At least half of the beauty salons The Sunday Times spoke to said they have been receiving more calls than usual about their services since news broke that the Health Ministry (MOH) was clamping down on doctors who carry out certain aesthetic procedures.

Beauty chain Expressions International reported an increase in business, while another major chain, Mary Chia, said more people have been asking about its intensive treatments such as wave frequency face lifting and slimming.

'The media reports have helped and given us good opportunities,' said Ms Yvonne Tan, 30, operations manager at Only Aesthetics, a chain of salons offering needle-free mesotherapy. The salon uses a machine to penetrate flabby areas with a gel said to break down fat.

Conventional mesotherapy, which involves injecting an area on the body with a cocktail of drugs to fight flab, was singled out by the health authorities recently as one of 11 procedures that doctors should not perform as they were untested.

The others are carboxytherapy, endermologie, microneedling, skin-whitening injections, anti-ageing growth hormone and skin rejuvenation stem cell applications, vacustyler, slidestyler, bio-resonance and colon cleansing.

Unlike registered doctors, beauty salons and slimming centres cannot perform invasive procedures. They can use only a lower grade of equipment. This also means they are not allowed to perform most of the 11 procedures the ministry cited.

While salons concede that these limitations mean it will take a longer time for consumers to see results, those who are afraid of needles or pain will still choose the beauty salons over aesthetic doctors.

'We don't see them as direct competitors,' a spokesman for beauty giant Jean Yip Group said of doctors. 'Whatever the aes- thetic doctors do, we don't do.'

Even then, it has not stopped several Members of Parliament from sounding alarm bells over the lack of regulation for beauty salons carrying out a host of cosmetic treatments.

The numbers may just bear them out. Last year, beauty salons were fifth among industries that got the most number of complaints.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) received 1,493 complaints against beauty and slimming centres, up from 1,382 a year ago.

These were mostly over unsatisfactory services where consumers did not see results, misleading claims and hard-selling, said Case executive director Seah Seng Choon.

The more than 1,000 beauty salons here are jostling with at least 1,000 general practitioners (GPs) and specialists for a slice of a lucrative pie said to be worth $200 million a year here.

The cost of equipment has also dropped dramatically over the years. An intense pulsed light (IPL) machine used for hair removal or skin rejuvenation would have cost more than $100,000 some eight years ago, but is only $4,000 now.

Cheaper machines from South Korea and China have pushed prices down. This has translated into lower prices for treatments.

One IPL session eight years ago would have cost $1,000, while one session today can cost as low as $150.

'The price war has become a real problem between specialists, GPs and beauticians,' said Ms Suvin Darpal Kaur, 51, owner of Suvin's Laser and Electrolysis Centre.

Beauty salons are pointing at GPs who offer aesthetic treatments as responsible for giving the beauty business a bad name.

A few claim some of their customers who used to go to aesthetic doctors are returning to salons because they either did not see results or ended up bruised and swollen from mesotherapy injections.

'People do think doctors will give better results because they are medically trained,' Ms Li Huijia, 27, manager at beauty salon Chez Moi De Beaute in Far East Plaza.

'But I'm not sure if GPs have enough experience since they also treat other ailments.'

The salons' defence of their credibility: We are safer because our treatments are non-invasive and our machines are gentler.

Said Mr Kelvin Thong, 28, Mary Chia's senior marketing and business development manager: 'Even if a mistake is made, it is not as severe as something that might happen at a doctor's clinic.'

Salons also insist that their therapists are all suitably trained for the job, even though they may not have any medical background.

And they are ready to show their customers proof that their machines work.

There is some trepidation over whether beauty salons will be next on the Health Ministry's target list, although most say if that day comes, they will accept the authorities' new rules.

But for now, at least one salon is cashing in on the clampdown.

Mary Chia plans to up its publicity blitz to lure those left in the lurch by their aesthetic doctors.

'It's just to let people know that there is an alternative,' said Mr Thong.

dawntan@sph.com.sg

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