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Plastic surgeons seeing a rise in botched jobs are urgently calling for legislation to regulate non-surgical cosmetic treatments like Botox and lip fillers.
New Zealand currently has no age limits for the procedures, and there are limited levels of regulation for dermal fillers in particular.
One in six people who get Botox suffer from complications such as bruising, nausea, headaches and "frozen" features.
The potential side effects of dermal fillers include infection, bleeding, and scarring, and in more serious cases, tissue death and blindness.
Plastic surgeons who treat these complications are warning of a rise in these procedures - pointing to the increased time young people in particular spend on social media, and the influencers who push these treatments.
Plastic surgeons like Dr Katarzyna Mackenzie also anticipate that when Auckland moves down to alert level two, there will be a spike in demand - a trend that has been seen abroad when lockdowns lift as a result of the "Zoom Boom".
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