“These very young people are influenced by the things they see on TV.”
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has said that it has no plans to ban under 18s from getting dermal fillers.
The Department told the BBC on Tuesday that it has no plans to legislate on the issue after a new law in England means children in the country will be prevented from getting cosmetic injections.
Similar legislation is expected to be passed in Wales and Scotland in the near future.
However, it is unknown if legislation will be brought in to prevent under-18s from receiving cosmetic injections in the Republic of Ireland as of yet.
There is currently no law preventing children from accessing cosmetic treatments such as lip fillers and botox in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Simon Harris asked the Department of Health to carry out a risk assessment in 2019 but there has been no update on the matter since.
Ashton Collins, Director of non-surgical treatment provider, Save Face, said that cosmetic treatments such as dermal fillers and botox are becoming more common among teenagers due to popular TV shows.
“These very young people are influenced by the things they see on TV and fillers are now ubiquitous with programmes,” she told BBC NI’s Good Morning Ulster programme on Tuesday.
“Once you go down that rabbit hole online and start liking this content, you’re then presented with a flurry of adverts promoting these services for cheap prices.”
Collins noted that social media is a “hotbed for unscrupulous practice.”
“That’s why we see so many botched treatments,” she added.
“The industry is pretty much unregulated. We haven’t had any in-depth explanation as to why – it makes no sense, it’s a no brainer.
“If you can protect young people from falling foul to these treatments and implement something, it makes absolute sense.”
Collins said that some people had suffered “horrible reactions” to dermal filler injections which can be “extremely dangerous in unsafe hands.”
She added that teens “will go to social media to get the cheapest deals.”
“To most people it seems ludicrous that under-18s would even want these treatments, but the fact is they do and they will go to extreme lengths to get them,” she said.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
