Britain’s botched Botox industry revealed as study suggests 80% of patients suffer a side effect

Nearly four in five Brits who get anti-wrinkle injections suffer adverse side effects, research suggests.

Common complications of jabs such as Botox seemingly include headaches, pain, dizziness and brain fog.

Campaigners today warned the findings, from a survey of more than 500 patients, lay bare the reality of Britain’s booming Botox industry. 

Official statistics imply the jabs, which can cost as little as £100 and require no strict qualifications to dish out, are incredibly safe. 

Just 188 adverse effects from botulinum toxin were logged between 1991 and 2020, according to the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

But the new study, carried out by experts at University College London, challenges widely-held assumptions surrounding the substance.  

Patient safety advocate Dawn Knight, an author of the research, said the MHRA data was just the tip of the iceberg.

Under current rules, an aesthetic practitioner in the UK doesn’t need any mandatory qualifications. 

It means that anyone can go on a training course and then be allowed to perform Botox treatments, though the drug itself must still be prescribed by a qualified medic. 

Ministers last year pledged to ‘crackdown on unregulated cosmetic procedures’ — with plans to introduce a licence for cosmetic procedures like Botox and fillers.

Ms Knight said the Government wasn’t moving fast enough to make it reality. 

‘Everybody wants it to happen faster,’ she said.

‘We do not know how many people are out there offering these treatments, they are not visible and unregistered.’ 

UCL researchers, writing in the journal Skin Health and Disease, found anxiety was the most commonly reported problem among 511 patients surveyed, with 85 people claiming they suffered it after the jab.

Pain (83), headaches and migraines (75), panic attacks (45) as well as dizziness and brain fog (33 each), were also common. 

Overall, 79 per cent of patients claimed to have suffered side effects. 

Volunteers were gathered from a survey that ran for just three months at the start of this year.

More serious conditions, such as Postural Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS) — when a patients’ heart rate increases rapidly after getting up from sitting or lying down — were also flagged by six people.

Six Brits even claimed to have been left disabled or handicapped because of the anti-wrinkle procedure.

Yet there was no proof Botox was to blame for this, or any other side effects in general. For example, another unrelated medical condition could be to blame.  

However, the NHS acknowledges that headaches, bruising and temporary weakness in the face are common complications.

It adds that blurred vision can happen ‘very rarely’.

Botox is the most recognised brand of the substance Botulinum toxin, which is used to paralyse facial muscles with the aim of reducing wrinkles.

Survey participants were also asked where they got their injection, as well as who dished them out.  

Nearly 15 per cent of participants said they trusted a beautician to give them the shot – with one claiming to have had the procedure done in a supermarket.

There are currently no minimum standards of training for people to dish out Botox jabs, with some providers taking courses that last less than a week, campaigners have warned. 

Only half of patients surveyed reported having their jab in an aesthetics clinic, with the rest reporting they had their jab in places likes spas, their workplace, or their home. 

The survey also suggests most botulinum toxin providers are not giving the public correct safety information. 

Almost all (92 per cent) participants said their injector hadn’t provided them with information about how to report potential side effects of the jab to the MHRA. 

Survey participants also reported financial losses from their side effects, such as missing time off work or potentially paying for subsequent treatment.

Ms Knight said the results suggest the toll of the Britain’s botched Botox industry is going unreported and unnoticed.

‘The Government really need to think about who has access to this medicine and how it’s being used,’ she said.

She added that the survey suggested illegal Botox ads, like two-for-one or ‘last minute’ deals were sadly luring many Brits in to getting the jabs without due consideration of the risks involved.  

‘We have really bad outcomes and complications associated with members of the public who are responding to ads like that,’ she said. 

‘We get a lot of reports where the patients are walking into a room and the syringes are already drawn up, there’s no mention of seeing a prescriber, there’s no mention about whether they’re suitable, there’s no talk of any side effects.’

Botox, like other prescription only medications, is forbidden from being advertised to the public.

Flouting these rules can result in a fine and/or two years imprisonment. 

Ms Knight added that it wasn’t just individual Botox patients who are at risk.

She said a lack of official reporting meant the sector was effectively running blind to any wider trends which could explain some of the reported side effects. 

‘It’s the role of regulators to connect the trends between a specific batch, or product, or practitioner, or company or technique, or injection that is potentially causing harm,’ she said.

‘This survey brings into stark focus that that isn’t happening.’

To help combat this Ms Knight wants it to become a legal requirement for Botox providers to report any adverse reactions in patients to that person’s GP. 

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: ‘We are now taking forward work to introduce a licensing scheme for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England, which will strengthen oversight of practitioners and businesses providing these treatments and make it an offence for anyone to carry out specified non-surgical procedures without a licence. ‘

‘We will be consulting on the scope of the licensing scheme over the summer.’