Interesting Articles In The Media

Below are some articles that make for interesting reading. Educate yourself before you make the decision to buy!

“Fears over Chinese beauty equipment”

This was the headline in the Melbourne Age on the 6th Aug 2007.   It went on to express concern about the number of cheap, unregistered medical devices from China and Korea being imported and used in Beauty Therapy clinics in Australia. 

Lasers and Intense pulsed light machines (IPL) that are used to remove hair, sunspots and vascular lesions, devices that change skin pigmentation and electrolysis machines are some of the items subject to approval from the Australian Federal Government’s Therapeutic Goods Administration or TGA.

The TGA is responsible for registering all imported medical equipment that causes a clinical change in the body.  Unfortunately the New Zealand Government does not feel the need to pass a similar bill or to establish a joint agency with Australia to monitor the incursion of potentially dangerous machines into New Zealand.  Dr Derrick Beech, former director of the TGS’s therapeutic devices branch, said many beauty clinic operators were unaware that the goods they were buying needed to be registered with the TGA and some of the machines could be harmful to their clients.

Because of New Zealand’s lack of regulation, we are seen as a soft target for foreign marketers and some local distributers to promote high tech and potentially dangerous equipment with relative impunity. Some of the treatment claims and results are extremely dubious to say the least. I receive on average two to three e-mails each day from Asian suppliers offering distributorship of their goods and in particular IPL machines and in most cases they will also sell direct to an end user.  Often the same machine will be offered by several distributors and the price can vary by as much as 100%. Out of interest I have asked what their guarantee and service back up is like;  The common response seemed to be, if the machine fails then just send it back to us in China and we will fix it free of charge or we can send you the parts and you can fix it yourself….     Just hope it doesn’t fail.

There are several reputable suppliers and machines available in New Zealand with good references, back up support and training.  For the sake of saving a few Dollars at the risk of purchasing a potential disaster, and there have been several, or injuring a client, is it worth putting you clinic and reputation at risk or purchasing a machine that just won’t work.

It’s a sad fact that many IPL and Laser systems are currently not legal for use in Australia. If we use this as a guideline, ensure that any potential supplier is able to prove their CE (European standard) or FDA (American) approval certificates.  Although the machine may have a certificate attached to the machine this may well be fraudulent so ask to see a copy of the original certification.  Any reputable supplier will have this copy.
Check today with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to see if your suppliers Australian counterpart and its equipment meet Australian Government registration standards.

TGA website at http://www.tga.gov.au or phone +61 2 6232 8444 and ask for surveillance section.