As most of us are aware, Australia has extremely strict advertising regulations regarding advertising higher-risk cosmetic procedures. Becoming familiar with these guidelines can be quite overwhelming, but once you learn the rules, you’ll soon get in the swing of things and feel confident you can market your business well.
Whether it’s a page or post, putting these guidelines into practice also becomes a little easier when you know why they came about. The cosmetic medicine industry was fast becoming reckless, preying on people’s insecurities, making false claims of miracle treatments without ever giving a full and balanced story. AI images and paid testimonials didn’t help the terrain either.
To address these issues, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Medical Board of Australia introduced specific guidelines to protect patients from misleading, inappropriate or high-pressure marketing practices.
If you’re a cosmetic clinic, doctor, nurse or marketer, you must understand these requirements. If you fail to comply, it can result in investigations, advertising breaches, reputational damage and regulatory action. It can soon become messy, time-consuming and very, very expensive.
We recommend you download and familiarise yourself with AHPRA’s guidelines for advertising higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures as well as the TGA’s guidelines on advertising cosmetic injectables, so you can understand your obligations, promote your services with confidence, do no harm and sleep well at night.
This article provides a practical interpretation of some of these guidelines for promoting higher-risk procedures, particularly those involving cosmetic injectables.
So first, let’s take a brief look at what higher-risk procedures are.
What are higher-risk procedures?
AHPRA defines higher-risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures as non-surgical procedures undertaken to revise or change the appearance, colour, texture, structure, or position of bodily features, predominantly to achieve what the patient perceives as a more desirable appearance.
Higher-risk procedures typically require a registered health practitioner to perform the procedure, or an aspect of the cosmetic procedure requires the involvement of a registered health practitioner.
Higher risk procedures include:
- cosmetic injectables such as botulinum toxin and dermal fillers
- injection lipolysis
- thread lifts
- sclerotherapy
- microsclerotherapy
- procedures involving platelet-rich plasma (PRP)
- biotherapy or injections of any products derived from the patient’s blood
“A filler is not a facial”
As AHPRA has elegantly stated, “a filler is not a facial”. These procedures carry specific risks and may cause complications or irreversible harm to the patient. This is why the patient’s well-being and safety should always come first, and advertising should be balanced and honest.
Understanding the ban on advertising prescription-only medicines
An important part of these regulatory changes is the ban on advertising prescription-only medicines. Under Australian therapeutic goods legislation, prescription medicines cannot be promoted to the general public. This includes products such as anti-wrinkle injections and dermal fillers.
Why so?
This is to ensure the treatment decisions are based on an individual’s clinical needs rather than consumer advertising.
You cannot mention any prescription medications (e.g., hyaluronic acid, botulinum toxin) or brand or product names (e.g., Dysport, Botox, Juvaderm, Allergan, Restalyne).
When it comes to Botox injections, these rules are particularly strict because even phrases such as ‘anti-wrinkle injections’, while avoiding the name of the brand of the prescription medication, are synonymous in Australia with a prescription medication. Consequently, Botox is particularly difficult to work around.
When advertising Botox, clinics are titling the treatment pages with phrases such as ‘addressing wrinkles’ and ‘cosmetic consultations’.
However, it’s not just anti-wrinkle injections that are affected by these advertising restrictions. Both anti-wrinkle injections and most dental fillers are Schedule 4 prescription-only medicines. So if you advertise either of these treatments, you may breach the Therapeutic Goods Act.
Therefore, to play it safe, focus on marketing the consultations, facial concerns and treatment goals rather than the products or specific gettable procedures.
The Key Principle: Product Versus Outcome
A useful way to understand the distinction is that regulators are generally concerned about advertising a prescription medicine itself, rather than discussing cosmetic concerns or treatment outcomes.
Advertising that focuses on:
- Facial rejuvenation
- Volume restoration
- Facial contouring
- Cosmetic consultation services
may be viewed differently from advertising that encourages consumers to receive a prescription-only anti-wrinkle medicine.
NB: Take no notice of your competitors
It only takes a few minutes of Googling to find a handful of cosmetic medicine businesses advertising their business in terms such as ‘dermal fillers’ or ‘anti-wrinkle injections’. Don’t be fooled into believing that this is acceptable. They will likely face regulatory action soon.
Restrictions on before and after images
In short, when advertising injectables, you cannot include before-and-after photos.
A doctor can potentially use before-and-after photos to advertise a health service, but not if the photos directly or indirectly advertise a prescription-only medicine.
The TGA have specifically addressed this issue, making it quite clear, stating:
“Where ‘before and after’ photos are used, and it is apparent that the ‘after’ photo is due to the administration of a prescription-only cosmetic injectable, this is likely to amount to an advertisement for a therapeutic good that would contravene the Act.”
