The demand for beauty treatments increases sharply at the end of the year. However, this is also the time when hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have to receive many cases of complications due to quick beauty treatments.

Many serious accidents

At the end-line hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City such as Cho Ray Hospital, People's 115 Hospital, Trung Vuong Hospital, Dermatology Hospital... recently performed emergency treatment and treated many cases of complications due to cosmetic surgery. In particular, People's Hospital 115 is actively treating a woman who was transferred from a beauty salon in District 10 in a state of drowsiness and severe respiratory failure.

Previously, Cho Ray Hospital received three cases of serious cosmetic complications, including: a woman who fell into a deep coma after undergoing breast augmentation, jaw reduction, cheekbone reduction, and wisdom tooth extraction at a general hospital in Ho Chi Minh City; a young woman from Dong Nai province who went blind after receiving filler injections at an unlicensed beauty facility; and a Vietnamese-American woman who had an accident after receiving fat-dissolving injections at a spa in District 7.

Statistics from Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital show that the number of cosmetic medical complications coming for examination and treatment at this unit has increased over the years: In 2023, there were 608 cases, an increase of 70 cases compared to 2022, an increase of 391 cases compared to 2021 and an increase of 200 cases compared to 2020.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Phan Thuy, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Dermatology Hospital, is concerned that up to 77.8% of people causing internal cosmetic complications are not doctors; 15.3% of patients cannot determine whether they are doctors or not; complications caused by doctors account for only 6.9%. The causes of complications can be due to faulty or damaged equipment that has not been inspected; uninspected products; mixing of many different products, not ensuring sterile conditions; unlicensed cosmetic facilities.

According to Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Do Quang Hung, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Plastic Surgery Association, most cosmetic accidents are performed at unlicensed facilities, such as hair salons, nail salons, and skin care facilities, but still perform invasive procedures and techniques. This can easily lead to complications such as infection, necrosis, damage to body parts such as perforated nose, blindness, etc.

Many challenges in management

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, there are currently 7,087 establishments providing aesthetic services in the city. Of these, only 598 establishments are licensed by the Ministry of Health and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health (accounting for about 15%), the remaining 85% of establishments are granted business registration certificates by the People's Committees of districts, towns and Thu Duc City. Thus, there are 6,489 establishments operating without needing to be assessed and licensed by a specialized health agency. Of these, there are 2,175 spa and skin care establishments; 516 establishments providing tattooing, tattooing and embroidering on the skin; 3,798 establishments providing hair cutting, shampooing and nail services...

Associate Professor, Doctor, Doctor Tang Chi Thuong, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, pointed out three major challenges to the management of cosmetic activities in the area, which are: advertising outside the scope of activities, illegal advertising on social networks, which can easily cause people to misunderstand and use cosmetic services that have not been assessed for safety; post-inspection activities for cosmetic service providers have not received due attention and focus. In addition, illegal nose surgery activities are increasingly sophisticated, with subjects using many tricks to bypass management agencies.

“Underground cosmetic surgery” in Ho Chi Minh City is not a new issue but has become a challenging phenomenon for authorities. Underground cosmetic surgery is moving into hotels and motels, causing difficulties in inspection and control work,” said the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health.

This reality requires more drastic solutions, closer and more synchronous coordination between state management agencies in the management of cosmetic facilities. In particular, the work of inspection, examination and handling of unlicensed facilities that do not meet safety and quality standards for cosmetic surgery must be carried out regularly and continuously.

Along with that, the People's Committees of districts and Thu Duc City need to build a people's security network in the health sector to receive support from the community, promptly detect signs of suspected illegal cosmetic activities at hotels and motels. Localities also need to encourage people and workers at hotels and motels to proactively provide information and report suspicious activities to authorities.

MINH NAM