National photography observation丨Observation of the current situation of medical beauty chaos
High-priced hyaluronic acid anti-wrinkle needles are getting more and more wrinkled, medical beauty loan routines are deeply protected by rights, and false advertising cannot be prevented... In the recent collection of clues about medical beauty chaos launched by Xinhua News Agency's "National Auction", many consumers reported that they had been deceived.
The reporter's subsequent investigation found that some beauty lovers were "planted grass" by false advertisements for medical beauty for a long time and accidentally entered the pit. Marketers have done everything they can to "expand customers", even at the expense of downplaying the risks of surgery, and many consumers who do not know the truth have been deceived. The reporter of "All People Shoot" combed through the clues provided by netizens and conducted interviews and investigations.
These medical beauty pits, be careful!
According to the analysis of the "Domestic Medical Beauty Rights Protection Public Opinion Research Report (2023)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report") jointly released by Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute and other institutions, from January to May 2023, there were a total of 90,769 public opinions on rights protection in the medical beauty industry, especially medical qualification issues, injection projects, and liposuction surgery.
Li Wen, a consumer from Beijing, said she received facial thread sculpting treatment at a medical beauty clinic in Beijing's Haidian District for 16,000 yuan. However, the face is swollen after the operation, and anti-allergic drugs need to be taken regularly. Because the clinic forbids photography, videography, etc., she did not leave sufficient evidence, and her request to the clinic to show medical records was also refused. After she complained to the Beijing Haidian District Health Commission, the clinic refunded part of the medical fees and reached a settlement with Li Wen. But then, Li Wen's face was still swollen and unbearable, and he found the clinic again, but at this time the clinic said he did not know her.
Some unqualified "studios" also use the banner of "medical beauty" to deceive. In June 2022, Lin implemented a 15-day beauty treatment course for Du such as face lifting and filling projects, and the effect was not good after three treatments, and Lin did a project for Du to supplement collagen and fill nasal base nasolabial folds, but unexpectedly caused Du's whole face to be swollen, red, swollen and hot. After several adjustments, there was still no improvement, Lin could only take Du to Jiangsu and Shanghai for treatment and surgery, but a series of treatments such as foreign body removal, facial suction, gold fine-tuning, fascial suspension surgery still did not change the consequences of "disfigurement".
Tianyan inspection data shows that there are currently more than 103,000 "medical beauty" related enterprises in the mainland, and from the perspective of establishment time, 55.8% of related enterprises were established within 1 to 5 years, and 25.2% were established within 1 year. Judging from the consumption tips issued by the China Consumer Association, problems such as incomplete licenses, over-scope operations, unlicensed work, irregular operations, unclear channels of medical products, difficult to evaluate effects, and large gaps between service quality and consumer expectations are becoming the focus of complaints in the medical beauty industry.
Can't you feel at ease to heal beauty?
Among the more than 90,000 pieces of data on public opinion on the protection of medical beauty consumer rights in the Report, there are more than 30,000 data on medical qualification issues, accounting for 33.1%; Medical quality issues accounted for 31.1%; 35.3% were related to marketing issues. At present, there are still many black-hearted institutions and practitioners who do not have a medical institution practice license or a physician practice certificate in the medical cosmetology market illegally engaged in medical aesthetic services, and some lifestyle medical aesthetic institutions carry out medical cosmetology services in violation of regulations, causing potential risks to consumers' health. Judging from many consumer complaint clues, due to the lack of evidence, the market supervision department is also unable to do anything.
Chen Yubai, deputy chief physician of the Department of Plastic Surgery and Restoration of the First Medical Center of the General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army Chinese People's Liberation Army, said that it is difficult for regulatory authorities to supervise some private studios or beauty salons hidden in office buildings, and even many law enforcement personnel often find it difficult to distinguish the boundary between life beauty and medical beauty. "There are difficulties in the supervision of the market, institutions and illegal practitioners, and medical beauty products."
