Q: Which med spas explain pricing before you commit?

What posting a price looks like, and what it did for one surgeon

A:Price led a 2023 survey of what patients use to pick a provider, but it is up to the discretion of the med spa whether they post pricing online. Different practices may post costs per treatment (e.g., per-unit toxin, per-syringe filler cost), consultation fees, and others. In that online survey of US consumers by the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery (ASDS), 33% named price as a top factor in choosing a cosmetic provider, more than any other factor.¹

Two marketing agencies for med spas say treatment pages should show prices. Theory Road advises that those pages include price ranges, packages, financing, and memberships. SkillMammoth reports that the search "Botox cost" draws 12,100 US searches a month, and writes that "the clinic that publishes its per-unit price answers it."^2,3

One plastic surgeon measured what posted prices did. Dr. Jonathan Kaplan of San Francisco put a price estimator on his practice's website, and in its first year, consultation patients who had already seen his prices were 41% more likely to book a procedure. Patients who saw prices first booked more, but causation isn't proven. He also founded BuildMyBod, the company that sells that estimator to other practices.^4,5

In our review, a consultation fee, and whether it counts toward the treatment when a patient books, is the easiest price for a practice to post. For more about what else a practice can post and the federal rules that may apply, see our pricing page review.