Doctors carrying out cosmetic treatments must avoid two-for-one offers and allow a minimum two-week cooling-off period before surgery or risk being struck off, under long-awaited guidance to protect patients who may be vulnerable.

General Medical Council (GMC) directions published on Tuesday say doctors must avoid irresponsible advertising and aggressive inducements. The rules make it the responsibility of doctors to personally manage the consent process and ensure patients know who to contact in the event of complications.

They cover all cosmetic procedures, from breast augmentation to Botox, amid concerns that a boom in the number of people getting treatment to improve their appearance is being fuelled by dubious practices.

The GMC rules are supplemented by professional standards specifically for cosmetic surgery, issued by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS), which include the two-week cooling-off period.

Breach of either set of guidelines could lead to the GMC launching a fitness-to-practice investigation.

The chair of the GMC, Prof Terence Stephenson, said: “Patients considering whether to have such a procedure need honest and straightforward advice which allows them to understand the risks as well as the possible benefits.

“It is a challenging area of medicine which deals with patients who can be extremely vulnerable. Most doctors who practise in this area do so to a high standard but we do sometimes come across poor practice, and it is important that patients are protected from this and that doctors understand what is expected from them.”

The new GMC guidance, which comes into force from June and applies across the UK, follows a review of the cosmetic industry in England by NHS England’s medical director, Prof Sir Bruce Keogh.

The guidance forbids procedures being offered as prizes, stops doctors allowing salespeople to misrepresent treatments, and requires comprehensive record-keeping of consultations and outcomes.

Additionally, the RCS is launching a certification scheme later this year allowing patients to search more easily for a surgeon with the appropriate training and insurance for the procedure they are considering.

It wants the government to legislate to allow this information to be added to surgeons’ details on the GMC’s list of medical practitioners.

Stephen Cannon, RCS vice-president and chair of its cosmetic surgery interspecialty committee, said: “Our message to surgeons and doctors working in the cosmetic surgery industry is simple: if you are not working to the surgical standards we have set out and published today, you should not be treating patients at all.”

More than 51,000 Britons – a record number – underwent cosmetic surgery last year, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, which is part of the RCS. The vast majority of patients (91%) were women, with the most popular treatment breast augmentation, followed by eyelid surgery and then face/neck lifts.

The chief executive of the Patients Association, Katherine Murphy, said: “We welcome the guidelines. I think it’s really important that the professionals, the doctors, think about the patient and that people have cosmetic surgery for many different reasons. Explaining fully to the patient and providing them with the relevant information and support is very important.”

The health minister Ben Gummer described the guidance as “an important step forward in improving standards and ending the lottery of poor practice in parts of the cosmetic industry”.