Cosmetic surgery advertising and practice guidelines from 1 July 2023

From 1 July 2023 doctors who perform or advertise cosmetic surgery face new Medical Board rules on images, testimonials, pricing, finance and influencers.

1 July 202313 min read

From 1 July 2023, doctors who perform or advertise cosmetic surgery in Australia work under two new sets of Medical Board of Australia guidelines: the Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgery and procedures, and the Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who advertise cosmetic surgery. On the same day, a registration standard for an area of practice endorsement for cosmetic surgery took effect.

For marketing, this is the most detailed set of advertising rules any Australian health profession has faced. They reach into before-and-after galleries, Instagram captions, influencer deals, price pages, finance offers and even how often you post. The practice guidelines also change how patients move from enquiry to booking, which affects your website funnels and follow-up campaigns.

Status update: both Medical Board guidelines remain in force with no revision to the 1 July 2023 issue that we could find. Since then, “surgeon” became a protected title from 20 September 2023 in most states and territories, and on 2 September 2025 Ahpra and the National Boards brought in separate guidelines for non-surgical cosmetic procedures across the other professions, including advertising rules for higher risk non-surgical procedures that also apply to doctors. As far as we could confirm, the Medical Board’s endorsement page still says there are no approved programs of study, so no doctor yet holds the endorsement.

What changed

Health Ministers approved the reform package and the Medical Board and Ahpra announced the new guidelines on 3 April 2023, following a public consultation in December 2022 and the recommendations of the 2022 independent review of cosmetic surgery regulation. Practitioners were given three months to review and correct their advertising before the rules started on 1 July 2023.

The package had three parts:

Practice guidelines (date of issue 1 July 2023) for doctors who perform cosmetic surgery and non-surgical cosmetic procedures, covering referral, consultations, cooling-off, consent, prescribing, facilities and financial arrangements.
Advertising guidelines (date of issue 1 July 2023) for doctors who advertise cosmetic surgery, covering titles, testimonials, influencers, images, risk information, body image and targeting.
An endorsement registration standard, approved by the Ministerial Council on 24 February 2023 and effective 1 July 2023. Accreditation standards for cosmetic surgery programs, set by the Australian Medical Council, took effect on 19 April 2023.

The Medical Board also said Ahpra’s advertising audit would continue against the new rules from 1 July 2023.

Who it applies to

The practice guidelines apply to registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic surgery (procedures that involve cutting beneath the skin, such as breast augmentation, facelifts and liposuction) and non-surgical cosmetic procedures (which may pierce the skin but do not cut beneath it, such as injectables, thread lifts and laser treatments).

The advertising guidelines apply to registered medical practitioners who advertise cosmetic surgery. The Board defines cosmetic surgery by its dominant purpose of changing appearance to achieve what the patient sees as a more desirable look. Reconstructive surgery and gender affirmation surgery are excluded. The practitioner in control of the advertising is responsible for it, including content made by others such as clinic staff, agencies and influencers, and must use their best endeavours to make sure anyone advertising their services complies.

If you are a clinic owner who is not a doctor, these guidelines still shape what your practitioners can approve. The National Law advertising provisions also apply to any person who advertises a regulated health service.

What the advertising guidelines require

Practitioner responsibility

Advertising must not exploit people’s vulnerabilities or insecurities to increase demand, and must not target people who may be unsuitable for surgery, such as people with body dysmorphic disorder. Practitioners must recognise the conflict between financial gain and their duty of care. Cost information must be clear, accurate and honest, and include the total cost, including items such as anaesthesia and aftercare, rather than a consultation fee alone.

Titles, qualifications and registration

Advertising must give clear information about the practitioner’s qualifications and type of medical registration, along with their registration number. Specialist titles may only be used by practitioners with specialist registration in that specialty, and endorsements may only be claimed if held. Acronyms for memberships must be explained. Claims about experience must be accurate, and pre-vocational rotations must not be used to imply surgical training. Terms such as “magic hands” or “world’s best” are given as examples of language that overstates ability.

No incentives or discounts

Do not offer incentives, gifts, discounts or inducements to encourage people to have surgery. The guidelines cover early-booking discounts, travel or spa extras, bundled procedure packages and prizes in promotions.

Testimonials

Testimonials are prohibited. That includes patient stories, success stories and statements about the experience, reason for or outcome of surgery, the practitioner’s skills, or linked surgical images. Temporary content such as social media stories counts. Liking, responding to, reposting or linking to patient praise counts as using a testimonial. You should disable reviews, comments or tagging where you control them. Patients posting reviews independently on their own initiative is not restricted.

Influencers and ambassadors

The guidelines recognise that influencer and ambassador content carries particular risks, especially for younger audiences. You remain responsible for that content and must make sure it complies with every rule, including the testimonial ban.

