The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

4 2GM Thursday February 3 2022 | the times

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courses teaching beauticians, con-

firmed that he used Botulax.

At the start of the appointment he

presented consent forms for me to fill

in. They mentioned treatments with

Azzalure, a licensed product. Karklins

asked me to cross this name out and re-

place it with details of a Botulax pro-

duct. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s

just a brand different.”

Karklins said that Botulax was “bet-

ter” and “cheaper” than other products.

Clients in Wakefield did not want to pay

the same as those in London, he said.

Karklins also described a lip filler

treatment that he offered, suggesting

he performed this on clients as young as

16 or 17 when they came in with family

members. Last year it became illegal to

give fillers to under-18s, whether or not

they had parental permission.

We also had an appointment with

Samantha Bennett, an aesthetic practi-

tioner from Manchester who visits

people at home for anti-wrinkle injec-

tions. She suggested that I should have

11 injections in my face and offered to

use Innotox or ReNTox, botulinum

toxin products also from South Korea

that are not licensed in Britain.

She insisted that “nothing can go

wrong... it never has in the years that

I’ve been doing it”. During a phone call

to arrange the appointment, she said

Innotox was “like gold dust at the min-

ute — everyone has gone mad for it”.

In total, a colleague and I attended

three in-person appointments with

practitioners across the north of

England and confirmed they were us-

ing an unlicensed product. In each case,

we made excuses to leave before having

any treatments. The third practitioner,

Janine Walker, who runs Envy Esthet-

ics, in Preston, Lancashire, advertised

Botulax injections in a Facebook post.

She said Botulax had not been used in

her training but that she found the pro-

duct after reading reviews online. She

appeared to believe that it was licensed.

Walker, who did not use hard-selling

tactics, said that the lines on my face

were “very fine”. She warned about

possible side effects such as headaches.

There is no suggestion that any of the

practitioners botched treatments or

that any specific product is linked to

poor results or side effects. Problems

can be caused by other issues such as

bad hygiene or poor technique.

Save Face, a register of practitioners

that raises awareness of safety issues

and standards, said that it was increas-

ingly receiving reports of problems

caused by anti-wrinkle treatments.

Ashton Collins, director of Save Face,

said: “Either someone is knowingly

using an unlicensed product to cut cor-

ners and put profit before your safety,

which is outrageous, or they are so ig-

norant and unaware of what the legis-

lation and regulations are around med-

icines in this country.”

“Black-market” Botox was available

on the internet for non-medics to buy

from multiple sources. I posed as a

Case studies

V

ictoria Lee

says she is

“scarred for

life” after

botched

anti-wrinkle injections

at an acquaintance’s

house (Charlotte Wace

writes).

Lee, a make-up

artist from Essex, did

not believe there was

any reason to be

worried about the

treatment. Her

acquaintance said she

“always” had

treatment with the

practitioner. “Not for

one minute did I think

there was anything

wrong with it at all, I

really didn’t,” she said.

A week after the

treatment in 2020

marks began

appearing on Lee’s

face, right. These

became “worse and

worse” until they were

large lumps that

leaked blood and pus.

She could not go to

work and did not leave

her home for months.

“It was horrendous”,

Lee said. “I just got

fat, lethargic, tearful,

very down, I just cried

all the time.” Lee

contacted the

practitioner, who

eventually agreed to

put her in touch with

the supplier of the

product. The company

said it was unable to

help. “Whatever it was

they were using was

not what it should

have been,” Lee said.

She booked an

appointment with her

GP, who prescribed

antibiotics and

told her to see

a skin

specialist.

The areas

that had

been

injected

needed to be

drained and

biopsies were

carried out. Lee

now needs regular

injections to fill

indentations

that have

been left in

her face but

treatment

only works

to a certain

extent. “I

am scarred

for life. These

marks on my

face will never

go,” Lee said. “I’m 41

and I should be

in my prime.

I’ve now got a

job in a salon

three days a

week to get

me back out

there slowly.

But you’re

working in

front of a

mirror, all the

time. You can’t get

away from it.”

Elizabeth,

who is in her

fifties, visited

a beautician

for anti-

wrinkle

injections

after hearing

about her

from a “friend

of a friend”. But

there was no face-

to-face consultation

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Eli

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Eli

At a beauty clinic above a high street in
Wakefield a man in scrubs counts 25
points on my face that he plans to inject
with an unlicensed anti-wrinkle drug.
The adjoining waiting room features
a vase filled with syringes instead of
flowers. The walls are decorated with
framed pictures of a swimwear model
and a former Mrs Universe.
Vilnis Karklins, who says he trained
as a doctor in Latvia but is not regis-
tered to practise in Britain, tells me that
I will need “loads” of jabs for my “very
deep” wrinkles. He suggests they make
me look five years older.
“Maybe stress or something else?
Partner? Maybe baby? You have baby?”
he asks. “Definitely it will be only in the
forehead 22 [injections]. And some, two
or three, around the eyes.”
Karklins works at the Face and Body
Aesthetic Clinic in Wakefield, West
Yorkshire. I will not be taking him up on
his offer. He is among those using social
media to advertise unlicensed versions
of Botox to young women on the cheap.
Licensed brands of botulinum toxin,
of which the best known is Botox, are
prescription-only drugs that have gone
through safety checks before being
deemed safe to use in the UK.
Legally, practitioners in Britain
should only be performing injections
with licensed products on people who
have had this prescribed by a registered
practitioner, such as a doctor or a nurse
with an additional qualification in this
area. The prescriptions should only be
made after an in-person consultation.
Karklins has offered to treat me with-
out a prescription. He wishes to use
Botulax, a South Korean product that is
not licensed in Britain.
Under the Human Medicines Regu-
lations 2012 it is unlawful to sell or sup-
ply an unlicensed medicine, which in-
cludes practitioners selling treatments
with these products. They have not
been sourced through an accredited
supply chain, so there is no guarantee
that vials of Botulax in Britain are not
counterfeit, with an unknown sub-
stance, or stored safely.
Karklins is among many practition-
ers whom campaigners suspect are us-
ing unlicensed products to cut costs or
bypass the prescription process. The
Times investigated after being warned
that “black market” Botox was becom-
ing rife across the beauty industry.
One organisation has reported re-
ceiving multiple complaints of botched
anti-wrinkle treatments every week.
Those who have complained include
women scarred for life, with hard and
painful lumps across their faces. Many
fear they were injected with unlicensed
or counterfeit products.
I made an appointment with Kark-
lins because he had referred to Botulax
on his TikTok profile when showing off
boxes of new stock. In one of his posts,
he displayed boxes with Botulax brand-
ing as decorations on a Christmas tree.
He offered to inject three areas of my
face for £145, about half the typical
price. The cost of having Botox varies
by location and the practitioner’s expe-
rience. I attended the Face and Body
Aesthetic Clinic last month with a male
colleague, who posed as my boyfriend.
Karklins, who also runs training

One practitioner urges

‘loads’ of jabs in a

growing market that

avoids medical rules,

Charlotte Wace reports

News Unlicensed treatments

‘Black market’ Botox, via social

times investigation Vilnis Karklins and
Samantha Bennett
offer advice on their
beauty treatments with
South Korean products
that are unlicensed
for use in the UK