There is strong support among the public for regulating pharmacists who administer dermal fillers, the Scottish Government has said.

In a recently published report on its 2020 consultation on the regulation of non-surgical procedures, the Scottish Government said 90 per cent of the 437 responses expressed support for having pharmacists who administer face and lip fillers regulated by Healthcare Improvement Scotland, along with all other practitioners in the sector.

The proposal to regulate pharmacists who administer the procedure comes on the back of wider proposals to strengthen regulations in this area and place restrictions on who can provide injectable fillers.

Ninety-eight per cent of respondents agreed that stronger regulations are needed. 

The government said it would consider new legislation to restrict who can administer fillers, as well as secondary legislation “to bring pharmacists who provide services outside of NHS contracts under the regulation of HIS by adding them to the list of service providers included in the definition of independent clinic in section 10F of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978”. 

Health secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Our aim is to ensure that all non-surgical cosmetic procedures carries out in Scotland are delivered from hygienic premises by appropriately trained practitioners, applying recognised standards and using legitimate products.

“The consultation showed that 98 per cent of respondents agreed that further regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures was needed. Most of the respondents felt that non-surgical cosmetic procedures should be conducted by trained, qualified and regulated healthcare professionals.

“If things go wrong when dermal fillers are administered, the complications can often cause long-term damage that can only be reversed or limited by the urgent administration of specific prescription only-medication. We want to avoid those situations."