Images, including before-and-after

Do not use single images that suggest a surgical outcome, such as nudity, lingerie or swimwear, mood lighting, soft filters, black-and-white, or models and celebrities.
Do not use images of anyone under 18.
Outcome images need a prominent warning that results vary between individuals.
Before-and-after images must be genuine and show actual patients of that practitioner.
The first image seen must be the “before” or a combined image, not the “after”.
Lighting, angle, background, framing, exposure, posture, clothing and makeup must match.
No editing, filtering, retouching or greyscaling, and consider whether post-surgical swelling makes an “after” image misleading.
Imagery must be educational or informative. Avoid music, dancing, comedy and montages.
Avoid sexualised poses, simulated undressing, nudity (even if censored), emojis over body parts or showing emotion, lifestyle settings such as the beach or bedroom, idealising captions, and naming patients or linking to their accounts.

Using a patient’s images requires consent that is separate from surgical consent. The patient must be told where the images will appear, for how long and who can see them, be able to view them first, know they can refuse, and be able to withdraw consent easily, with images removed promptly.

Risk, recovery and trivialising

Provide accurate, realistic risk information, and make full details easy to find, with links where space is short. Make it clear that surgery is a serious decision, and never offer it as a competition prize. Describe realistic recovery time, aftercare and lifestyle changes, and do not describe recovery as “quick” or “rapid”. Avoid minimising words such as “gentle”, “simple”, “safe”, “quick” or “easy”, colloquial terms used without the medical term, idealising terms such as “barbie” or “transformation”, and interactive content such as voting on outcomes or guessing implant sizes.

Body image and realistic expectations

Do not suggest surgery is the only option for someone unhappy with their appearance. Do not use automated tools or apps that predict appearance after surgery. Do not promote multiple procedures at once, describe normal changes such as post-pregnancy bodies as abnormal, or imply surgery delivers an ideal body or wellbeing benefits. Claims must be objective and provable, must make clear that results vary, and any claim about psychological or social benefit, such as improved confidence, needs acceptable evidence.

Targeting

Do not target under-18s, and avoid media likely to reach them. Social media cosmetic surgery advertising must be identified as “adult content”. Do not use algorithms, metadata or hashtags to target at-risk groups, and consider posting frequency, since excessive posting can normalise surgery.

What the practice guidelines require

These rules are about clinical practice, but several directly change your marketing and booking systems.

Referral: cosmetic surgery patients need a referral, preferably from their usual GP. The referrer must be independent and must not perform cosmetic procedures.
Consultations: at least two pre-operative consultations, at least one in person with the operating practitioner. Consent forms cannot be requested at the first consultation.
Cooling-off: at least seven days before surgery is booked or a deposit is paid. For under-18s, at least three months, with an independent psychological evaluation.
Screening: a validated tool must be used to screen for body dysmorphic disorder.
Prescribing: for schedule 4 cosmetic injectables, the doctor must consult the patient in person or by video each time they prescribe.
Facilities: cosmetic surgery must be performed in an accredited facility, with a narrow exception set out in the guidelines.
Payments: no money is payable until after the cooling-off period, except for initial consultations.
Finance: do not offer, promote or recommend loans or commercial payment plans, and do not encourage patients to take on debt or access superannuation. You may state accepted payment methods.
Inducements: no commissions to agents, no free or discounted procedures for prospective patients (including influencers) in exchange for promotion, and no extras such as flights or accommodation as incentives.
Conflicts of interest: avoid and disclose financial conflicts that could influence advice.

The endorsement standard

The endorsement was designed to show patients which doctors have met minimum standards. Once granted, it will appear on the public register. Doctors become eligible by completing a Board-approved, AMC-accredited program of study or a substantially equivalent qualification. When the standard took effect, no programs had been approved, and the Board’s endorsement page states: “There are no approved programs of study yet.” For marketing, that means no doctor can advertise as endorsed for cosmetic surgery. An endorsement also does not permit a doctor to use the title “cosmetic surgeon”, according to the Medical Board’s surgeon title FAQ.

What it means for your marketing

Website

Put each doctor’s qualifications, registration type and registration number on procedure pages and bios.
Rebuild before-and-after galleries to the image rules, with the “before” first, matching conditions and a prominent results-vary warning.
Replace “from $X” consultation pricing with total cost information.
Remove finance calculators, loan partner banners and “pay it off weekly” messaging.
Change “book surgery now” calls to action to reflect referral, two consultations and the cooling-off period. A consultation booking button is fine; a surgery deposit at first contact is not.
Check every procedure page links to realistic risk and recovery information.

Google Business Profile and reviews

Do not reply to, showcase or repost reviews that praise outcomes or a doctor’s skill. Remove review widgets from your website, and switch off reviews where your platform allows. Patients remain free to post reviews on their own initiative.

