In the news today is another story of storefront cosmetic procedures gone horribly wrong, and again, performed by an unlicensed practitioner.

Patricia Villegas, a beautician in Flushing, NY, is accused of administering cosmetic injections without a license. Several clients suffered disfiguring infections and scarring. In this case, the injections turned out to be fake. The substances she was injecting into women’s skin were not collagen and cortisone as she claimed.

In the quest for perfection women will go to great lengths and sometimes undergo cosmetic procedures that may not be necessary, safe or approved by the FDA. There have been increasing reports of unlicensed doctors performing cosmetic surgeries and medical procedures being illegally offered in beauty salons. A young woman in Massachusetts died while undergoing an illegal liposuction in a basement.

It’s another reminder to seek medical cosmetic procedures from only licensed professionals. Check credentials and licenses and if your state gives you access to such information, find out if they have ever been disciplined by the state board that regulates practicioners holding that license.

We talk about a lot of cosmetics and tips for achieving beauty here, but remember, the point of cosmetics is to make the most of what nature gave you, to bring out the natural beauty that you already are. The beauty on the outside is just packaging for the beauty inside, and nothing is worth the pain and suffering that can be caused by unscrupulous people who peddle unsafe cosmetic procedures to women whose self-image has been damaged by the computer-altered images of unattainable beauty that are constantly before them.

What if you could have thicker, lusher lashes permanently? How far would you go to achieve that look? Would you have hair transplant surgery?

Once used exclusively to restore the eyebrows and eyelashes of women and men who had suffered loss of eyebrows or eyelashes through accidents, burns, disease or other physical reasons, transplantation of eyelashes is now being sought after for purely cosmetic reasons.

The procedure involved in eyelash transplantation is minimally invasive and usually takes only one session to complete. Surgeons remove donor hair, usually from the back of your head and transplant them onto the eyelids. The result is fuller and thicker lashes. The cost is about $3000 per lid.

The lashes will need to be trimmed regularly, as they will grow just as head hair grows. They may also need to be curled to follow the general curve of the existing lashes.

Check out this site for an explanation of the procedure and some before and after photos:

Hair Sight dot com

Read the story from Reuters on CNN:

Docs look to create perfect lashes

With the growing number of cosmetic procedures that can be done outside of a hospital, it is to be expected that unlicensed practitioners with unsafe procedures and even non-approved products will proliferate. Wishing to avoid the expense of doctor-administered Botox injections for instance, women may listen to a friend who has a friend who had them done cheaply by so-and-so. Often these procedures lead to disfigurement that may be life-long instead of the months-long wrinkle reduction they sought. Recently, in Massachusetts, one woman paid for liposuction with her life when she agreed to a low-fee procedure in a basement.

The news is full of such stories, of women who paid far too much in their quest for beauty and got something unexpected and life-altering. Laws regarding procedures such as botox injections and laser hair removal vary from state to state and not all require a doctor to perform the procedure.

Often, plastic surgery is required to fix the disfiguring and painful results of unlicensed and untrained personnel performing cosmetic procedures.

When choosing to undergo any cosmetic procedure, whether it be injections of botox or collagen, chemical peels, or even electrolysis and tattooing, it is important to check the credentials of the clinic, salon or spa and of the staff performing the procedures.