Real-life scars behind reel glow
Srinagar, Nov 9: The quest for perfect skin is leaving a trail of burns, scars, and broken trust in Jammu and Kashmir.
Unregulated aesthetic clinics across J&K, run by untrained hands and unchecked machines, are turning cosmetic dreams into medical nightmares amid weak oversight.
With beauty trends getting redefined everyday and with an ever-increasing demand for invasive skin procedures, J&K’s aesthetic clinic market is booming and buzzing with unregulated, often untrained service providers.
The lack of supervision and regulation puts people at risk of infections, life-long scars, and financial frauds.
A 27-year-old teacher, Fatima (name changed) sought a simple solution to stubborn facial hair.
She registered for a laser removal procedure at a trendy salon-cum-clinic for Rs 3000 a session.
The procedure left her with blistered skin and months of battle against chronic skin infections.
“The beauty technician had a beauty diploma and a rented machine,” Fatima says.
The beautician had her saloon and laser procedure hoardings across the town, the aggressive advertising bringing her trust and money from unsuspecting customers like Fatima.
Fatima’s story is one of the hundreds that unfold daily in J&K’s burgeoning aesthetic boom.
The unregulated laser clinics and hair transplant setups running from barber shops, tailor shops, and makeshift spas are putting people’s health and mental well-being at risk, as beauty aspirations turn into disasters, while emptying pockets.
Beauty trends fuelled by social media influencers and affordable imports, the sector has exploded, but at the cost of patient safety.
President J&K Medical Commission, Prof S M Saleem Khan, said there is a blatant disregard for National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines.
“The mushrooming of laser clinics and unregulated operations can put the owners and users in dock as all laser devices are classified as medical devices under the Medical Devices Rules, 2017, based on their associated risk (Class A, B, C, or D) and have to be compliant as per norms of CDSCO,” he said.
Prof Khan said that laser clinics may need to register under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010, and have to be ideally operated by a qualified specialist, including a qualified dermatologist (MD, DVD, DNB) or plastic surgeon who has received specific, hands-on training in laser physics and its applications can perform laser procedures.
“The non-physician operators, like nurses and technicians, may perform non-ablative procedures but only under the direct, on-site supervision of a qualified physician, who retains full legal responsibility,” he said.
Prof Khan said there needs to be more vigilance and awareness of these clinics.
However, the laser and hair transplant clinics have been criminally left out of the ambit of regulation as per the Clinical Establishments Act in J&K.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, many health experts expressed concern over imported diode lasers from unregulated vendors flooding the market.
“And then, these are being operated by salon staff who at the most have a weekend certification or are YouTube savvy,” a senior doctor said.
The NMC has categorically stated in its Guidelines on Aesthetic Surgery and Hair Transplant document that “aesthetic procedures are not emergency surgeries and hence there is no case for allowing an untrained person to do it under the pretext of ‘exceptional circumstances”.