Practical example
It is likely non-compliant if a clinic website shows the following:
- Before photo: forehead wrinkles + After photo: smooth forehead
- Captioned: ‘antiwrinkle treatment’ OR ‘wrinkle reducing injections’ OR ‘cosmetic injectables’
The overall impression here is of a patient who has been prescribed a Schedule 4 injectable product. The TGA would not look upon this favourably.
Avoid misleading claims
Advertising your services can feel a little dull at first. However, it’s just a matter of changing your writing style and avoiding ‘glossy’ language and misleading claims.
Words such as ‘can’, ‘may’ and ‘potentially’ will be your new best friends. There will be no guaranteed outcomes. In summary, your wording should not:
- promise permanent outcomes
- guarantee results
- exaggerate benefits
- minimise risks
- suggest the treatment is suitable for everyone
Here are a few tips for achieving this.
AIM, DON’T PROMISE: You can say that a treatment ‘aims to address xyz’, but you cannot say that it ‘will give you xyz’.
Don’t promise miracles, in other words. So avoid problematic claims such as:
- ‘wrinkle-free in minutes’
- ‘guaranteed younger -looking skin’
- ‘the best injectable treatment available’
- ‘completely risk-free’
ADDRESS SUITABILITY: Explain that the treatment is not suitable for everyone. And importantly, explain that a personalised consultation is necessary to determine suitability for treatment.
TAKE IT SERIOUSLY: Remember, a filler is not a facial. AHPRA says that you can use the following minimising terms, such as gentle, simple, safe, quick or easy, but provided that you give clear information about the risks. However, while the choice is yours, it may be safer to avoid using such words.
AHPRA also suggest that you should avoid words such as ‘more natural’, ‘ideal’, ‘perfect’ and ‘instant’. And, that you should avoid words that trivialise higher risk cosmetic procedures, such as ‘magic hands’, ‘artist’, ‘God’, ‘queen’, ‘master’ or ‘world’s best’.
INCLUDE RISKS: Always include the risks and side effects associated with the procedure.
Avoid testimonials and reviews.
Testimonials and reviews are not allowed in health advertising. They can create unrealistic expectations of beneficial treatment and are subject to biases. So, ensure there are no reviews or testimonials on your website, on social media, or in any marketing materials.
You also cannot link to testimonials in any third-party advertising, such as an independent website or discussion forum.
The only way a patient can write a testimonial about your higher-risk cosmetic procedure is if they write on a review platform or online publication that you have no control over. For example, if a patient discusses your services on a forum or in a social media comment, it is understood that this is outside your control.
Financial incentives & promotional offers
Health practitioners can offer financial incentives and promotions, but they cannot do this for cosmetic injectables as they are prescription medications. So if it’s for a laser or dermal treatment, promotions are possible, provided you clearly list the terms and conditions.
Let’s talk about language.
Your language must appear balanced and never derogatory, and it must not be presented in a manner that may exploit insecurities.
Do not promise guarantees and miracles.
- Avoid words such as: ‘miracle’, ‘cure’, ‘magical’, ‘guaranteed’ or ‘infallible’.
- Why so? Outcomes vary between individuals, so your advertising must not overstate the potential benefit of a treatment.
Do not trivialise risk or minimise procedures.
- Avoid words such as: ‘safe’, ‘risk-free’, ‘pain-free’ or ‘effective’ in an absolute sense without acknowledging mixed evidence or potential adverse reactions. Similarly, avoid words like ‘sculpt’, ‘magic’ or ‘art’.
- Why so? These terms minimise the medical nature of the procedure.
Do not exploit psychological or social insecurities.
- Avoid claims such as: ‘boost confidence’, ‘improve self-esteem’ or that the treatment will change a person’s life unless your claims are supported by high-quality scientific evidence.
- Avoid using phrases that may imply that a person needs to change their appearance, such as ‘get her look’, ‘bikini body’, bikini ready’ or ‘bod inspo’.
- Why so? This is preying on vulnerable people’s insecurities.
Additionally, check that all your advertising copy, including webpages, avoids using terms such as ‘concerns’, ‘improve’, ‘improvements’, ‘benefit’, or ‘fix’, as these imply that there is something wrong that needs addressing.
TIP: Often, you can replace words like ‘fix’ or ‘improve’ with ‘address’. For example, ‘This treatment addresses fine lines and wrinkles’.
Create a checklist
Minimise the chance of error by creating a hit list and asking yourself the following:
Have I:
- named any prescription-only products or brands?
- used prohibitive before and after photos
- used any testimonials?
- made any unrealistic claims or promises?
- created any time-limited offers on prescription medication treatments?
- omitted the Risks and Complications section?
Then, run a quick audit before you publish any page. Press ‘Control F’ to perform a search on words that may have slipped through, like ‘fix’, ‘improve’ or ‘concern’.
Finally, have a colleague who is familiar with the guidelines review your content before publishing. In the early stages, a team effort is always best.
NB: If you’re concerned that your webpages are a compliance disaster zone, there are online tools you can use, such as Screaming Frog (the paid version), which can audit each webpage for non-compliant words. Contact your developer to find out more.