Maintaining trust

You must always be honest and never misleading about your skills, experience, qualifications, professional status and current role.

When advertising your services, you must follow the regulatory codes and guidelines set by the Committee of Advertising Practice.¹⁸ 

You must make sure the information you publish is factual and can be checked, and does not exploit patients’ vulnerability or lack of medical knowledge.

Your marketing must be responsible.¹⁹  It must not minimise or trivialise the risks of interventions and must not exploit patients’ vulnerability. You must not claim that interventions are risk free.

If patients will need to have a medical assessment before you can carry out an intervention, your marketing must make this clear.

You must not mislead about the results you are likely to achieve. You must not falsely claim or imply that certain results are guaranteed from an intervention.

You must not use promotional tactics in ways that could encourage people to make an ill-considered decision.

You must not provide your services as a prize.

You must not knowingly allow others to misrepresent you or offer your services in ways that would conflict with this guidance.

You must be open and honest with your patients about any financial or commercial interests that could be seen to affect the way you prescribe for, advise, treat, refer or commission services for them.

You must not allow your financial or commercial interests in a cosmetic intervention, or an organisation providing cosmetic interventions, to affect your recommendations to patients or your adherence to expected good standards of care.