Registered medical professionals have been exposed selling Botox to people without carrying out checks – putting patients at risk of severe health problems.
Nurses and pharmacists were captured offering to unlawfully supply botulinum toxin – which, when injected, smooths wrinkles – to people they believed to be beauticians, without prescriptions.
One of those filmed supplied Korean botulinum, which is not licensed for use in the UK.
Unlicensed versions of the drug have been linked to cases of botulism, a condition that can cause muscle paralysis, breathing difficulties and even death.
Illegal Botox was linked to a spate of poisonings recorded by the UK Health Security Agency during the summer: 41 in all.
But the appetite for the designer jab – once only available to the Hollywood elite – has been fuelled by reams of videos on TikTok and Instagram.
The industry is now thought to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, with the cost of a jab dropping to as little as £100, according to the NHS.
Its value has, inevitably, inspired a black market in which unscrupulous nurses and pharmacists offer to sell both legally licensed Botox and the more dangerous, unlicensed versions of the toxin on the side.
Has your Botox jab gone wrong? Email: jon.brady@dailymail.co.uk
Medical professionals including Cornelius Agoye (pictured) have been exposed as selling Botox without assessing patients – with potentially dangerous consequences for patients
Aesthetic prescriber Sally Jackson (pictured) admitted to an undercover reporter that she ‘should but won’t’ assess people before selling the medicine
Prakash Gurnani, who misleadingly describes himself as a ‘doctor’, sold a reporter Korean botox which is not licensed for use in the UK
But Botox is a prescription-only medicine. Supplying it without legitimate cause is illegal, and beauticians can only inject it with sight of a prescription slip.
However, a number of medical professionals were filmed agreeing to supply the beauty industry favourite to buyers without examining patients in person or a prescription – a requirement under industry rules.
But the people buying the drug were undercover reporters. And when confronted with the evidence, each illegal seller refused to speak.
Among those confronted by BBC News was Sally Jackson, also known as Sally Ann, a former private practitioner at London’s elite Harley Street clinic who now operates from Bournemouth.
Asked about assessing patients beforehand over coffee, she tells an undercover reporter she can issue the toxin without screening – as she’s ‘too busy’.
‘We can do it the other way… you WhatsApp me… and then I go to the pharmacy and write out my prescription. I should (talk to your patients) but I won’t. Too busy,’ she says.
She even admitted she had lost count of how many prescriptions she had written and offered to put the prescriptions under an existing patient – which constitutes fraud.
Confronted by the BBC on her doorstep, she said: ‘I’m not interested,’ retreating inside. The Daily Mail contacted her for further comment.
Registered pharmacist Cornelius Agoye offered to do the same thing for another undercover reporter from his community pharmacy in Havering – doubling up on a prescription in a way he admits is illegal.
‘You just order two Botexes like you’ve done one, for one patient. You hide one. I didn’t say anything to you, you just hide one. Yeah, you’re going to do it illegally, and then you survive,’ he says.
Mr Agoye later apologised to the BBC and admitted he had fallen below expected professional standards.
The Daily Mail contacted his Havering pharmacy today. A member of staff told us he was ‘very busy’ and unavailable to speak.
Both Ms Jackson and Mr Agoye were selling licensed forms of Botox off the books. However, other prescribers are selling illegal versions of the toxin, such as ‘Korean botox’, which is not licensed for use in the UK.
Kaylie Bailey (right) is among those to have suffered the ill effects of illegal Botox injections – wearing an eyepatch after contracting botulism
She stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated whilst in intensive care after being injected with an unlicensed version of the drug
The Botox market in the UK is thought to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, driven by falling prices and aggressive marketing on social media
Among them is Prakash Gurnani, who fraudulently describes himself as a skin doctor despite not being a doctor at all. His name does not appear on the General Medical Council’s list of registered medics.
‘I have Korean toxins left… 200 unit bottle. £149. You don’t need a prescription,’ he says furtively.
He later admitted on camera: ‘The Korean toxin is not licensed in the UK. That’s why it’s cheap. Keep it quiet. They are young girls and there’s no problem.’
Mr Gurnani, who was also filmed preparing to inject a BBC reporter with an illegally obtained anaesthetic, was eventually confronted on camera, in which he denied supplying illegal Botox before telling reporters to leave.
The Daily Mail contacted Mr Gurnani’s clinic, in London’s Golders Green, for comment. Someone working at the clinic who answered the phone informed us he was on holiday.
People have turned to illegal Botox in order to secure a facial fix for cheap – but have paid a far dearer cost as a result.
Kaylie Bailey, 36, from County Durham, paid £75 for three illegal Botox treatments. Afterwards, her eyelid began drooping and she struggled to breathe, and was diagnosed with botulism.
Ms Bailey spent three days in intensive care, and had to be resuscitated after she stopped breathing altogether.
‘I remember lying on the bed thinking “I’m dying here, and I don’t want to”,’ she told the BBC earlier this year. She now wears an eyepatch.
Anyone caught selling unlicensed Botox faces up to two years in prison and unlimited fines under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
Ms Jackson is a former Harley Street practitioner who now operates from Bournemouth
Mr Agoye apologised when contacted by the BBC. A member of staff at his pharmacy told the Mail today he was ‘very busy’ and could not speak
Prakash Gurnani was confronted at his clinic by the BBC following the secret filming and denied supplying illegal botox. A man who answered the phone at his clinic told the Mail today that he was on holiday
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is responsible for ensuring that medicines sold in the UK are safe, has vowed to crack down on the country’s illegal Botox trade.
It has seized thousands of vials of unlicensed toxin, most of which were from South Korea and illegal in Britain. It is also working with social media giants to remove any posts about selling unlicensed Botox.
Andy Morling, the head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, said last month: ‘Anyone involved in the supply of unlicensed botulinum toxin – whether through organised networks or informal sales from kitchen tables, hair salons, or via social media – is breaking the law and endangering lives.
‘The 41 individuals we’ve seen between June and August left seriously ill represent the devastating human cost of this trade.
‘We are working across the country to identify those responsible, seize illegal products, and bring cases to court. We use the full range of our enforcement powers and techniques to shut down these operations and bring offenders to justice.’
The Daily Mail has contacted the MHRA for further comment on the BBC’s findings.
The full film, Scams & Scandals: The Botox Black Market, can be watched on iPlayer.
