Doctors at Pat Phelan’s Sisu Clinic unite in call for tighter rules on ‘grey area’ cosmetic treatments

In a letter to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, Sisu urged stricter rules on dermal fillers to eliminate untrained professionals carrying out these procedures.

It is calling for dermal fillers, which involve injecting a gel-like substance under the skin, to add volume, to require a prescription – and for those administering the injections to be formally trained.

“Dermal fillers are not classified as a prescription drug, but rather as a medical device. So any individual can purchase and perform these treatments,” the company said.

The letter, signed by Dr Brian Cotter and Dr James Cotter, co-founders and medical directors of Sisu, said that dermal fillers exist in a “grey area”.

“We are now seeing an increased number of patients attending our clinics with complications and improper treatments that have primarily been carried out by non-medics,” the co-founders said.

The company said these patients are primarily females in their late teens, but there is an “alarming number of young girls below the age of 18” receiving these treatments.

“We are currently seeing a rapid growth of this industry, largely driven by a change in consumption and a change in the technologies we deploy. However, we have still yet to see a change in legislation that protects the population and removes those who operate for profit at any cost.”

They told Minister Donnelly that said they wanted to “bring focus to the requirement to regulate an industry that so desperately needs legislation”.

The Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment.

The Cotters pointed to recent efforts in the UK to bring cosmetic procedures under tighter rules.

Sisu has a dozen clinics in Ireland and the UK and is in the middle of a push into the US, where it has plans to open 15 clinics.