The Independent Aesthetic Governance Society addresses a defined question: how should advice, treatment and outcome review be organised so that financial interests are disclosed and roles are clearly separated?
Our approach recognises the legitimate remuneration of treating physicians. It distinguishes payment for medical care from advice or assessment explicitly commissioned as independent.
The Society develops standards, qualification requirements and transparent procedures. It enables interdisciplinary exchange and investigates whether its rules are understandable, practical and effective.
In this model, IAGS is neither a treatment facility nor a referral agency. It does not decide on behalf of patients or grant statutory licences to practise.
Institutional purpose
The Independent Aesthetic Governance Society develops and publishes standards for transparent decision-making in aesthetic medicine, independent of treatment providers.
The focus is on the personal and financial separation of independent advice, treatment and independent outcome assessment, and disclosure of the associated interests.
The Society promotes appropriate qualification requirements, transparent responsibilities, scientific exchange and evaluation of its procedures.
Its aim is to improve the conditions in which personal aesthetic decisions are made and subsequently assessed.
Our areas of work
Standards
We develop understandable requirements for separate roles, disclosed interests and documented decisions.
Qualifications
We define the relevant experience, current competence and independence required for advisory and review roles.
Transparency
We clarify which payments and relationships must be disclosed and when disclosure alone is insufficient.
Research
We promote evaluation of our own model, including benefits, limitations and unintended consequences.
Process assessment
The assessment procedure makes specific organisational processes transparent against the requirements of the IAGS standard.
Organisation and responsibilities
The Society separates professional, organisational and assessment responsibilities. The overview below sets out these responsibilities.
General assembly
Constitution, elections, discharge of governing bodies and overall direction
Board
Organisation, budget and legal representation
Scientific standards committee
Requirements, methodology, professional consultation and revision
Independence and eligibility committee
Experience, current competence, conflicts of interest and scopes of practice for independent physicians
Independent complaints panel
Review of disputed decisions by people with no prior involvement
Secretariat
Administration, communication, documentation and register maintenance
No one decides their own eligibility, their own complaint or the assessment of their own organisation.
Our own independence
Those developing independence rules must make their own decisions open to scrutiny. Funding, personal connections and potential bias should therefore be disclosed transparently.