Plastic surgery advertising ban under consideration in Germany
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Cosmetic surgery adverts could come under the knife or even the axe in
Germany, under legislation proposed by the Health Ministry to curb a
huge rise in operations and a growing demand among young people.
Many of Germany's leading surgeons said on Friday they supported the
proposal which they hope will deter irresponsible practitioners,
although one professional association disagrees.
Germany has the sixth highest rate of cosmetic surgery behind the
United States, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Spain, and increasingly
Germans are travelling to Hungary or the Czech Republic for treatment
on the cheap.
The Association of German Plastic Surgeons said at its annual press
conference on Friday the ban could help curb a "beauty craze" driving
people to undergo drastic surgery without proper consideration and
encouraging clinics run by doctors without the strict specialist
training required.
they are more than capable of informing themselves if the interest is
there," said Marita Eisenmann-Klein, a plastic and reconstructive
surgeon in Regensburg.
German Health Minister Ulla Schmidt said recently she wanted to ban
"misleading and suggestive advertising" where surgeons failed to
mention the risks of treatment and gave the impression of guaranteed
success.
The proposals would rule out the use of before and after photos.
Guenter Germann, professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at
Heidelberg University, said such photos set a visual contract and gave
people unrealistic expectations.
But one surgeons' association is convinced Schmidt has taken the wrong
approach.
"Of course we support any move to protect patients from unqualified
doctors and false expectations.
Without "before" and "after" photos patients would only know of the
extremes, and would be poorly informed of what surgery was capable of,
he said.
The United Kingdom also plans to curb its booming cosmetic surgery
industry by banning unqualified doctors from practicing.
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