Professor Caitriona Ryan on Ireland's Dermal Filler Regulation Gap

Institute of Dermatologists Editorial Team | 31 May 2026

This week, Professor Caitriona Ryan, Consultant Dermatologist at the Institute of Dermatologists, spoke to the Sunday Independent about the absence of legal regulation around dermal fillers in Ireland and the risk this poses to patients.

Reporting by Aisling Moloney revealed that the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) advised the Government three years ago, in 2023, to restrict the administration of dermal fillers to trained healthcare professionals and to introduce a ban on fillers for under-18s. That advice has still not been acted on.

As it stands, there is no law in Ireland governing who can inject dermal fillers. Anyone can legally administer them, regardless of medical training. By contrast, only registered doctors or dentists are permitted to administer Botox.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Professor Ryan said the public is being left exposed by this gap. She warned that young women are receiving "permanent, high-risk procedures with less oversight than we'd apply to a tattoo."

She noted that patients who come to her after a complication have rarely been treated in a medical setting, and were often drawn in by prices low enough to make the risk feel worth taking. Without clinical training, an injector has no means of managing a complication if one arises.

Professor Ryan also pointed to the role of advertising. Much of the demand in this sector, she argued, is "created rather than organic," driven by polished and sometimes misleading promotion aimed at adolescents and young women, with no minimum age in Irish law to protect them.

The HPRA has recommended national legislation, a ban on fillers for under-18s, restrictions on advertising aesthetic procedures to under-18s, and a publicly available register of accredited practitioners. The Programme for Government has committed to restricting filler administration to trained healthcare professionals, but no legislation has yet been brought forward.

For the public, the takeaway is straightforward. Until the law changes, the responsibility for safety still rests largely with the individual, which makes choosing a trained medical professional and understanding the risks involved more important than ever.

Our thanks to Aisling Moloney and the Sunday Independent for highlighting an issue with real public health implications.

Read the full article in the Sunday Independent