CANN top tips – for safe, effective laser and IPL

If you’re considering laser or IPL to improve your skin, follow this important advice to make sure you’re safe. In New Zealand , there are currently no regulations to stop untrained people from using lasers and IPL machines. CANN recommends following the NZ Society of Cosmetic Medicine’s list of top tips:

1. Any brown spot should have been checked within 3 months of treatment to make sure it’s not cancerous. Treating a cancerous spot with laser could be dangerous.
2. Your operator should advise against treatment if you’re tanned. Treating tanned skin risks burns, blisters, scars and white patches.
3. You should be offered eye protection.
4. Ask if your operator has completed a Laser Safety Course.
5. Your operator should tell you to protect your skin from the sun before and after treatment with sunscreen, clothing and a hat.
6. Your operator should ask you questions about eye colour, skin colour and tanning ability, to discover your skin type. This determines safe treatment settings for you.

CANN advice: permanent fillers equal permanent problems

You can see from some of the articles on our Media page that some of the worst descriptions describe problems with permanent fillers. It’s said that “permanent fillers cause permanent problems”. CANN agrees, and we advise our cosmetic appearance nurses against using permanent fillers.

Permanent fillers can cause problems many years later, and are also difficult to remove, often requiring disfiguring surgery.  Even small issues of lumps and disfigurements beneath the skin can take years to resolve, or never disappear.

This is why CANN recommends hyaluranonic acid fillers. Hyaluranonic fillers are a non-permanent solution. They can be easily removed with a dissolving enzyme called hyaluronidase. This gives hyaluranonic acid fillers a high level of safety when used correctly by a well-trained injector.

For peace of mind, check if your injector is an Accredited member of CANN. Our Accredited CANN nurses are experienced in cosmetic treatments and follow the highest standards of patient safety and care.

You can see if your injector is a member of CANN by:

CANN – Cosmetic Appearance Medicine Nurses of New Zealand want the use of dermal fillers regulated after reports of blindness and disfigurement become more prevalent 

In a rare complication, filler injected near the nose, even the lips, and anywhere near the temple can travel through blood vessels feeding the eye, and starve them of blood and oxygen, resulting in blindness.

There have been 100 such cases worldwide.

Non-surgical nose jobs using dermal fillers can cost around $1000, whereas a surgical nose job can cost $20,000.  However there is very real danger of blindness during this treatment.

Under the proposed Therapeutic Products Bill, expected to go before Parliament next year, there will be a regulatory framework around the use of dermal fillers.

The classification of dermal fillers changed from “medicine” to “medical device” in 2014, meaning that anyone can use them…Read More

Tatler’s Best Cosmetic Nurses 

Meet the nurse practitioners who are nifty with a needle – by Francesca White

Nurse Injectors around the world stand out with their professionalism and their realism and approachability – see some great examples in this article.

READ MORE HERE

We also have highly qualified and experienced cosmetic nurses here in New Zealand – check out the CANN directory:

‘Backstreet’ beauty clinics operating in New Zealand

Adapted from an article by ELEANOR BLACK

Cosmetic medicine professionals say that unqualified operators are putting the public at risk. Unqualified people are performing cosmetic procedures and importing unregistered medicines.

Read more here…

The appearance medicine industry is bracing for change

Donna-Marie Lever – 1 News reporter 13th August 2018

The appearance medicine industry is bracing for change as it deals with an increasing number of Asian clients wanting to Westernise their faces. The rules around who can inject dermal filler are also set to be tightened, because of the threat of rare, but serious health risks.
Asian aesthetics was a major discussion topic at the New Zealand Society of Cosmetic Medicine (NZSCM) conference in Queenstown over the weekend, attracting more than 220 doctors and nurses from the industry.
Hans Raetz, President of the NZSCM says, “We’ve certainly seen an increase over the past few years of five per cent a year on the year before. We estimate around 20 per cent of our clients are now of Asian extraction.”
Popular procedures include reshaping of noses, lips, eyelids and cheeks using dermal filler – but itcomes with risks.
“If you inject into this area and you hit one of the arteries or veins you can cause issues at the back of the eye that can cause blindness.” Dr Raetz told 1 NEWS.