Following increasing reports of failed cosmetic procedures, leading plastic surgeons in the country have asked women to stop seeking buttocks or any other body enhancement treatments from quacks.
The surgeons warned that complications from buttocks enhancement could lead to death, particularly if conducted by a quack.
Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, the experts explained that unqualified practitioners often lack a comprehensive understanding of human anatomy, which makes cosmetic procedures prone to life-threatening complications when performed by unskilled personnel.
These complications, they noted, include infections, nerve damage, excessive bleeding, and death.
In recent months, Nigeria has witnessed a surge in individuals claiming to offer cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries with minimal training, raising serious concerns among established medical professionals.
The increase in such unregulated practices led to the death of a 36-year-old woman identified only as Abiola a week ago.
Abiola was reported to have died while undergoing a buttocks enlargement procedure at a clinic in the Lekki-Phase 1 area of Lagos State.
Reacting to the development, some of the surgeons told our correspondent that the proliferation of unqualified practitioners in the field of plastic surgery in the country had assumed a frightening dimension.
They stressed that plastic surgery, including cosmetic procedures like buttocks and breast enlargement, requires specialised training, expertise, and regulation.
The experts decried the trend of individuals with little or no training in plastic surgery performing complex procedures, resulting in harm to patients.
While attributing the proliferation to weak law enforcement, the surgeons stressed the importance of public awareness and the need for women to verify the qualifications of any practitioner before undergoing cosmetic procedures.
A professor of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anama State, Titus Chukwuanukwu, called for urgent reforms to regulate cosmetic surgery practices in the country.
Chukwuanukwu lamented that there had been a troubling rise in the number of individuals in Nigeria into cosmetic surgery who lack the proper qualifications to offer the procedures.
He said these quacks often lack the in-depth anatomical knowledge and surgical skills required to perform such delicate procedures.
While stressing that it takes extensive training to become a cosmetic surgeon, the professor noted that the lack of proper regulation and oversight had worsened the problem, with many patients suffering from life-altering complications after undergoing the procedure.
He added, “We should let people know all these surgeries are special procedures. Buttock enlargement, breast enlargement, and all that fall within the realm of plastic surgeons.
“For you to become a plastic surgeon, you must have gone through the rigours of training to become a medical doctor; that takes a minimum of six years in the university. Now for you to become a plastic surgeon that again takes you another minimum of six years and that will be after housemanship. Immediately you become a doctor, you do one year of housemanship, and you do another year of youth service before you now go into residency. And most of these procedures, by the time you have finished your training as a plastic surgeon, many of us usually undertake some super-specialist training again in these areas of training; cosmetic surgery and all that.”
Continuing, he said, “It is unthinkable that what we have seen in Nigeria is that people just wake up one day no matter their level of training, no matter what they are doing and they said they have become cosmetic surgeons.
“For you to do such a surgery, you have to have a good knowledge of anatomy, the structure of the body; which level is which level, what happens at which level of the layers of the body. We have to place what, what goes through where? We have blood vessels, we have nerves, we have all sorts of things in the system. Which one is where? What is the function of each one? If you damage this one, what will it cause to the person? And that’s what in Nigeria now people of all manner of character have started going into and harming people every day.
“It is completely abnormal that in Nigeria, people go about doing all sorts of things and even regulatory bodies do not do anything. Cosmetic surgery, breast enlargement, buttocks enlargement, and reduction, are not areas of practice that anybody can go into. It’s not like painting the nail, which anybody can do.
“We say that beauty now is in the hands of people who just beautify people. Those things that are done externally are different from what you need to now open up to somebody to do. So, it should not be practised by anybody at all, apart from those who are trained and satisfied. Not even every surgeon that goes into that procedure.”
Chukwuanukwu also criticised the regulatory bodies for their inadequate response to the growing problem.
“When we, as professionals, raise concerns, it is not for our own benefit but to protect the public. However, often our warnings go unheeded, and the regulatory bodies fail to take effective action,” he said.
He pointed out that there had been instances where even well-trained surgeons faced challenges due to the lack of proper regulatory frameworks.
“The psychological impact of a failed procedure can be devastating. Only those who are properly trained and certified must undertake such invasive procedures,” Chukwuanukwu stressed.
He advocated for stricter certification processes and better enforcement of existing regulations to ensure that only qualified professionals are allowed to perform cosmetic surgeries.
The professor also called on the government to engage more actively with professional bodies and provide support for public education on the risks associated with unregulated cosmetic procedures.
He suggested that public awareness campaigns and collaborations with medical associations could help inform citizens and prevent them from falling victim to quackery.
“This is not just about protecting practitioners; it’s about safeguarding the health and well-being of the public,” he said.
On his part, a consultant plastic surgeon at University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Prof. Oluwatosin Odunayo noted that becoming a plastic surgeon requires a minimum of 12 years of training after secondary school, including six years of undergraduate study and six years of residency training.
He stressed that not every doctor could perform plastic surgery, adding that only those with specialised training should undertake such procedures.
The consultant plastic surgeon expressed concern over the misleading portrayal of cosmetic surgeries through social media.
Odunayo noted that untrained practitioners often use doctored images and videos to attract clients, which further complicates the issue.
He stressed that the lack of awareness among the public about the qualifications required for cosmetic procedures had worsened the problem, leading to potentially dangerous situations.
He stated, “When it comes to plastic surgery, reconstructive surgery, certainly there is no room for anyone getting involved if he is not trained in that specialty. And we have a lot of people who go for a two-week course, and then they are unleashed into society.
“That’s unfortunate because society doesn’t know who is who, and when they present pictures and made up stuff videos and pretend as if they are the ones that have done the cases, of course, the public gets drawn into it, they get interested and unfortunately they get into it.
“There is specialisation; anyone who ventures into or doubles into that kind of thing after maybe two weeks course is certainly not doing the public any good.
“The training in buttock enlargement and all sorts of cosmetic surgery involves a mechanism. And it is undertaken only by those first who are medically trained and you know that training is a six-year undergraduate after which two years of the usual NYSC and internship, then they go into intense residency training.
“To be able to veer into cosmetic surgery, you will do a residency of about five or six years that qualifies you as a plastic surgeon. And then you go through an additional specific. So, we are looking at years, apprenticeships and all that. When the public gets to see videos and pictures of people who try to learn something that should have been acquired over those years in two weeks or one month, then you can imagine the kind of risk they are subjecting themselves to.”
Odunayo also condemned the current regulatory environment, describing it as weak and ineffective.
The plastic surgeon argued that stronger enforcement of existing laws and stricter penalties for unauthorised practitioners are crucial to protecting the public.
According to him, in countries with robust regulatory frameworks, illegal cosmetic surgery practices are driven underground, thereby reducing the risk to patients.
The professor called for stringent regulations in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery to prevent unqualified practitioners from endangering public health.
