Botox at the Mall: Is It Safe?

Nov. 25, 2006 — -- The mall is your one-stop shopping destination for nearly everything, and now cosmetic surgery procedures are being performed in a number of malls throughout the country.

From Botox injections and restalyne for wrinkles to laser skin treatments and hair reduction, some consumers are lining up and loving the convenience of getting a little upkeep done while shopping.

At Dallas' NorthPark Center mall, right next to cosmetic retailer Sephora, is Klinger Advanced Aesthetics, which provides a number of surgical procedures.

"This is a genius idea, to have this done in a mall," said shopper Melissa Restrepo. "This just adds a whole other element to beauty."

Cosmetic surgeons say these medi-spas are a way to meet skyrocketing customer demand. The number of people getting Botox injections in 2005 is up 388 percent since 2000, according to statistics from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

"Today, medicine has to not only be good and safe, it has to be convenient. And this does all three in a setting that happens to be a mall," said Dr. Rod J. Rohrich, chairman of the plastic surgery department at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and director of medical services at NorthPark.

Some doctors believe that this convenience could mean patients are compromising on safety.

"It matters a lot who's on the end of that needle," said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. "What you're starting to see at these malls are kind of aestheticians. They're basically the people who are one step up from squirting the perfume on your face at the department stores."

Rohrich said the staff at Klinger Aesthetics is highly trained, and the procedures are performed by advanced nurse practitioners.

"We want patients to know, feel, that they are in a nice medical office," Rohrich said. "It's a little different than the salon or the spa. When they walk through, they're going to be taking care of medical issues. They're changing from a client to a patient."