Officials target 'unsafe' plastic surgery

People looking for cosmetic surgery should avoid using backstreet beauty parlors, the Shanghai Health Supervision Agency said on Monday.

In the first five months of the year, the agency closed six such establishments, none of which was licensed to carry out surgical procedures, it said. As well as the closures, 54 parlors were fined a combined 234,800 yuan (US$38,000), while almost 250,000 yuan in illegal income and hundreds of pieces of surgical equipment were seized, the agency said.

If anyone wants to have a surgical procedure performed they should go to one of the 163 facilities in the city that are suitably qualified, it said.

People should also be wary of licensed doctors who carry out surgical procedures in unlicensed beauty parlors, it said, adding that any medics found guilty of such practices will be struck off.

Two people were recently held for working with doctors to offer surgical procedures.

Officials said the two most popular services provided by backstreet parlors are Botox injections and dermal fillers.

But procedures provided by people without training are extremely risky, a doctor said.