Save Face Register – What is It?

The new Save Face register launched at the end of September 2014 in response to criticism that the cosmetic surgery and treatments industry does not do enough to protect the public from unsafe practitioners 

However, while it is free for patients to use, there is a fee for practitioners. The starting point, based on one practitioner in one clinic location, is a “Pre-qualification” fee of – £199.00 followed by a further payment of £499.00 which is paid on passing the pre-qualification.

Businesses with additional practitioners and locations will find that the costs soon add up and it would appear that many have been deterred from registering. 2 months after the launch of the website, numbers of registered practitioners in Manchester and Leeds is zero and only a handful in central London.

The website www.safeface.co.uk includes a database of doctors, nurses and dentists who are fully insured and have been accredited as safe and qualified to carry out non-surgical cosmetic treatments such as botox and fillers. The accreditation process includes inspection of all premises as well as checking that practitioners operate against best practice standards and have appropriate policies and procedures to support this.

Ashton Honeyball, Director of Save Face, said:

“This register empowers the patient for the first time in this industry. They now have somewhere to go to find a safe and qualified person to carry out the treatment they want. They can rest assured that the person they will see has been thoroughly checked, their premises visited and that everything is in place for them to have a safe and professional experience.

For too long, patients have been left in the dark when looking for treatments. It’s not acceptable that they can just fall into the hands of cowboy practitioners offering reduced price treatments that they are not experienced in administering in clinics that are not fit for purpose. Save Face aims to arm the consumer with factual and unbiased information and expert advice and guidance to help them navigate their way to a safe and professional service.

Treatments like fillers have almost become every day beauty treatments for many people, but, in the wrong hands, they are potentially dangerous procedures. I fear that the current figures for bad results are just the tip of the iceberg. Many people are still too ashamed or embarrassed to come forward and speak out when a treatment has gone wrong. As well as helping patients to find a safe practitioner, we are also there to support them if they’ve had a bad experience too.

We want patients to be part of the change in this industry so we are asking them to leave feedback about their experiences with us wherever they can. If something went wrong, we want to know. And we also want to know if a practitioner delivered excellent results. It will help to raise standards across the industry.

Every single day we are adding more and more accredited practitioners to the register so we anticipate the numbers to grow significantly in the coming weeks and months giving patients an even greater choice and a new-found confidence when choosing a practitioner.”

The Save Face register is only open to registered doctors, dentists and nurses who can demonstrate that they meet necessary standards for safe and ethical practice.  Save Face works with practitioners to help develop policies and improve standards across the industry.