After months of waiting on planning permission and the inevitable delays associated with the exchange of contracts and completion of the lease, building work finally started yesterday on what we believe is going to be the UK’s only dedicated, full time, aesthetic training centre.

Due to open for business in mid July, the training centre will provide medical professionals with a purpose built clinical environment to train in non-surgical aesthetics with the option to attend courses and supervised sessions 6 days a week.

Over the coming weeks we will be keeping you up to date with the centre’s development  including a great summer offer to celebrate the first course that we will be running here on Saturday 23rd July.

Getting the walls in the right places!

To cater to your every training need and in keeping with our belief that injectable experience is the key to you becoming a safe and competent injector, we will be treating models on a daily basis.  This will enable our delegates to experience the day to day business aspect of running a clinic and observe experienced injectors administer botox, dermal fillers, chemical peels and dermarollers.

As ever increasing numbers of people train in Botox courses, calls to regulate the industry were heard throughout the UK.  The Government did not want to regulate however, gave the Independent Healthcare Advisory Services (IHAS) funds to create a self regulatory body.  The result, Treatments You Can Trust.

It was thought initially they would include standards for training providers and we have waited with baited breath for the arrival of such protocols.  Current companies have such diverse protocols, such as how many delegates are allowed on each course, the tutor to delegate ratio, the number of topics taught in one day, what qualifications they accept and how open they are to advising non prescribing delegates need to work prior to booking them onto a course.

On 6^th June the Treatments You Can Trust Governance Group are meeting to discuss the Training Principles that will apply to registration as a Botox Training provider.  Cosmetica were privileged to be able to view these principles of best training practice and were asked to provide comments as to the contents.  The Principles should be used in conjunction with the Standards for registration onto the Treatments You Can Trust register of injectors.

It is hoped that these Principles will standardise the way medical professionals are trained to ensure each new injector is exposed to the same high quality training which will hopefully lead to increased public safety with all injectors having the same practical experience and skills upon completion of their aesthetic training course.

Over the past week Cosmetica Training has received numerous telephone enquiries from “members of the public” wanting to undertake Botox training courses. They appear to have no qualifications relevant to being a medical professional, yet advise us they are ‘desperate to train’ and ask if there is a shortened route to applying for a Botox course? Cosmetica staff are available to answer queries but are now left wondering whether the latest influx in fake enquiries is related to an article that is about to published or the development of the training criteria for entry onto treatments you can trust website.

The first enquiry today fired questions at us regarding Botox training courses suggesting he asked insurance underwriters what the minimum requirements were, their response reportedly being NVQ 3. When we advised that we only train doctors, dentists and nurses the caller responded by saying he actually worked in an underwriter’s office and that was what he had been informed. We were then questioned on what a Level 3 degree is required to attend a Botox course, would a Geography course be acceptable? The misinformed caller or shall we call him questioner, then suggested he had heard dental hygienists could prescribe Botox and do not need to work with a Dentist. Degree courses nowadays are at level 6 and despite re-iterating numerous times who we train this did not deter the caller to continue to question us. One of the comments we found http://nygoodhealth.com/product/tramadol/ strange was that he apparently owned pubs and wanted to sell them to undertake a Botox training course; he must have forgotten he had previously informed us he worked within the insurance industry!

We were shocked to receive a further call a mere 20 minutes later from another “member of the public” again enquiring about how he can gain access to Botox training. Again he had no qualifications and was asking about whether you had to be a Doctor, Dentist or Nurse. Were there any other qualifications that were acceptable, say a dental hygienist or a beauty therapist? We advised him as we normally do after stating that this was the second call we had received within half an hour asking the same questions. This caller’s response was to state that there must obviously be a lot of the public who want confirmation of who can attend Botox courses. The telling sign that this enquiry was not genuine was the background news clearly heard of many other colleagues requesting similar information.

The last question from both enquiries was “Is there a shortened route to being able to attend a Botox course?” The reply simply was, “Botox is a prescription only medicine and can have very serious side effects, it is not possible to attend a 3 month long course and then be able to administer Botox, you need to be medically trained”.

Cosmetica Training staff benefited from attending an advanced chemical peel course with Dr Philippe Deprez of Skin Tech. The course revisited some of the many protocols of the Easy TCA peel to include the existing as well as the new daily skin care products. It was exciting to see their Uni Deep, Only Touch and Lip and Eyelid included in the course as well as the new range of Phenol Peels.

