I may be permanently scarred: Woman left covered in burn marks after cosmetic treatment calls for tighter controls on private therapists

By Daily Mail Reporter


Charlotte Cripps was off to a private beauty therapist for a lovely session of pampering when a botched procedure left her forever 'permanently scared'.

The arts writer underwent Intense Pulsed Light treatment - where light is used to smooth the complexion - for a newspaper story three years ago.

With the treatment recommended by a friend, the 40-year-old was shocked when she felt 'excruciating pain' as the technician ran a hand-held machine over her chest and face at a London spa.

'I left the department store and got home within about 20 minutes. I looked in the mirror and I screamed,' said Miss Cripps, from Ladbroke Grove.

'My chest was covered in red burn marks that look a little like when you brand an animal.


Journalist Charlotte Cripps poses for a photograph in 2008 following botched IPL treatment at a beauty salon

'I couldn’t put a duvet over me or anything because it was just so raw and painful,' she told the BBC’s Inside Out London programme, which was broadcast last night at 7.30pm.

The writer for The Independent spent months in pain after the treatment in 2008 and has now been given a five-figure sum in compensation by the spa’s insurers.

She said: 'I think there should be laws brought in so you can’t have IPL or Botox unless it is administered under the supervision of a doctor.'

One-and-a-half million cosmetic surgery procedures will be carried out in the UK this year, many in lunch breaks or at parties.

Heidi Worman, a paramedical cosmetic make-up practitioner, said recent moves by the Government to deregulate IPL and the laser industry were a step in the wrong direction.

'We need these regulations just to protect the public,' she said, adding she was finding a greater need for treatments to correct cosmetic surgery.


source:dailymail