Yangcheng Evening News reporter Zhang Hua correspondent Xie Jiawei
In 2024, problems in the medical beauty industry were exposed earlier than before. On the evening of February 23, CCTV's "Focus Interview" focused on the chaos in the medical beauty live broadcast industry, exposing such things as false propaganda, exaggerated effects, misleading consumers, etc. question.
Subsequently, all Douyin medical beauty live broadcasts were stopped.
The reporter noticed that in recent years, the national regulatory authorities have taken a combined approach to the chaos in the medical beauty market and issued a series of plans and guidelines. In particular, in May 2023, 11 departments including the National Health Commission jointly issued the "About Further Regulations". "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Supervision of the Medical Cosmetology Industry" proposes a series of targeted measures to regulate and promote the development of the medical cosmetology industry.
At the same time, the National Health and Medical Commission has also made it clear that it will strengthen supervision of related fields such as medical beauty "shopping guide" activities, medical beauty training activities, and lifestyle beauty.
On the occasion of the "March 15" International Consumer Rights Day in 2024, Yangcheng Evening News' "Health Weekly" specially invited senior experts in the industry to provide reminders to guide consumers to consume rationally in response to some chaos and routines in the medical beauty industry.
All “three non-conformities” can be verified on the website of the National Health Commission
Walking into the Plastic Surgery Department of the Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, the first to second floors were full of young people waiting for treatment.
"On the eve of this year's Spring Festival, at six or seven o'clock every morning, a line of patients would line up in front of the department's outpatient clinic, waiting to get an appointment." Liu Zhenfeng, director of the department, told reporters: "In recent years, hyaluronic acid, botulinum toxin, collagen, ultrasound cannon, thermal New materials and equipment such as Maggi are constantly emerging, doctors’ skills are gradually improving, and the public’s demand for beauty is also increasing, which has also led to the rapid development of the medical beauty industry.”
In recent years, the state has attached great importance to the supervision of the medical beauty industry, which mainly involves the "three nons", namely illegal medical beauty institutions, illegal medical beauty doctors, and illegal medical beauty products.
Liu Zhenfeng believes: "Medical beauty is a branch of medicine, so treatment must be carried out in medical institutions. It is easy for us ordinary people to confuse medical beauty with daily beauty. Doing medical beauty projects in beauty salons can easily lead to a series of hidden dangers .”
So, how many compliant medical aesthetic institutions are there currently?
According to data compiled by the National Health and Medical Commission in January 2024, the number of compliant specialized medical aesthetic institutions in China is 18,584 (excluding public institutions and private comprehensive institutions).
According to statistics, the current active areas for medical aesthetics consumption are mainly concentrated in the Pearl River Delta region of South China, the Yangtze River Delta region of East China, and the Chengdu and Chongqing regions of southwest China. For example, in 2024, the Guangdong Provincial Health Commission announced the number of specialized medical aesthetics institutions in Guangdong Province (Greater Bay Area). There were 2,294 companies, an increase of 527 companies from the original 1,767 companies, an increase of about 30%.
The most important thing for consumers to avoid being cheated when doing medical aesthetics is to go to a regular medical institution.
Liu Zhenfeng said that consumers can avoid being deceived or cheated to the greatest extent by going to compliant medical beauty institutions, using compliant products, and letting doctors with medical beauty attending physicians provide services. This can be verified through the National Health Commission website.
If you love beauty, you should be rational, and you should be cautious when consuming medical beauty products.
Love beauty and want to be beautiful. Faced with a variety of medical beauty projects and extremely tempting medical beauty advertisements, consumers are likely to fall into the trap on impulse.
In fact, there is a serious information asymmetry in the medical beauty industry. Therefore, the reporter invited senior experts in the medical beauty industry to share common routines with you, so that you can pay more attention and avoid pitfalls.
The first pitfall of the reporter's investigation: Killing the familiar!
A friend recommended medical beauty treatment
Some lifestyle beauty institutions and health clubs use hotels, clubs and other places to illegally provide medical beauty services. They use the introduction model of "acquaintances" and "friends" to induce people around them to put down their guard and engage in medical beauty consumption.
There are also some medical beauty institutions that serve as channels. In order to promote business, they have reached an agreement with beauty salons. Anyone who introduces consumers to the institution for medical beauty projects will receive profit sharing. Therefore, beauty salons will frantically introduce medical beauty projects to members, and even The doctor invites you to a beauty salon for surgical treatment.
Liu Zhenfeng, director of the Plastic Surgery Department of Dermatology Hospital of Southern Medical University, reminds:
It is illegal to carry out medical aesthetics projects in beauty salons, such as peeling fractional laser, gold micro-needle, hyaluronic acid, botulinum toxin injection and other treatments. It is illegal for those who provide these services if they have not obtained relevant professional medical beauty clinic qualifications. Practicing medicine and performing medical aesthetic treatments in such places is extremely risky.
Medical beauty is different from makeup. There is a word behind it called "medical risk". If something goes wrong, there will be no place to protect your rights.
The second pitfall of the reporter’s investigation: low price!
Free trial to sell products
Photorejuvenation for 299 yuan, full-face ultra-picosecond treatment for 588 yuan, water-light injection for 480 yuan... Medical beauty institutions use group purchases, free trials and other methods on some apps to attract customers and induce consumers.
During the process of medical treatment, consumers are often made anxious about their appearance, thereby being induced to purchase more products and services.
Liu Zhenfeng reminded:
Some organizations often create appearance anxiety, making consumers dissatisfied with their appearance, and induce consumers to purchase products or services through false discounts, limited-time offers and other means.
