KYIV. Feb 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Experts of the aesthetic medicine market initiate the creation of a national certification commission for the industry and the development of medical care protocols for the main complications that may arise during aesthetic procedures.

As coordinator of IMCAS Academy Alert system, Doctor Igor Rudenko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday, the initiative is aimed at creating a platform that will guarantee the safety of patients who use the services of aesthetic medicine.

"We have a catastrophic, close to collapse, situation in aesthetic medicine. It lies in the field of safety. A global powerful system for combating complications IMCAS Alert has been created in the world. It will unite top doctors who help with very unpleasant cases. The system selects and certifies doctors, drugs and techniques, making a safety assessment," he said.

In turn, Chairman of the Global Age Management Alliance Evgeniy Shagov said that the initiative group has created a community where specialists can get advice from colleagues both in Ukraine and abroad.

"Our task is to help our clients and patients how a concrete doctor can not only carry out a certain procedure, but also deal with possible complications, and say which are safe and which are not," he said.

According to Shagov, the initiative will be implemented according to a model that is successfully working in the United States, by creating a public organization (Board Certification – BC), which will "test and confirm the knowledge of doctors who have received a medical degree."

"Having a diploma obtained 30 years ago is not equal to knowledge of the real state of affairs in the market. The BC Association will validate doctors from year to year for the adequacy of their knowledge to their profile. In Ukraine, there is no BC in any specialization, neither cardiology, nor neurology, nor in dentistry and cosmetology. Our task is to borrow the successful experience of the United States to create the same BC system in the category of aesthetic medicine," he said.

Shagov said that within a year, the initiative group plans a campaign to certify specialists in the aesthetic medicine market, as well as create a protocol for the doctor's actions in the event of certain complications in cosmetology.

"Of 3,000 cosmetologists in Kyiv, there will probably be no more than 600 certified doctors. We must separate them from those who work at home in the kitchen, having learned the procedures using videos from YouTube," he said.

For her part, President of the Certification Commission of the Initiative Inha Andrashko said that the aesthetic medicine market "is divided into white, gray and black and not only them. There is an intermediate link – "doctors" who work at home, without a license, and this is a rather serious problem and damage to the market, eroding confidence in the medical profession."

"The topic of complications excites both doctors and patients. From 2015 to 2018, there were more than 30 cases of blindness or partial loss of vision that arose as complications during procedures to correct the nasolabial fold or wrinkles between the eyebrows. One of our tasks is to create guidelines for treatment of complications after contouring plasty with injections, "she said.

For her part, the founder and chief of the Cycle clinic (Odesa), the developer of an interdisciplinary approach to aesthetic medicine, Dr. Svitlana Larkina said that in the absence of modern protocols, the number of complications from aesthetic medicine procedures increases.

"If everything was done correctly, according to the protocol, by a competent specialist, then such problems can be solved. Initiatives such as IMCAS Alert will allow avoiding complications, working out procedure protocols and minimizing complications," she said.