UK health and beauty retailer Superdrug will carry out mental health checks on customers seeking Botox and fillers, following advice from the NHS (National Health Service).
Last year Superdrug made Botox and other skin rejuvenation treatments available to customers over the age of 25 at its flagship store in London, according to The Guardian.
Tighter screening procedures will now be enforced to protect those with mental health problems, specifically people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), from potential harm.
Those with the disorder have an obsessive focus on their appearance and may try an excess of cosmetic procedures to fix perceived flaws.
Professor Stephen Powis, medical director of NHS England, urged Superdrug to conduct “medically responsible” checks before treatment, shortly after the chain announced it would offer the service.
A questionnaire approved by the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation would be used to check if those wanting Botox, or similar, have BDD. Aesthetic medicine nurses would have an extensive, hour-long consultation with anyone wanting treatments to determine their motivation, The Guardian reports.
Superdrug has said customers appearing to have BDD could be referred to a GP or mental health charity.
Kittie Wallace, a trustee of the BDD Foundation, told the BBC that fewer than 10 per cent of people with the condition are satisfied by cosmetic procedures.
"It is important that these measures are in place [at Superdrug] to protect such individuals from potentially damaging and unnecessary procedures," Wallace said. "Although their anxiety might reduce temporarily, they will often find themselves fixating on another part of their body that they want to change."
Some mental health professionals aren't totally convinced Superdrug is doing enough to properly check for mental health issues, insisting a qualified mental health nurse should be present to carry out screening.
