Party's over for Botox

PATIENTS undergoing Botox treatments must be checked by a doctor from today under guidelines designed to target "cowboys".

New General Medical Council rules mean doctors must vet everyone who wants the anti-ageing treatment.

They also ban "Botox parties", and prevent GPs giving nurses or beauticians the right to administer the injection to anyone they choose.

Consumer groups have highlighted problems with untrained people injecting the substance at beauty events.

Watchdog Which? has warned about Botox parties being advertised over the internet. In one case, a former nurse was found to be organising parties on eBay and injecting clients who were drunk.

Botox injections cost at least £250 and are used to soften frown lines and paralyse muscles which cause wrinkles.

Actress Melanie Griffith, 51, and British star Amanda Holden, 37, have used the treatment, while 49-year-old X Factor judge Simon Cowell said "pretty much everyone" he knows has had Botox. Demi Moore, 46, is widely reported as having the injections, while Dannii Minogue, 37, has admitted using the treatment but now plans to stop.

Botox is a prescription drug which can only be issued by a doctor. But anyone can inject it. Experts have called for it to be administered under the supervision of a GP.

Previously, doctors could prescribe the drug without seeing patients, it could be injected by non-medics and patients did not even have to be named.

Michael Keegan, an adviser in the GMC's policy and ethics team, said: "From now on, doctors must assess the patient receiving the Botox. They can't just make a blanket direction."

The Independent Healthcare Advisory Service said it was "thrilled" by the GMC action. Director Sally Tabor said: "This means patients will be treated by appropriately trained doctors."

Cosmetic surgeon Alex Karidis, of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth in St John's Wood, warned that wrongly injected Botox can cause "unwanted" facial expressions.

Botox is marketed under the names Vistabel and Dysport in Britain.