In Queensland's remote mining regions you'd be hard-pressed to find an industry that didn't have fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers, from miners to builders to doctors.
But it is the FIFO botox industry that is bringing in big bucks and leading nurses to trade in their scrubs for injectables.
The demand is so high, Gold Coast cosmetic injector and registered nurse Emma Prendergast forks out thousands of dollars on flights and accommodation to rural Queensland communities each month.
After practising as a nurse for 25 years, Ms Prendergast now runs her cosmetic injectables business full-time.
"Mount Isa is the furthest that I travel," Ms Prendergast said.
"I also go out to Emerald, Biloela, Gladstone, Moranbah and Clermont."
But nurses say customers are at greater risk of falling victim to inexperienced or dodgy injectors as more people sign up to administer cosmetic injectables.
Botched jobs a concern
A market report by global analyst Grandview Research showed the Australian facial injectable market size was valued at $4.46 billion last year and was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 26.4 per cent from 2022 to 2030.
Business has been so good for Ms Prendergast she's looking to expand her FIFO operation into the Maranoa and Western Downs regions.
Ms Prendergast is part of what she calls an "increasingly saturated" market as she sees more people enter the cosmetic injection industry servicing rural communities on a FIFO basis.
"There's businesses that fly out from Cairns and Townsville as well to service remote communities," she said.
"There's a lot of people changing careers into injectables."
In Australia, you must be a registered nurse to become a cosmetic injector.
Ms Prendergast said she had been contacted by many young women completing a tertiary degree and entering the injectables industry without much experience.
"I strongly suggest that you have at least five years of acute clinical hospital care under your belt," she said.
"You need to know how to handle the possibility of an anaphylactic reaction, an infection, any adverse event."
While Ms Prendergast begins to expand her FIFO services, cosmetic injector Loren McIlroy is making the move away from 11 years of nursing and is set to open a bricks-and-mortar operation in Mount Isa.
"In mining communities and rural towns like Mount Isa, there is big demand for anti-ageing services, so anti-wrinkle and facial rejuvenation is a big market here," she said.
"With hospital nursing, I was just getting so burnt out.
"Having this business means I'm still using my nursing degree but I get a lot more freedom."
Ms McIlroy had also seen first hand the dire consequences of botched injections as a result of inexperienced or "rogue" operators.
"It is definitely something I've encountered a lot — people not doing their research and suffering at the hands of someone who doesn't know what they're doing," she said.
"You've really got to do your homework before you let someone near you with the needle."