The launch of their new easy Phen Light shows exciting prospects with a reduced 60% phenol mixed with an oily solution to slow down the penetration of what is an otherwise potential toxic product.  The application of this peel requires a long appointment time to prevent toxicity and 10 minutes at least should elapse between each area being treated.

Following the 2 day course Cosmetica trainers were pleased to participate in a trial of their new stretch mark and easy phen light products, with 3 patients included in to treat stretch marks on the abdomen and buttocks. It will be interesting to see the results of the trial after treating striae that are both old and new with varying degrees of paraesthesia.  The participants of the easy phen light are due to commence shortly after some additional protocols have been drawn up by the medical staff and we will present our findings in due course.

The patients undergoing treatment of wide, deep striae found the treatment pain free however, we found that the superficial striae that were being treated necessitated the need for a topical anaesthetic beforehand.  The chosen product is Skin Techs new Reparestim TD Striae Regeneration which aims to improve epithelialisation, local circulation, elasticity and thickness of the skin. Treatment outcomes will be reviewed after 5 treatments have taken place with weekly treatments being continued for the more severe presenting striae.

The trends in lip augmentation have changed over the years from the Paris lip to the fully enhanced look; however these results have paved the way for a more natural appearance. When running dermal filler training courses we see approximately 30% of models requesting lip augmentation.  Other popular areas for treatment on basic administration courses are naso labial folds, marionettes, peri oral and cheek lines. Full lip augmentation is not included in the basic course as volumising the lip, creating a pout or enhancing philtrim ridges are included in our local nerve infiltration and lip course.

When teaching medical professionals basic dermal filler techniques we include enhancement of the vermillion border or white roll.  Selecting the most appropriate product for the model undergoing treatment is key to giving a natural augmentation; the most popular dermal filler we use is Juvederm Ultra Smile.  The problems we see during our training sessions are a loss of volume and projection, lack of definition with the lip outline as well as the Cupid’s bow and the evidence of fine lines.  If the peri-oral lines are very superficial, have recently appeared and protrude a couple of millimetres beyond the lip line, augmenting the vermillion border can improve their appearance as well as subtly enhancing the lip.

Potential side effects of having lip augmentation are erythema, swelling and bruising.  Swelling can often be asymmetrical and can be exacerbated by any haematoma, a cold sore can develop if there is history of herpes simplex virus although prophylactic oral acyclovir can be prescribed for 5 days before treatment.  Less common side effects include discoloration, granuloma, cysts or nodules forming around implantation site and very rarely, the risk of tissue necrosis.

Treatment is generally not recommended if you are pregnant or breast feeding, have any infections or active lesions at the injection site, have shown previous hypersensitivity to a dermal filler or are allergic to lidocaine if the product to be used has lidocaine in it. It may be advisable to withhold treatment if you have any uncontrolled auto immune diseases. If you would like to be a model for our delegates please visit www.cosmeticatrainingcourses.co.uk/ modelbooking.html

The General Dental Council (GDC) has successfully sued the first therapist for undertaking teeth whitening without a registration with their professional body. Warrington based Paul Hill pled guilty to the charges of illegally practicing dentistry in 2010 and 2011. A total of £13,030 was ordered to be paid by Mr Hill and his company.

It is a criminal offence for anyone who is not a dentist to carry out or consider undertaking a dental procedure under the Dentists Act 1984, this includes teeth whitening. The GDC state that any procedure that aims to improve the overall look of the teeth is a dental procedure and have completed the first test case in this matter with a further 3 cases appearing in court this month.

This is a cause for concern as the amount of people undertaking teeth whitening who do not have the qualifications necessary for registration with the GDC has risen tenfold. A teeth whitening technician does not have the knowledge or experience to be able to carry out the procedure safely and as it is illegal for them to offer this treatment any insurance they have will become null and void. When insurance becomes invalid the client would have to instigate a private law suit against the therapist.

To clarify; only a registered dentist, or dental hygienist or dental therapist under supervision of a registered dentist can carry out teeth whitening treatments. This makes it clear that if you are not a dentist and you carry out teeth whitening you are breaking the law.

We are currently experiencing a BT landline problem. If you are unable to connect to our 0845 number please e-mail us on info@cosmeticatrainingcourses.co.uk.

They have assured us that the problem on the line, external degradation of the underground wires, should be fixed by 3rd May due to the forthcoming bank holiday.