📌 Key Takeaways
3,002 complications were treated by BCAM doctors in 2024
87% of all cases involved dermal fillers
67% were caused by practitioners other than the treating doctor
1,239 filler cases and 668 toxin cases were linked to beauticians
21% of BCAM members were approached by under-18s seeking aesthetic treatment
The British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM) has launched a nationwide public-safety campaign, “Vet It Before You Get It,” alongside the release of its Annual Clinical Review 2025, revealing that 87% of aesthetic-treatment complications in the UK are linked to dermal fillers.
The findings highlight a growing public-health risk driven by unregulated injectables, counterfeit products, and procedures performed by non-medical practitioners, intensifying calls for tighter regulation of non-surgical aesthetic medicine.
INDEX
Complications Concentrated Outside Medical Practice
BCAM’s Annual Clinical Review draws on data from 383 doctors and dentists practising aesthetic medicine across the UK.
While procedures performed by trained medical professionals remain overwhelmingly safe, the Review shows that most complications originate from treatments delivered outside regulated medical settings.
Dermal fillers accounted for the majority of reported harm, followed by botulinum toxin cases, laser burns, and thread-lift complications. BCAM warns that easy access to injectables on the high street has created a systemic safety gap, rather than isolated clinical failure.
“Vet It Before You Get It” — Shifting Responsibility Before Harm Occurs
In response to these findings, BCAM launched “Vet It Before You Get It,” a national awareness campaign designed to empower patients to verify safety before undergoing treatment.
At the centre of the initiative is a Pre-Consultation Safety Questionnaire, urging patients to confirm:
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Medical registration of the practitioner (GMC, GDC, NMC, GPhC)
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Clinic registration and insurance status
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Use of CE- or UKCA-marked injectable products
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Clear emergency and complication-management protocols
BCAM strongly advises patients not to proceed if practitioners cannot provide transparent and verifiable answers.
Editor’s Perspective | What Matters Beyond the Trend
The significance of BCAM’s findings extends far beyond a single statistic.
At first glance, the headline figure — 87% of complications linked to dermal fillers — may appear to indicate a “filler problem.”
In reality, it exposes a structural failure in how non-surgical aesthetic medicine is governed, delivered, and commercialised.
Dermal fillers have become the most accessible aesthetic intervention: easy to market, quick to perform, and widely perceived as low risk.
That perception, combined with unregulated practitioners, opaque supply chains, and price-driven consumer behaviour, creates a predictable outcome.
BCAM’s data clarifies a crucial point:
the risk is not driven by innovation or demand, but by the absence of enforceable medical accountability.
This pattern is not unique to the UK.
In many countries, non-surgical aesthetics continue to exist in a regulatory grey zone — positioned somewhere between beauty services and medical care.
Yet the biological consequences of injectables, energy-based devices, and longevity treatments remain medical in nature, regardless of how the market labels them.
What truly matters beyond the trend is this:
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Medical risk does not disappear because a procedure is “non-surgical.”
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Unchecked market expansion shifts the burden of harm onto patients — and onto doctors tasked with managing the aftermath.
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Regulation and transparency are not barriers to growth; they are prerequisites for sustainability.
The UK’s experience demonstrates that delay carries a measurable cost — one already visible in clinics across the country.
Summary
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BCAM reports that 87% of UK aesthetic complications involve dermal fillers
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The majority stem from non-medical or unregulated practice
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Patient-safety campaigns now emphasise pre-treatment verification
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The issue reflects structural governance failure, not product innovation
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Regulatory reform is emerging as an unavoidable next step
Conclusion
The BCAM data marks a clear inflection point for aesthetic medicine in the UK.
As regulators move toward licensing and tighter oversight, the broader lesson is increasingly difficult to ignore:
Low barriers to entry do not equate to low medical risk.
NERO’s Mission
NERO reports on global developments in aesthetic medicine
through the lens of structure, ethics, and long-term consequence.
Rather than amplifying surface-level trends,
we examine how medical practices are regulated, commercialised, and normalised —
and what is reshaped when innovation moves faster than existing frameworks.
As aesthetic medicine expands beyond traditional clinical boundaries,
NERO focuses on the grey zones where definitions blur, responsibilities shift,
and medical decision-making becomes increasingly complex.
In an era of accelerating innovation,
NERO remains committed to transparency, critical scrutiny,
and responsible reporting —
so readers can understand not only what is new,
but what deserves closer examination before it becomes standard practice.
