The market of aesthetic medicine products is complicated and hard to regulate. This results above all from the fact that the substances that are approved for sale in Asia can be illegal for example in Europe and the other way around. Furthermore, many counterfeit products that are deceptively similar to originals appear on the market. Most frequently, their composition includes substances that are not approved for sale in the country in question. Find out how to tell the difference between the original medical products and suspicious substitutes and take care of safety of your patients!
What to take into account while choosing a medical product
The original product should be packed above all in an original packing of the manufacturer. It is important that the box is properly secured against opening.
The place of purchase of a preparation in question is also of a great importance. Choose stores and websites of only reliable suppliers that have proper rights to sale the medical products. If you are not sure about the legality of the supplier’s activity, ask the manufacturer if the given seller has in fact a permit for distribution of the preparation in question.
Compare prices of the given product from the same manufacturer in different stores. If any seller offers a product at a considerably reduced price, that should be a huge red flag for you. If the distributor tries to be anonymous and it is almost impossible to find any opinion about him on the Internet, it is also a clear signal that you might be dealing with a fraud who offers counterfeit medical products.
Unfortunately, the higher is the renown and popularity of a given manufacturer, the more counterfeit product bearing its logo appear on the market. Most frequently, substitutes do not have a proper concentration of active substances, their composition includes instead some components of unknown origin whose effects can bring extremely negative consequences for the patient.
Which preparations are subject to counterfeit the most often?
One of the products for aesthetic medicine that is counterfeited most frequently is the hyaluronic acid. This substance, prepared under sterile, laboratory conditions is fully safe and biocompatible with the human body. However, the preparation used in the aesthetic medicine is not a onehundredpercent pure form of the substance. It is made using genetically modified bacteria.
In the hyaluronic acid production process, it is extremely important to separate the substance correctly. Counterfeit preparations are often contained by the rests of bacteria. This makes in turn such a product dangerous for the human body and can bring unexpected secondary effects. Due to the fact that the hyaluronic acid cleaning process is expensive, the manufacturers of counterfeit preparations do not carry it out with due diligence. The sterility and proper packing of the product, in the context of the quality of the hyaluronic acid,are also extremely important.
A great number of counterfeit products for mesotherapy on the market is also a huge problem. Due to the fact that the majority of these products are cosmetic, not medical products, (for example the hyaluronic acid), the regulations relating to their production and sale are much less strict.
The commerce of counterfeit products for mesotherapy is so huge that ‘catch-and-go companies’ that put the goods on the market appear and then are dissolved. As a result, in case of complications among patients, the origin of the given preparation is nearly impossible to find.
Choose only the products of reliable manufacturers. Pay attention to the reliability and the renown of the supplier. Remember that the health and safety of your patients is an indisputable priority!