Social media and influencers

Audit old posts, reels, pinned stories and highlights, not just new content.
Remove music-driven, comedic and “transformation” content, emojis over images, and lifestyle shots.
Stop liking, sharing or responding to patient posts about their results.
End free or discounted surgery for influencers, and review every ambassador arrangement for testimonial content.
Think about posting frequency, not just content.

Paid ads

Label cosmetic surgery ads as adult content, exclude under-18 audiences, and avoid interest or lookalike targeting that could reach vulnerable groups. Remove promotional offers, early-bird deals and bundles.

Email and SMS

Nurture sequences need to follow the same rules. Do not push deposits before the cooling-off period ends, do not include finance offers, and do not include patient stories.

Printed and in-clinic material

Brochures, posters and screens in your waiting room are advertising. Check them for titles, images, prices and offers.

Common mistakes we see

Fixing the website but forgetting Instagram highlights and TikTok archives.
Using stock images or models in a way that suggests they show a surgical result. Ahpra’s September 2023 update described a case where stock images were used instead of genuine before-and-after photos.
Showing a consultation fee and calling it the price.
Partnering with finance providers through a “payment options” page that goes beyond stating accepted payment methods.
Assuming an agency or influencer is responsible for their own content. The practitioner remains responsible.
Using “specialises in” or similar wording for a doctor without specialist registration.
Booking funnels that take a surgery deposit before the second consultation and cooling-off period.

A practical checklist

Registration type and number shown for every doctor advertised.
No specialist or endorsement claims that are not held.
All testimonials, patient stories and review widgets removed.
Reviews, comments and tagging disabled where you control them.
Before-and-after images: genuine, unedited, matching, “before” first, warning shown, separate written advertising consent on file.
No images of under-18s; social ads labelled adult content; under-18s excluded from targeting.
No discounts, gifts, bundles, prizes or finance promotions.
Total cost information provided.
Risk and recovery information realistic and linked from every page and post.
Booking and deposit process aligned with referral, two consultations and seven-day cooling-off.
Influencer and agency agreements updated and content approved by the responsible practitioner.
Advertising audit record kept with dates.

How this fits with other rules

National Law. Section 133 still applies to everyone who advertises a regulated health service. Ahpra summarised the cosmetic surgery rules as requiring advertising not to be false, misleading or deceptive, not to offer discounts without terms and conditions, not to use testimonials, not to create unreasonable expectations of benefit and not to encourage indiscriminate use. Since October 2022 the maximum penalty for an advertising offence is $60,000 for an individual and $120,000 for a body corporate, according to Ahpra.

Ahpra’s general advertising guidelines. The 2020 Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service still apply. The cosmetic surgery guidelines add more specific expectations.

TGA. The practice guidelines require compliance with the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code. Prescription-only medicines used in cosmetic injectables cannot be advertised to the public. The practice guidelines also require patients to be given the TGA patient information leaflet before surgery and the patient implant card afterwards, where relevant.

The surgeon title. From 20 September 2023 in most states and territories, “surgeon” and “cosmetic surgeon” became restricted to doctors with specialist registration in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology or ophthalmology.

Australian Consumer Law and privacy. Misleading price or result claims can also breach consumer law, and patient images are health information that must be handled under privacy law.

Frequently asked questions

Can we still show prices?

Yes, but cost information must be clear, accurate and honest and include the total cost. Discounts, gifts and inducements tied to surgery are not permitted.

Can we mention that we accept payment plans?

You may state accepted payment methods and non-commercial instalment arrangements, but you must not offer, promote or recommend loans or commercial payment plans.

Do these rules cover injectables?

The practice guidelines cover non-surgical procedures performed by doctors, including the in-person or video consultation rule for schedule 4 injectables. The advertising guidelines are specific to cosmetic surgery. From 2 September 2025, separate Ahpra guidelines govern advertising of higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures by any practitioner or business.

Are before-and-after photos banned?

No, but they must meet strict conditions: genuine patients of that practitioner, no editing, matching conditions, the “before” shown first, a prominent warning that results vary and separate consent for advertising use.

Can a doctor say they are endorsed for cosmetic surgery?

Not unless the endorsement appears on their registration. The Medical Board says there are no approved programs of study yet.

Is Ahpra checking compliance?

Yes. Ahpra said it had audited cosmetic surgery advertising since September 2022 and would continue auditing against the new rules from 1 July 2023. In September 2023 it reported a case where the Medical Board imposed education conditions and restricted a doctor’s advertising after the doctor failed to correct non-compliant content.

Need a hand?

These guidelines touch almost every part of a cosmetic surgery practice’s marketing. Our AHPRA compliance audit reviews your website, galleries and social channels against them, and our work with surgical practices includes booking funnels designed around referral and cooling-off rules. If your team needs a shared understanding of the rules, we also run compliance training.

This article is general guidance based on the published rules, not legal advice. Final responsibility for advertising sits with the registered practitioner, and complex situations may need independent legal advice.