People looking to receive any cosmetic surgery procedure will need to have a mental health assessment prior to it. Such was one of the new rules limiting the cosmetic surgery industry in Australia, motivated by research linking mental health issues with desire for cosmetic surgery.
The new standards apply across the board to all cosmetic surgery services in the country. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care released the announcement on December 14, seeking to improve the “safety and quality of care” for cosmetic surgery patients, as per Australian Minister of Health, Mark Butler.
Plastic surgery in Australia has been increasingly popular over the last few years, and one third of Australians consider plastic surgery. In 2022, the Health Ministers of Australia met after media reports of patient risks during cosmetic surgery, and “decided to implement urgent reforms,” according to the Australian Commission.
The need for psychological assessment prior to surgery is perhaps the most striking change from the new standards. Specifically, patients need to receive an assessment from a clinician, which could be their regular doctor or surgeon, and be found apt. No specific psychological assessment is enforced, just that a clinician finds them psychologically apt for the surgery.
This idea of mandatory psychological screenings before cosmetic surgery procedures has been explored before in the scientific community.
“Australia has now joined countries like New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Singapore in developing specific guidelines for cosmetic surgery procedures,” the Australian Commission told Newsendip. Australia has decided to enforce it as a rule, while many countries still only recommend it.
Regulating the practices of “rogue” plastic surgeons
Other changes enforced by the standards include that the clinics maintain accurate and complete records, periodically check on safety risks, ensure that the patients receive their desired changes and other safety and governance standards.
Dr. Nicola Dean, President of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), said they strongly support the new standards, to regulate the practices of “rogue” clinics. The ASPS is a non-governmental organization of accredited plastic surgeons claiming to represent 93% of specialist plastic surgeons in Australia.
“Specialist Plastic Surgeons have been calling for such changes for many years, Dr. Dean told Newsendip. We cannot tolerate the situation in Australia where rogue practitioners are performing cosmetic procedures in unhygienic, inappropriate premises.”
However, Dr. Dean of ASPS said they have concerns about how the new standards may be enforced, as far as the confidentiality of the psychological assessment: “It is important that the implementation of these new standards does not mean that hospital administrators are able to look at psychological test results or private patient details of consultations.”
They also expressed concerns of clinics being overloaded with paperwork from maintaining patients’ files, and consequently, not being able to take on new patients. ASPS also regrets that the standards do not go far enough in enforcing a governmental accreditation to perform cosmetic procedures.
Mental health and cosmetic surgery
The standards were created specifically to constrain the cosmetic surgery domain, which is considered unique by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
“Cosmetic surgery is unique in that surgical interventions are employed, not for medical purposes, but to achieve a change in physical appearance which is more aesthetically pleasing,” writes the Commission in their report.
Previously, cosmetic surgery was only limited by general healthcare limitations, meaning, it was not considered unique. According to the Commission, constraining the cosmetic surgery industry was an urgent matter, back when the new standards were initially conceived in 2022.
The standard enforcing psychological assessment may be connected to research regarding mental health concerns associated with cosmetic surgery patients. In September 2023, The University of South Australia (Unisa) released a study measuring the link between social media usage, self-compassion and acceptance towards cosmetic surgery.
The study utilized an online survey that was advertised on the university’s campus. Female respondents answered questions on their daily usage of social media sites and which ones, their level of self-compassion and about whether they would consider cosmetic surgery.
The study found significant correlations between the three variables, and that self-compassion and acceptance of cosmetic surgery were negatively correlated. In other words, people with lower self-compassion were more open to cosmetic surgery.
The study also found that acceptance of cosmetic surgery and usage of social media went hand in hand. Frequent users of social media sites like Instagram were more likely to want plastic surgery.
The researchers behind the study already advocated for psychological screening of cosmetic surgery patients.
“This research adds to the literature advocating for standardized psychological screening of cosmetic surgery patients and suggests that self-compassion, and more specifically over-identification, would be an appropriate addition to this,” write researchers Lauren Conboy & John Mingoia.
