Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA) have called for greater regulation into cosmetic surgery following announcements of commissioned reviews into the industry.
The RACGP suggested regulation of titles for providers; using “cosmetician” and “Dr.” for procedural providers but not surgeons so that consumers would be able to differentiate.
RAGCP also advised a prior GP consultation, stricter controls in advertising, accreditation of clinics, measures in patient consent as well as clear guidelines for patients to make a complaint if they are not satisfied.
“A GP would be able to assess the patient for appropriateness of the procedure, and to screen for underlying physical and mental health issues that may need to be considered,” Price said.
Cosmetic surgeries are invasive procedures, and any doctor can call themselves a cosmetic surgeon without specialist training. Especially with some emerging procedures that have no evidence-based guidelines such as female genital cosmetic surgery, raises further concerns as “anyone with a medical degree can perform them.”
“The potential harms associated with cosmetic surgery are related to the degree to which the competencies held by the practitioner match the scope of practice.”
AMA wrote on April 22 that terms such as “cosmetic surgeon” or “podiatric surgeon” can mislead patients to believe they are dealing with a formally trained and surgically qualified medical practitioner even though that may not be specialised.
The AMA recommended the restriction use of title “surgeon” only to fields of medical practice approved by the Health Council such as cardiothoracic, general, neurosurgery, orthopaedic, urology, vascular as well as other surgical field including ophthalmology, obstetrics, and gynaecology.
“Additional areas of practice may be added in the future,” the group added, suggesting the title of “rural generalist surgeon” for general practitioners that specialise in a particular field.
The AMA stated that the association does not “support non-medical practitioners using the title [of surgeon], in particular podiatric surgeons.”
