Drive raises awareness on safe cosmetic surgery

Allergan Aesthetics, a company owned by United States-based AbbVie, together with the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, launched an Authentic Alliance campaign in China, in an effort to help the country's beauty seekers get the treatment in a safer way.

The campaign aims at conveying to medical aesthetics consumers the concept of "going to formal institutions, finding qualified doctors and using standard products", as well as raising their safety awareness and establishing a rational and scientific aesthetic value.

According to the report from consulting firm iResearch, China's medical aesthetic market reached 176.9 billion yuan ($25.4 billion) in 2019, growing 22.2 percent year-on-year. The market is estimated to hit 311.5 billion yuan by 2023.

However, formal institutions currently account for just 12 percent of the total, and there are over 100,000 illegal practitioners in the industry. Only one out of three medical aesthetics injection products is authentic, said the report.

Li Qin, director of the facial rejuvenation branch of the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, said: "There is huge demand gap of qualified medical aesthetics doctors, as the training period for a doctor is long. There are numerous practitioners without a license that only took a crash course. They have hurt the image of the industry."

Cao Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Association of Plastics and Aesthetics, said that the campaign will deliver lectures to formal medical aesthetics institutions, teaching them how to distinguish the true products from fake, and how to train doctors. It will also tell consumers how to choose formal medical aesthetics institutions and standard products.

Currently, through the association's WeChat official account, consumers can check out the detailed list of standard medical aesthetics institutions, practitioners and products, he said.

According to Allergan Aesthetics, it will tour 15 cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Shijiazhuang this year, and offer the authenticity license to the formal medical aesthetics institutions that use their products. It will establish a "white list" of qualified institutions, so that beauty seekers can make a safe choice.

"Following the government's guidance, we will fulfill our corporate responsibility to help increase the treatment level of the industry, and help consumers raise safety awareness and pursue beauty in a rational way," said Winston Wu, head of Corporate Affairs of Allergan Aesthetics China.