Leah Totton, the winner of this year’s Apprentice final, has vowed to make her mark in the cosmetic surgery industry and open a chain of high-street clinics throughout the country.
Totton, a qualified doctor, said she was “horrified” by the lack of regulation in the cosmetic surgery industry at present. She intends to use her medical expertise to raise the standard currently offered.
However, she has been widely criticised for her business idea, which will see her open clinics specialising in facial fillers, anti-wrinkle injections and skin peels.
Mark Henley, a consultant plastic surgeon and BAPRAS chair of independent practice, said the Apprentice final, which aired last Wednesday (17th July), had highlighted “the on-going trivialisation of non-invasive cosmetic surgery procedures”.
Earlier this year a review by the NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, investigating the current regulation in the cosmetic surgery industry, suggested skin plumping injections are a “crisis waiting to happen”. The review found that these types of treatments had the same level of regulation as toothbrushes.
Mr Henley spoke about the review, saying: “At a time when professionals are collaborating with Sir Bruce Keogh to improve cosmetic surgery practice and protect the vulnerable, it is a concern that a very junior doctor can make claims to be an authority in this field and provide the direction and clinical judgement that only comes with experience.”
James McDiarmid, a spokesman for the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) and consultant plastic surgeon, said that without the appropriate training, Dr Totton was “flying in the face” of the efforts of Sir Bruce and others working to introduce stricter regulations.
Dr Totton, an A&E doctor, won a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar in the final and will now take a career break to focus on her new start-up business. She said: “I am utterly passionate about bringing regulation and clinical excellence to the non-surgical cosmetic sector. The need for high training standards for practitioners is also of paramount importance.”