KEY POINTS:
The Ministry of Health says it is unable to tighten controls on the beauty therapy industry because the therapists are not already named in the statute covering health workers.
The industry itself wants restrictions on who can use devices such as intense pulsed light (IPL) machines and has reiterated its call for them after a patient being treated for acne scars ended up with worse damage on her face.
The machines produce a range of light frequencies which are typically applied to the skin through a wand. The one used on the woman also produces waves at radio frequencies. The technology grew out of the perceived need for a cheaper alternative to laser-based therapies and one that could be used by operators with lower qualifications.
The ministry says it cannot act because beauty therapists are not covered by the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act and the machines are not defined as medical devices by its Medsafe division.
"This means the activity can be carried out by people who are not registered health practitioners," John Marwick, the manager of the ongoing review of the act, said yesterday.
The review considers whether other health practitioners and professions should be covered; currently none was proposed for inclusion, Dr Marwick said. Groups wanting coverage could apply through the ministry's website.
The Health and Disability Commissioner's office investigated the acne-treatment case and found the therapist who treated the woman with electrical light optical synergy (ELOS) had breached the code of patients' rights on standard of care and informed consent.
IPL can be used to remove hair, thread veins and pigmented lesions such as freckles and some birthmarks.
A distributor of IPL machines, Russell Smith, the owner of InTouch Medical, said the use of them needed to be controlled by state regulations.
He said that because of the risk that operators could be unknowingly dealing with melanomas, the use of IPL for anything other than hair removal should be restricted to registered nurses or those working under a doctor's oversight.
Dermatological Society president Dr Liz Baird said this was the minimum level of restriction that should be imposed to better protect patients.
"We are very concerned about machines used by people who aren't qualified and don't have adequate experience in using them."
Heather Alexander, training manager for beauty therapy franchise Caci Medispa, which mainly uses variable pulsed light (VPL) rather than IPL, said the chain's therapists were trained to perform work including hair removal and red vein treatment, but with pigmentation they were taught to treat only minor conditions. Pigmentation treatment was mostly restricted to nurses.
"Beauty therapists can treat freckles but they must be only mild and they must consult their trainer/mentors, who are available 24 hours, or me."
Ms Alexander said tighter controls were needed now more than ever because of the increased availability of the machines. "The market has been flooded with them. Virtually anyone can buy them and use them."
