Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Ministry of Health of Uzbekistan has urged citizens to exercise caution when seeking cosmetology services and to use only licensed medical organizations.

According to the ministry, offers for cosmetology services are increasingly appearing on social media and in the signage of some beauty salons, alongside standard hairdressing and manicure services. These services include skin cleansing, peeling, facial massage, laser hair removal, Botox, mesotherapy, and other procedures.

The ministry notes a rising number of complaints from women experiencing negative consequences after such procedures. Social media regularly features reports from individuals who, seeking to correct cosmetic imperfections, ended up with new, unexpected problems.

“The main cause of such issues is that procedures in regular beauty salons and cosmetology centers, which are not medical institutions, are performed by individuals without the appropriate education and training,” said Ulugbek Sabirov, Director of the Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Medical Center for Dermatovenereology and Cosmetology. He explained that such practitioners are registered as individual entrepreneurs or self-employed, officially operate legally, but lack medical education, and their activities are not monitored by health authorities.

At the same time, the ministry emphasized that licensed private medical organizations providing medical cosmetology services have not reported similar complications.

Currently, 147 non-governmental medical organizations in Uzbekistan are licensed to provide medical cosmetology services, including 94 in Tashkent. The number of beauty salons and establishments without medical organization status offering cosmetology services is significantly higher.

“Cosmetology procedures are medical activities that must be performed exclusively by qualified doctors and require licensing,” the ministry stated. To strengthen the legal framework, regulations on the provision of medical cosmetology services and a corresponding order governing the activities of cosmetologists in state healthcare institutions have been developed.

The ministry strongly recommends that citizens use only specialized state institutions or private medical organizations with a valid license for medical cosmetology, warning of possible complications from unlicensed practitioners.

“Take care of your health and the health of your loved ones,” the Ministry of Health emphasized.