Some patients will pay more for the same cosmetic surgery. Which ones?

Who this is for

This is for the physician or medical professional who owns a plastic surgery practice, or a med spa whose injectables patients may later need referrals to surgery. It is also for the operations lead who sets the fee schedule, manages patient financing, and educates patients on cosmetic procedures.

What we found

A 2026 survey asked 2,335 people about willingness to pay (WTP), the most a respondent said they would pay out of pocket for a surgery. Answers for the same cosmetic surgery varied by patient profile. The abstract ties higher WTP to five traits: age 18 to 24, income above $150,000, prior cosmetic surgery, regular exercise, and prior Botox or filler use.¹

While outside the scope of the study, we feel extrapolating "prior Botox use" to "prior neuromodulator use" is reasonable. Historically, price offers used to draw in patients for elective procedures, injectables included, have drawn regulatory scrutiny. In 2023 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the federal agency that polices deceptive advertising, acted against a laser eye surgery company over a low-price offer it found misled consumers.^2,3

How many patients had Botox or filler in 2024?

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), the US surgeons' society, counted 9,883,711 (9.9M) injections of neuromodulators, the drug class that includes Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Jeuveau, Daxxify, and Letybo, in 2024. Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers (Juvéderm, Restylane, RHA Collection, Revanesse, and more) came second by volume, at 5,331,426 (5.3M) treatments. Neuromodulators and HA fillers sit among more than 28.5 million minimally invasive procedures counted that year, making up roughly 35% and 19% of that volume respectively.⁴

In the UK, the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), the surgeons' professional body, counted 27,462 cosmetic surgical procedures in its 2024 audit, up 5% YoY, with a heavy lean toward female-identifying patients (93.5%). On the nonsurgical side, Botox treatments and dermal filler treatments rose 5% and 27% YoY respectively.⁵ To note, each society performs such censuses only for the country in which it is located, so while it is likely the US and UK patient populations differ, it is not common for the two societies to actively compare in such a way.

Are these same traits associated with higher WTP for any surgical interventions?

A study featured in 2026 in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive & Aesthetic Surgery, an Elsevier journal, says yes. Respondents judged out-of-pocket prices, what they would pay themselves, for five surgeries, with price tiers set from surgeon society fee benchmarks. The five surgeries assessed for correlated WTP were rhinoplasty (nose surgery), facelift, abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), breast augmentation, and blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery).¹

WTP was measured by a survey question, so each answer is what a respondent said they would pay. For three of the five procedures, rhinoplasty, facelift, and abdominoplasty, the abstract says these patterns held at both the median answer and the 75th percentile, including the links to being 18 to 24, higher earning, and a past Botox or filler patient.¹ Across the survey, respondents in the Midwest, Northeast, and South showed greater WTP than those in the West. The abstract concludes that "Patient WTP varies systematically with demographic, behavioral, and regional factors."¹

Does a patient's concern about the result make cosmetic patients more price sensitive?

A 2021 study in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management surveyed 360 consumers of cosmetic medical services. Its abstract reports that performance risk and social risk raised price sensitivity, while psychological risk lowered it.⁶

In marketing research, performance risk is the worry that a result falls short of one's own expectations. Social risk is the worry about what others will think. Psychological risk is the worry about how a purchase will affect a person's sense of self.

On our reading, a surgeon's track record and the practice's own patient results speak to performance risk, so they may influence how a quote lands. We looked at the rules for showing anticipated results in before‑and‑after ads.

Intuitively, cost weighed on most cosmetic procedure patients, but not all, in a 2024 survey published in Cureus, an open-access medical journal: 62 participants (75.6%) said price affects their choice to have a cosmetic procedure. Only 20 (24.4%) said price did not influence their decision.⁷

When the same participants picked a doctor, 43 of them (52.4%) put the doctor's reputation first, and 32 (39%) researched and held consultations before choosing. Offers and low prices swayed 4.9%, and the clinic's proximity 3.7%.⁷

RealSelf, one popular website where people post reviews of cosmetic procedures they had, published a 2022 report on how its members pay for plastic surgery, including financing through lenders such as CareCredit, Alphaeon Credit, United Medical Credit, and PatientFi.⁸

Another such vendor is Cherry, a patient financing company that sells to practices. It says it approves up to 90% of applicants. Its loans carry an annual percentage rate (APR) of 0% to 35.99%, over 1 to 60 months. Cherry's own example is a $1,500 purchase at $60 a month for 24 months, at 0% APR.⁹ We covered what those terms cost patients in patient financing.

What have regulators said about price offers for elective procedures?

A US regulator and a UK government review have both acted against price offers in elective care. In January 2023, the agency ordered Ohio-based LCA-Vision, which does business as LasikPlus, and Joffe MediCenter to pay $1.25 million.²

The agency said the companies used deceptive bait-and-switch advertising, meaning a low advertised price that draws people in before a higher one is sold. The ads led consumers to believe they could have their vision corrected for less than $300. The order also bans the misrepresentations detailed in the complaint.² We would expect an advertised starting price on a surgery page to carry the same risk when only a small minority of patients qualify for it (e.g., a procedure where only a simple, extremely infrequent version of the case qualifies for the advertised price).

The UK Department of Health's Review of the Regulation of Cosmetic Interventions found that "some of the advertising and marketing practices used by the industry are highly misleading." In addition to pricing trickery, it noted before and after photos "may be digitally altered and may not show a typical or realistic result."³

Its Recommendation section called certain advertising practices socially irresponsible and said professional registers' codes of practice should prohibit them. The list opens with the aforementioned time-limited deals and financial inducements.³

What can a practice's consult log legally show about quote acceptance?

A practice's consult log holds the quote each patient took home, whether they booked and how long they took. Patients often take months to choose a surgeon, as we covered in follow‑up windows, where we discuss in detail how a short follow-up window post-consult may miss a substantial number of patients who had planned to return at a later date, and miscategorize them as "new" when they do.

Our suggestion is to note how such correlations as the one described here may impact your business strategy. However, in doing so, it's important to maintain high professional standards and abide by all regulatory and ethical mandates, including HIPAA, the US patient privacy law. A simple takeaway is to ensure your price ranges are centered around or roughly in line with frequency, and don't misrepresent what the average patient pays. If a simple range is not sufficient, break it into multiple treatments in your advertising in a patient-friendly way, or host two ranges with descriptions and note factors that may put patients in one group or another (e.g., primary vs. revision rhinoplasty).¹

About this review

We read nine sources in October 2026. They were three peer-reviewed surveys, two surgeon society reports, one consumer website report, one financing company page, one FTC case summary and one UK government review. The 2026 and 2021 studies were read in their abstracts. Each data point stays with the publisher that reported it, with no number combined across sources.

The 2026 study surveyed 2,335 respondents on five surgeries, with price tiers set from ASPS fee benchmarks. The 2021 study surveyed 360 consumers of cosmetic medical services. The Cureus survey covers cosmetic procedure patients in 2024. ASPS counts procedures in 2024, BAAPS audits UK cosmetic surgery in 2024, and RealSelf reports on its own members. The FTC case covers LASIK advertising, and the UK review is a Department of Health report.

Fractional Aesthetics is a growth strategy practice for aesthetic medical businesses.