent signed by the patient should be made compulsory with all details of implication and risk of procedure so that the patients have all the information before they give consent for the procedure.
• The advertisements for non-surgical treatment should be realistic and for this a code of conduct needs to be developed.
• The cosmetic procedures should be included in health insurances to save the patients from the cost in case of any complication. (Source: Department of Health)

Regulations for Non-Surgical Safety

Since the most popular non-surgical lip enhancement treatment in London clinics is of dermal fillers, you ought to be aware of the efforts made by the department of health for securing their use. First, fillers have become a prescription-only product in the UK and you are not allowed to purchase them unless a qualified cosmetic doctor prescribes it. In their press release on cosmetic interventions they have reported their review committee has decided that the manufacturing of dermal fillers should be regularized just like other implants to make sure that only fillers are available in market that have passed the safety tests, and only those doctors apply them who have the relevant expertise. (Source: Department of Health)

So if you are planning to have this treatment, remember that London lip enhancement treatment is the safest and well-regulated. Harley Street London looks forward to you.