TV personality Danielle Meagher – or ‘Dr Botox’ as she prefers to be known – could find herself in hot water this week if the Irish Medicines Board decides to push ahead with prosecution for the illegal endorsement of Botox treatment on Twitter and using her role in reality show Dublin Housewives as a tool for advertising. Ms Meagher runs cosmetic clinic DermaFACE, and regularly promotes her treatments on social networking sites under the name ‘Danielle Botox’ – she also offered presenter Tom Dunne a free procedure when she appeared on Irish radio show Newstalk.

It is illegal to promote or endorse prescription-only medication in the public arena, but that didn’t seem to bother Danielle as she repeatedly offered Mr Dunne a free treatment and even encouraged listeners to phone in and convince him to go ahead with it. A spokesperson for the show said ‘she was invited on to talk about the popularity of Botox. During the course of the interview Danielle asked Tom to come in and get Botox done… After this interview Danielle offered to cover the cost of Tom getting Botox done. He declined. She offered to give it to a listener, and one listener took her up on the offer.’

This type of advertisement is strictly forbidden by the Irish Medicines Board and Danielle could face a fine of up to 120,000 euros or a prison term of up to twelve years. Despite the controversy, ‘Dr Botox’ claims she has not broken any laws, stating ‘We don’t advertise Botox on our website. We absolutely adhere to the IMB guidelines.’