Botox clinics planning to open from lockdown six weeks early
HIGH-PROFILE Botox clinics are planning to reopen from lockdown a month and a half early in spite of government warnings that close contact jobs could create a second wave of Covid-19.
One prominent chain of salons is offering clients appointments from June 8, in the second phase of reopening the economy, rather than the designated government date of July 20.
The clinic has already begun taking deposits.
But the chairperson of the Dermatology Aesthetics
Nurses Association Ireland, Patricia Molloy, told the Sunday Independent: “Until the Department of Health says the industry can reopen, then no clinic should do so.”
Molloy said she could see the situation “from both sides” and had sought a meeting with the Minister for Health Simon Harris to see if it is possible for the industry to reopen, albeit safely, in early June.
“I have written to Mr Harris and, if everyone else is opening up in phase two, in two weeks’ time, and cases continue to fall then, as medical professionals, we should be allowed to open too,” she said.
On the services which can be provided during the pandemic, Molloy, who runs the Dublin-based Dermaclinic, said: “We will not be able to administer treatments such as micro-dermabrasion, CO2 lasers or any other treatment that will create a plume or aerosol in the air. Injections are safe once they are administrated aseptically.”
She said fully licensed cosmetic clinics should be treated no differently from other health professionals.
“At the end of the day, if other medical professionals are opening up, then we, as nurses and doctors who are trained in infection control, are all fully qualified too, so I think it is about being fair,” she said.
On the fact that some people may see the treatments as vanity during a health crisis, she said: “It may be pure vanity but we have all been through a huge amount recently and if it makes people feel good and lifts their spirits...”
She said the fact that we live in a looks-conscious society is nothing to be ashamed of.
“People love their Botox, no matter who wants to debate it and this industry has developed in a way that nobody ever thought it would, so if people want to look their best and if that’s what makes them feel good, then who is anybody to criticise it?”
Asked whether the industry’s services had been in demand, Molloy said appearance still rates high on the agenda of many despite the life-anddeath crisis on their door.
“I have a list a mile long — they are all on the waiting list. Emails are coming in every day,” she said.
On what clients can expect from beauty treatments in the near future, she said: “We will have a full Perspex screen on our faces, masks, a fresh apron for each patient and gloves, but it’s going to be a very different experience.
“We will have to tell people ‘once you are closer than two metres, don’t talk to us’, which will be difficult because we have such a good relationship with patients.”
The huge demand for cosmetic treatments in a global health pandemic may not come as a surprise to many beauty-conscious consumers who also drove the huge demand for anti-wrinkle injections following the economic crash of 2008.
In 2011, David Pyott, chief executive of Allergan, told the Financial Times that during the depths of the recession in 2009, Botox users continued to stick with the product but used it less frequently.
He said: “During the recession, I used to say that for ladies, the face is the one outfit you wear every day. Appearance is high on the list of priorities and people didn’t stop unless they were in foreclosure or some dreadful circumstance.”
Botox was first approved 30 years ago for the treatment of eye muscle twitches and generates about €1bn in annual worldwide sales.