Rules and redress
How these devices are regulated, the licensing power that is not in force, what an advertisement may not say, and what to do when a treatment goes wrong.
How body contouring devices are regulated in the UK
Two separate questions get confused constantly: whether the machine is regulated, and whether the person using it is. The answers are different, and the second one is the one that matters most.
The Health and Care Act 2022 licensing power and why it is not in force
Parliament created a power to license non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. A power is not a scheme, and the difference between the two is the single most misunderstood point in this sector.
The CAP Code and what a body treatment advert may not say
The advertising rules are the most actively enforced part of this landscape, they are free to invoke, and almost nobody uses them. How the standard works and how to complain in a few minutes.
What to do if a non-surgical body treatment goes wrong
Clinical first, then records, then the routes. Written to be read either before you need it or at the moment you do, with the urgent part at the top.
This article contains no commercial links of any kind. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements, and no links to any clinic, practitioner, device manufacturer, brand or retailer. Nobody paid for it, nobody previewed it and nobody outside the editorial team saw it before publication.
This publication does not name, rank, rate or review any clinic or practitioner, because it has assessed none of them. Our funding is set out in full on the about page and on the provider listings page, including what we refuse to sell at any price.
Nothing here is medical advice. Speak to a qualified clinician about your own circumstances.
When the rules change, we will tell you
One email when a regulatory position shifts in a way that alters what you should check, when a published advertising ruling changes what this sector may claim, and when a new article goes up. No treatment offers, no discounts and no clinic suggestions, because we do not make any.