When Lily*, 29, needs to top up her Botox, she goes to her dentist. “I know that he deals with needles, so it doesn’t bother me,” she shrugs. “Rates of Botox have gone up, so he makes a pretty solid profit from it and does it on the side for extra cash. I have friends who will only do it with people who have a proper qualification. But I trust him; he specialises in Invisalign.”
Lily is not alone. In fact, she is just one of an increasing number of people in the UK receiving cosmetic surgery injections – such as Botox – from professionals who are not qualified doctors. “I used to get Botox from a family friend who was a plastic surgeon,” adds 27-year-old May*. “He’d come over with leftovers of it and just give it to us.”
