Online shoppers at risk from ‘DIY Botox’ kits

Potentially harmful cosmetic treatments, including Botox, are easily available online, a Which? Computing investigation has found.

Through a simple search on eBay, the computer magazine found a seller shipping DIY Botox kits from the US, without the need for a prescription, for $95 (around £62). The pack contained needles, saline to mix with the Botox powder and a face map showing where on the face to inject the drug.

It’s dangerous to carry out such a procedure without medical expertise but the seller, a woman in Texas, e-mailed to say: “If you are afraid of injection, there is a product called Inject-Ease that makes injecting a no-brainer.”

eBay removed the ad immediately after being contacted by Which? Computing.

On another UK-based website*, it was possible to buy Melanotan, the so-called tan jab, which isn’t licensed in the UK because of safety fears. The drug was also supplied with syringes and instructions on how to inject it into your stomach.

To date, the UK Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) has shut down 18 websites selling Melanotan. However, the MHRA said it can’t stop Botox, a prescription-only medicine, arriving in the UK as a company operating in the US falls out of its jurisdiction.

This isn’t the first time Which? Computing has exposed how easy it is to buy potentially harmful drugs online. Five years ago it reported on the scandal of internet pharmacies selling prescription-only drugs without proper checks.

Sarah Kidner, Editor, Which? Computing says:

“It’s easy to forget that Botox is actually a poison, which if injected in the wrong area could produce some shocking results. We were appalled that we were able to buy a DIY Botox kit so easily and we are concerned that the internet is becoming a marketplace for cut-price cosmetic treatments.”

*The website, http://melanotan-maverick.com, has since been shut down.