Newcastle University recently offered a two-day beauty therapist course that allowed trainees to practice Botox injections on human corpses. The bodies have been donated for medical science use. This training is expected to enhance safety for individuals who undergo wrinkle-preventing treatments such as Botox in beauty parlours. Patients pay significant amounts to get these treatments and this makes it necessary to ensure the beauticians have relevant skills and knowledge.
The course participants learned about fat deposits, ligaments, and skin in relation to Botox treatments. They also cut up a corpse’s head and placed needles inside the face. The trainees performed limited dissection on the cadavers and they put in the needles to determine skin thickness, which is an important consideration during Botox treatments.
There has been a lot of criticism about the use of human corpses for this kind of training. Some critics have argued that donated cadavers should be restricted to medical and scientific development carried out by professionals. There are also claims that beauticians lack the knowledge and skills required to dissect cadavers in a respectful manner.
According to the law, only doctors should prescribe Botox treatments. But any individual who has received training can perform the treatment. This means that beauticians are allowed to offer Botox injections even if they lack medical training. Beauty therapists can also administer facial fillers. These fillers have gained a lot of popularity in the last few years because they plump skin and fill in any crow’s feet and wrinkles. They are also used to give patients younger-looking and fuller lips and cheeks.
There have been some concerns about potential complications during and after such treatments including blindness, bruising, and swelling. This has led to the argument that medical qualification is necessary for individuals who administer Botox injections, facial fillers and other treatments.
Newcastle University’s Botox course was commissioned by Cosmetic Couture, a training academy that is managed by Maxine Waugh, a boxer. Waugh argues that doctors should not try to dominate the beauty industry by restricting Botox administration to medical personnel. She claims that highly-trained and experienced beauty therapists are aging, skin, and facial muscles specialists.
According to Antonia Mariconda, a member of Safety in Beauty, donating human bodies to science is a very sensitive matter and donors do not expect beauty therapists to probe and prod their faces to enhance their skills in an attempt to improve people’s faces simply for aesthetic purposes.
Some medical personnel have argued that a human body dissection program designed for non-medics is absurd. Fazel Fatah, a plastic surgeon who was also the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeon’s president, argues that this kind of training can be considered an abuse of the donated bodies. He asserts that cadavers are donated to promote science and health. According to him, Botox injections training does not qualify. Fatah adds that the training targets unqualified individuals and the treatment they administer can actually endanger susceptible patients.
The course has received a lot of condemnation but it has also been praised for its efforts at improving treatment safety. Julian Baker, an anatomy specialist who conducted the training argues that the beauty industry lacks appropriate guidelines and this makes it necessary to enhance patient safety. He argues that people should not be damned for trying to improve their skills and knowledge if they are trying to enhance patient safety. Baker adds that the human bodies used during the course will also be applied in medical research and the debate should not discourage people from offering their bodies to science.
Cosmetic Couture believes that the course was invaluable for the participants. According to the academy, the beauty therapists had an opportunity to learn more about facial nerve structures and ways to ensure client safety when performing cosmetic procedures.
Most people assume that cadavers are only used for medical use but donors consent to training, education, scientific studies, and anatomical examination. Newcastle University offers anatomy teaching to a variety of practitioners who need physiology and anatomy knowledge and this includes beauticians.
This course may change the beauty industry by incorporating anatomy knowledge into treatments in spite of the widespread criticism it has received from medical personnel. The training may be exactly what is required to prevent complications from Botox injections and filler treatments.
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