Frostbite alert over £250 ‘fat freeze’ fad
Woman left ‘scarred for life’
DOCTORS have warned of the perils of cosmetic treatments after a salon’s fatfreezing therapy left a woman with serious frostbite.
The 53-year-old patient could be scarred for life after the procedure caused her serious injury.
Cryolipolysis, which destroys fat cells, is becoming increasingly popular in Scotland. The £250 treatment is offered in clinics and beauty salons across the country.
It claims to be a non-surgical and cheaper alternative to liposuction, slimming stubborn fat on areas such as the thighs. A device sucks the skin into a vacuum and cools it, so the fat freezes and dies over two months.
But doctors have reported the case of a woman in Aberdeen who ended up in hospital with frostbite a week after treatment to slim her stomach.
They said she had two wounds on her body, each 5cm by 7cm, that had become ‘increasingly painful’.
Despite this, the salon owner did not tell her to get medical help.
In a report in the Journal of Wound Care, Marc-James Hallam, plastic surgeon at St John’s Hospital, Livingston, West Lothian, said the pain set in as her skin warmed up again – ‘consistent with frostbite’.
She was treated in the plastic surgery outpatient department of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for six weeks until the wounds healed.
Mr Hallam said: ‘This case not only illustrates the danger of seeking cosmetic treatment from unregulated providers, but serves as a reminder that rigorous regulation in this sector is essential.’
Earlier this month, rules came into force requiring medical staff performing cosmetic procedures to be registered with the watchdog Healthcare Improvement Scotland. However, the rules do not cover therapists who apply the same treatments – a loophole experts say must be closed.
A spokesman for the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, Vivek Sivarajan, warned that doctors could see more ‘frostbite’ cases.
He said: ‘This woman has suffered a terrible injury similar to that from contact from a hot oven on the skin. She may never heal without scarring.’ Mr Sivarajan, a director of
‘Suffered a terrible injury’
Glasgow cosmetic clinic Elanic, added: ‘Cryolipolysis does work, unlike a lot of faddy treatments.
‘But if the skin is cooled down too much you get these problems. If the skin is not cooled down enough, the treatment is not as successful.
‘There has been a plethora of these devices on the market but there is no regulation over who can buy them.
‘Some people using these have no idea what they are doing. People just assume that if someone is offering a semi-medical treatment, they must be regulated and so it must be OK.’
The Scottish Government said: ‘We intend to regulate procedures carried out by non-healthcare professionals and are consulting the profession and regulatory bodies on how this can be done.’