On 21 October 2026, the Department of Health and Social Care opened a consultation on who should be allowed to perform high-risk cosmetic and wellbeing procedures in England. If you're a dentist, a doctor or an independent prescriber, it's worth ten minutes of your time. The proposals name you directly.

Here is what's proposed, what isn't, and how to have your say.

What the government is proposing

Under the proposals, high-risk non-surgical procedures could only be performed by five groups: doctors, dentists, and independent prescribing nurses, midwives and pharmacists.

The reasoning is about safety. Anyone carrying out these procedures should be able to prescribe and give emergency medicines if something goes wrong.

The proposals add three more requirements:

  • Providers offering these procedures would need to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

  • High-risk procedures could not be performed on anyone under 18 for cosmetic or wellbeing reasons.

  • Breaking the rules would be a criminal offence, enforced by the CQC.

Which procedures count as high-risk

The consultation lists procedures including:

  • non-resorbable facial fillers

  • deep chemical peels

  • dermal microcoring

  • intravenous procedures of any substance

  • certain laser and intense pulsed light treatments, such as around the eyes

  • subcision

  • any cosmetic procedure that needs a separate anaesthetic injection

  • procedures using products derived from human blood or plasma

Filler injected anywhere other than the face would be treated as cosmetic surgery, which only doctors could perform.

What it doesn't cover

The two treatments most clinicians start with, botulinum toxin and resorbable dermal filler (including lip filler), are not on the high-risk list. They sit within a separate licensing scheme that the government has said it will bring forward. That scheme hasn't been published yet.

So nothing changes for these treatments today. The direction is clear, though. Regulation is moving towards medical training, prescribing responsibility and properly registered settings.

Why this matters if you're thinking about aesthetics

You already have what these proposals value most. You understand anatomy, you assess patients, you consent them properly, and you know how to manage a complication.

Patients are asking for the same thing. In a survey published in October by Superdrug and Save Face, 51% of people said they wanted practitioners to have medical training.

That's a strong position to start from. What matters is learning the techniques well, with real patients and close supervision, from people who practise them every day.

How to respond

The consultation is open until 11:59pm on 13 January 2027. You can respond through the online survey linked from the consultation page on GOV.UK. Your response only counts once you reach the end and select submit.

If you train or practise in aesthetics, your view matters. We'd encourage you to respond.

Learning with us

At the London School of Facial Aesthetics, our courses are taught by Dr Christina Diamanti and Dr Shaadi Manouchehri, dental surgeons with oral and maxillofacial backgrounds. You learn in a group of no more than 8, with no more than 4 delegates per trainer, and you treat 3 to 4 real patients in a CQC-registered London clinic.

We have a few places left this year:

If you have a question first, email us at info@thelsfa.com.

This article summarises the proposals as published on 21 October 2026. It isn't legal advice. Read the full consultation on GOV.UK.