Compensation for Beauty Treatment Gone Wrong

I suffered an injury at the hands of my stylist when I last visited my local beauty salon and was wondering about compensation for beauty treatment gone wrong. Might I be able to make a claim against the salon?

Eoin P. Campbell, LL.B., Solicitor

Editor in Chief

Eoin P. Campbell

You may be entitled to claim for compensation for a beauty treatment gone wrong if the injury you sustained can be proven to have been as a direct result of the negligence of the salon owner. Any business owner has a legal duty of care toward their customers and they are expected to maintain their property in a safe and clean condition. If the injury you suffered was a result of the negligence of the staff member who was treating you, you are likely to be eligible to claim for beauty treatment accident compensation.

However, there is an exception to this general rule that applies to compensation for beauty treatment gone wrong claims and that is if the salon owner has an “absolute” duty of care. You may not qualify for botched beauty treatment compensation if the staff members could not have “reasonably” prevented the accident.

There are some procedures you should have taken immediately following the accident, the first and most important being that you should have been treated by a medical professional. In the case of a serious accident, an ambulance should have been called, but even if your injury was not deemed severe enough for this course of action, you should have at least seen your family GP.

Other steps to take following an accident that could benefit your compensation for a beauty treatment gone wrong claim – to have been carried out after you were medically treated – would have been to collect the details of any potential witnesses, to have taken images of the accident scene on your camera phone and to have had your injury recorded in the salon’s accident report book, provided they had one.

It is well worth contacting an experienced solicitor at the first practical moment after an accident occurs. They can provide you with expert information and can advise you on whether or not you have a viable claim. Most solicitors offer a free initial consultation in which they can assess your personal case and will answer any questions you may have.