Cosmetic gold mine

/Home/Cosmetic Laser News and Information/Cosmetic Laser Articles and Reports

Cosmetic gold mine
October 5, 2007
By Charlene Smith
Financial Mail

SA's beauty industry is booming and doctors are cashing in

The highest-earning doctors in SA are aesthetic physicians, dermatologists and plastic surgeons. General practitioners who switch to aesthetics - mainly injecting Botox - can have their salaries increased at least four times, says Dr Riekie Smit of the Aesthetic & Anti-Ageing Medicine Society.

Aesthetics, where injections and lasers are used to delay cosmetic surgery, has become a multibillion-rand industry. Smit says the anti-ageing industry has grown at least 50% in the past three years. Each day at least 250 South Africans are injected with Botox. A similar number have their lips enhanced or deep wrinkles smoothed out with injected "fillers" used to fill in wrinkles. Thousands more have their skin lasered or peeled, are pummelled by machines or wear eye goggles as infrared flashes target wrinkles.
It's a booming business worldwide. US specialist publication Medical Insight News says that in 2006, more than 36m treatments, including hair removal, skin rejuvenation, tattoo and pigmented lesion removals and acne reduction were performed. "These earned more than US$9,1bn for practitioners and more than $862m for manufacturers," the magazine says. "By 2011, this will grow to more than 95m treatments annually, earning practitioners $17,4bn and manufacturers more than $1,1bn."

Last year, Botox was used in 8,1m procedures worldwide, adding $3bn to doctors' income. By 2011, 19,3m procedures will be performed annually and earn $6,6bn.

The procedures are not cheap. Botox costs about R1 000/ application, fillers cost R2 500/syringe, and new, "smart" slimming machines cost up to R250/hour.

Within four years, it is expected that one in six people worldwide will use a machine or injectable drug in the quest for better looks. "Women might forgo medicine but won't miss their Botox," Smit says.

Aesthetics physician Dr Maureen Allem, who has three clinics in Johannesburg and regularly travels to Cape Town - where she injects 30 or more patients a day - says more and more men are using the product. "Youthfulness is important in business. Some men first use it to stop profuse sweating or migraines but find it makes them look better, and they get hooked," she says.

For doctors, it is a cash industry with none of the hassles of dealing with medical aids.

Gene van den Ende, business unit manager at SA Botox distributor Genop, says the aesthetic or nonsurgical anti-ageing market, which includes the market for Botox, fillers, clinical peels and light therapy, is growing at around 25%/year.

Industry experts polled by the FM say that Botox sales alone are worth as much as R80m/year in SA. Then there are broader cosmetic sales - R2,6bn/year, according to Revlon - and beauty salons, which generate revenue of about R400m/year, according to Helene Bramwell, president of international beauty industry watchdog Cidesco, which operates in 33 countries.

Other aesthetic nonsurgical procedures are believed to add at least another R1bn/year to the industry's takings.

Dr Karen Semprini of the Bay Skin Care Institute in Cape Town says business is booming. The approval two years ago by the US Federal Drug Administration of drugs such as Botox and fillers such as Restylane and Juvederm has given the public the confidence that the products are safe to use, she says.

Semprini is one of a handful of local trainers of other doctors that have been approved by Botox makers Allergan and the Health Professions Council.

Semprini, the Anti-Ageing Medicine Society and Genop say too few doctors in SA have appropriate training. Medical associations globally are warning people not to have injectables or laser treatments without an appropriately trained doctor present.

Semprini trains as many as a dozen doctors a month in Johannesburg. She does training twice a year in Durban and every second month in Cape Town.

Regulation of the industry is challenging. Van den Ende says there are dishonest practitioners who do not use Botox but claim they do. "Patients must ask to see the vial, which has the word Allergan and a hologram on it," he says. "There are some unregistered toxins on the market. The procedure should also only be done in medical rooms; we do not support Botox parties."

Fillers are also proving to be big business. In 2006, fillers earned practitioners $2bn. The market for fillers will rise to more than 10m treatments a year by 2011, from 4m in 2006.

Then there are skin rejuvenation treatments. Medical Information News says almost 7m such treatments - nonsurgical tightening and lifting - were performed worldwide in 2006, generating sales of about $3bn. By 2011, this will grow to more than 29m procedures, earning almost $10bn for practitioners. Chemical peels and microdermabrasion had sales of $97,1m in 2006, while anti-ageing products (creams) earned $6,2bn for manufacturers in 2006 and will almost double by 2011.

Ultimately, though, ageing catches up with everyone. Allem says treatments such as Botox are a quick fix. Eventually, she says, injectables don't work. "Of course, there is still nothing better for maintaining good skin than abstaining from alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes."

CORRECTION
In the above article the following quote was wrongly attributed to Dr Maureen Allem: "Of course, there is still nothing better for maintaining good skin than abstaining from alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes." The FM also wrongly attributed to her the claim that the older patients get, the less injectables such as botox work