There is no free lunch in the world, and there is no pie. Such cheap projects are often used as "bait", and their therapeutic effects may not be obvious.
Therefore, when we choose medical beauty products or services, we must understand our own needs, understand the characteristics of suitable products and projects, and carefully check the prices. At the same time, we must remain vigilant to avoid being deceived by being greedy for small gains.
Reporter's third pitfall in investigation: Disguise!
publish false information
When many consumers choose medical aesthetic institutions or doctors, they will be influenced by the sharing of KOLs (key opinion leaders) or passers-by on social platforms.
However, these sharings are not necessarily true user experiences, and some may be false information released by medical beauty institutions or KOLs for marketing purposes.
According to a report released by Mob Research Institute, statistics among the people surveyed between April 2020 and April 2021 found that more than 70% of post-95s medical beauty users came into contact with medical beauty through sharing apps represented by Xiao Moushu. More than 60% of users have been helped by their friends for medical beauty treatments.
Xu Xiang, deputy chief physician of the Plastic Surgery Department of the Second People’s Hospital of Guangdong Province, reminds:
In order to reduce advertising costs and increase the number of customers, medical beauty institutions will also hire a group of people to pretend to be users. They use the name of the sharing company to post comparisons before and after plastic surgery, exaggerating the results of medical beauty, and showing off the plastic surgery as if they have changed their heads. Cosmetic effect.
Many of the amazing changes are just the result of makeup + beauty camera.
Reporters investigate the fourth pitfall: fraud!
Illegal use of legal products
Some skin care products are registered as skin care products on the surface, but in actual use they are bundled with medical beauty methods for sale.
For example, some anti-acne products are registered as ordinary cosmetics, but are actually considered to come with medical beauty service plans, micro-needle and other medical beauty supporting products.
There are also some products of unknown origin that may contain ingredients that are prohibited by the state or some substances that exceed the restricted standards.
For example, skin care products made from growth factors can improve acne-prone skin. However, growth factors are not approved for use in cosmetic injections because they may cause tissue hyperplasia after injection into the human body.
Xu Xiang reminds:
Consumers who accept injectable medical aesthetics projects should understand the ingredients of the product, and they should also learn from their doctors about the product's characteristics and possible side effects.
Products such as girl's needle, child's face needle, and angel needle can stimulate the regeneration of one's own collagen and have good effects on improving skin quality. However, these products have not been on the market for a long time, are expensive, and have many counterfeit products. Consumers need to keep their eyes peeled.
It should be noted that these three types of products should not be mixed at the same time. You should choose the one that suits you under the advice of a professional doctor.
Reporter's fifth pit in the investigation: Concealment!
Not telling you the long-term risks and sequelae
The filling effect was very good at first, so I repeated the injections as if I was addicted. Unexpectedly, problems appeared after three to five years.
This is something that many consumers never expect.
For example, cross-linked hyaluronic acid (HA) is the most commonly used volume-displacing and soft-tissue-enhancing filler. It has many benefits, such as anti-aging, skin tightening and elasticity effects, and also has a good safety profile.
After the injection, the effect of improving the skin is immediate. However, if the injection is repeated multiple times or in large quantities, complications will appear soon, such as inflammation, swelling, nodules, fistulas and abscesses. In recent years, the swollen face caused by repeated injections has also become worse. occurs frequently.
Liu Zhenfeng reminded:
Any treatment has certain side effects.
Frequent and excessive injection and filling treatments can cause the filler to shift or have more filler than normal facial tissue, resulting in facial blistering, which is called a steamed face.
This may also cause permanent damage to the patient's appearance.
Therefore, consumers should not be greedy. When receiving this type of treatment, they should ask their doctor about the possible risks of the treatment. If the doctor says that there are no risks at all, this is a trap. Do not be induced to overfill.
Experts remind: Keep diagnosis and treatment records and invoices
Strict supervision of the medical beauty industry and industry advertising has become normalized, which can be said to mark the further acceleration of the standardization and transparency of our medical beauty industry.
In 2023, the supervision of the medical beauty industry will mainly focus on medical dressings, radio frequency beauty equipment, ultrasound beauty equipment, standardized operations of medical beauty institutions, and the technology and qualifications of medical beauty doctors. These are all powerful manifestations of the "three normal" actions in the medical beauty industry.
Experts remind consumers that before seeking medical treatment, consumers should understand the charging standards clearly. Consumers should sign a written contract with the merchant and do not trust the verbal promises of medical beauty institutions. The contract should be checked and considered item by item, and the service content and products should be clearly stated. Information, rights and obligations and other elements, and relevant evidence such as relevant diagnosis and treatment records and invoice stubs should also be kept.
If a medical beauty dispute occurs in the future, it is convenient to go to the relevant functional departments to safeguard your rights according to law.
Glossary:
What is medical beauty?
How is it different from lifestyle beauty?
The so-called medical cosmetology (referred to as "medical cosmetology") refers to the use of surgery, drugs, medical equipment and other traumatic or invasive medical techniques to repair and reshape a person's appearance and various parts of the human body, such as double eyelid surgery. , photorejuvenation, laser hair removal, etc. are all medical cosmetology.
Lifestyle beauty is the use of non-medical means such as cosmetics, skin care products, health products and non-medical devices to perform non-invasive beauty care on the human body, such as lifestyle care, facial massage, spa, etc. The biggest difference between the two is whether it is traumatic. Sexual or invasive.
(Yangcheng Evening News)