Medical acts must be performed by a licensed physician at a registered medical institution. The "Report" pointed out that at present, there are still many black institutions and practitioners who do not have a medical institution practice license or a physician practice certificate in the medical beauty market illegally engaged in medical beauty services, and some lifestyle medical beauty institutions carry out medical beauty services in violation of regulations, causing potential risks to consumers' health.
In the Report, there were more than 30,000 complaints about medical qualifications, accounting for 33.1%, of which 26.8% were related to the qualifications of personnel institutions. This year's CCTV "3·15" party exposed that at the beauty expo held in Wuhan in July 2022, some exhibitors directly injected faces for customers at the exhibition site and frankly admitted that they were not practicing doctors. Due to the low entry threshold for some medical beauty projects such as injections and the "huge profits" of the industry, some people "cross-border" medical beauty after short-term training. A person who used to be engaged in the hairdressing industry told reporters that he only received 3 days of training in a beauty institution without any qualifications, and went on to work to perform eyebrow tattoo surgery for consumers.
Many e-commerce platforms not only sell medical beauty injections at will, but also provide remote video tutorials, providing a living space for the chaos of medical beauty.
Many inexperienced consumers, it is difficult to find some hidden tricks in advertising, choose informal institutions, and after problems, they are often fooled by the other party to sign "unequal terms". A consumer reported to reporters that at the end of 2022, she received a comprehensive operation of collagen in a beauty salon in Zhuhai, resulting in facial swelling, and after the incident, the beauty salon said that it could refund the money and could bear the costs of follow-up treatment, provided that it could not publish any negative information about the beauty salon on any Internet media platform, otherwise it would lose money to the beauty salon. The netizen then signed and agreed.
How to break the chaos of medical beauty?
In response to the chaos of medical cosmetology, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other eleven departments recently jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Supervision of the Medical Cosmetology Industry" to further strengthen the supervision of the medical cosmetology industry. Chen Yubai suggested that consumers must grasp the "three formal" principles, that is, choose formal institutions, regular doctors, and formal products, so as not to infringe on personal rights and interests.
Chen Yubai said that medical beauty is different from life beauty. Life beauty refers to non-invasive beauty treatments that are of a maintenance or health care purpose such as skin care, massage, and SPA for the human body. Medical cosmetology needs to obtain a medical institution qualification certificate, which is generally called "XX Medical Aesthetic Clinic" and so on.
Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, suggested that relevant departments should promptly investigate and close down institutions that are not qualified and engage in medical beauty activities beyond the scope, and medical beauty institutions involving medical safety need to be included in strict medical management in accordance with the law. "For medical beauty institutions with frequent accidents, the relevant departments should promptly put them on the blacklist."
Chen Yinjiang said that in view of the current problem that it is difficult for consumers to provide evidence to protect their rights after being infringed in medical beauty consumption, the relevant regulatory authorities should follow the principle of reversal of the burden of proof and require medical beauty institutions to prove that they have fulfilled their risk warning obligations in the process of medical beauty services and are not at fault, otherwise they should solve the problem in a direction that is beneficial to consumers.
Chen Yubai said that to supervise the chaos of medical beauty, it is also necessary to strengthen the source supervision of medical beauty products. It is recommended that the market supervision department pay attention to illegal practitioners and their institutions in a timely manner, obtain channels such as manufacturers and distributors of medical beauty products, and adopt joint law enforcement when necessary.
Zhao Zhanzhan of Beijing Jiawei Law Firm advised consumers not to trust medical beauty advertisements, especially some hyped trendy concepts. If the effect claimed by the other party cannot be clearly reflected in the contract, be extremely careful.
Zhao Zhanzhan reminded consumers that they must sign a contract with a medical beauty institution to stipulate, learn to fully collect evidence in all aspects of medical beauty, and retain transaction certificates, and if there is a problem or dispute, they should promptly go to the consumer association or market supervision department to complain and protect their rights, or go to the court to file a lawsuit. At the same time, relevant industry associations should also standardize the compliance operation of the entire industry in a timely manner.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Editor: Guan Chao
Editor: Yang Ju
Reviewer: Pu Rui