Photo/Illutration The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The health ministry plans to assign a panel of experts as early as this summer to investigate problems with aesthetic medicine following a surge in complaints from patients.

It will mark the first panel formed to scrutinize the branch of medicine aimed at improving the physical appearance of patients.

The overall scope of the aesthetic medical market is little known partly because treatment is mostly not covered by the public health insurance system.

According to the Consumer Affairs Agency, the number of consultations about aesthetic medicine has sharply increased, reaching 3,798 in fiscal 2022 and 6,264 in fiscal 2023.

In April last year, a man died of suffocation a day after undergoing facial liposuction at a cosmetic surgery clinic.

Some patients have reported acute cataracts, numbness and other problems after receiving a procedure known as high-intensity focused ultrasound, which is said to be effective in tightening sagging skin.

While the service was also available at non-medical institutions such as beauty salons, the health ministry issued a notice this month allowing only doctors to perform the medical procedure. 

In fiscal 2021, a study group of the health ministry asked about 3,000 medical institutions that provide aesthetic medical treatment to cite any “adverse events” reported by patients.

However, only 82 institutions, or 2.7 percent, responded to the survey.

The respondents listed 333 cases of adverse effects, such as fat and skin necrosis, severe morphological abnormalities and local infections.

A majority of the patients were under 40 years old.

The ministry plans to grasp the status of the aesthetic medical market and ask the practitioners to provide appropriate treatment to ensure medical safety, sources said.

In recent years, many people have purchased drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes, called “glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists,” for cosmetic weight loss.

The drugs can be obtained through an online medical examination for unapproved purposes if customers pay for them out of pocket.

Increased demand forced pharmaceutical manufacturers to limit the drugs’ shipments.

While off-label use of the antidiabetic drugs is not prohibited, experts have warned against the risks of side effects.

At a session of the Lower House Committee on Health, Labor and Welfare in April, Kazunari Asanuma, director-general of the health ministry’s Health Policy Bureau, said the ministry plans to take countermeasures against problems with medical treatment outside the health insurance system, such as aesthetic medicine.

The experts’ panel is also expected to discuss problems concerning contracts for aesthetic medicine.

In consultations, many people have said practitioners stoked their anxieties about their conditions, making them pay hefty prices for treatment.

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