Aesthetics advertising rules in the UK: a guide for clinic screens

This is a guide, not legal advice. Screenli shows whatever you put on your screens. It doesn't check or approve content, and responsibility for what your screens say stays with your clinic. If you're unsure about something, ask your clinical lead or an adviser, or put it to the CAP Copy Advice team.

Where the rules come from

The law on medicines comes first. The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 ban publishing an advertisement that is likely to lead to the use of a prescription-only medicine, and they define an advertisement as anything designed to promote one. A screen in your window counts as much as a poster or a post. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) enforces it.

Then there's the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) applies to non-broadcast ads, including posters and moving images in public places, your website and your social media. The ASA generally treats a business's own signs and window displays on its own premises as outside the Code, unless they include a promotion such as a discount or an offer. Content made for a screen often ends up online as well, where the Code does apply, so it makes sense to hold your screens to the same standard.

Consumer protection law also applies. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans misleading claims to consumers wherever they appear.

Prescription-only medicines

Botulinum toxin injections are prescription-only medicines, and so are injectable weight-loss medicines. Neither can be advertised to the public. CAP's guidance says material for the public must not mention "Botox", "Dysport", "botulinum toxin" or any abbreviation of them, and its advice rules out indirect references too, such as "wrinkle-relaxing treatments". For weight loss, the ASA treats wording such as "weight-loss injection" or "jab", and images of branded pens, the same way.

What a clinic can promote is a consultation for the concern, for example "a consultation for the treatment of lines and wrinkles", as long as the medicine itself isn't mentioned. CAP's guidance also says before-and-after photos of botulinum toxin results are unlikely to be acceptable, because they could amount to advertising the medicine.

Before-and-after images for other treatments

For treatments that aren't prescription-only, such as dermal fillers, CAP's guidance says you should hold documentary evidence that the photos are genuine, with signed and dated proof from the person shown. You also need evidence for the level of result the photos imply, and an image must not be retouched beyond what the treatment itself can achieve.

Claims, pressure and age

• Claims about results need evidence. Objective claims must be backed by evidence, including trials on people where relevant (CAP rule 12.1), and you must hold it before the ad runs (rule 3.7).
• Don't rush people. CAP's guidance rules out countdown clocks and lines like "Hurry, offer must end Friday", and says ads shouldn't trivialise treatments or call them "safe" or "easy". An offer on your screen also brings it inside the CAP Code.
• Don't play on insecurities. Ads shouldn't suggest a treatment will solve someone's personal or emotional problems.
• Keep it for adults. Ads for cosmetic interventions must not be directed at under-18s through the media or context they appear in (CAP rule 12.25).
• Be careful with qualifications. Hold proof of any qualification you name, from a reputable independent source, and don't imply that a practitioner is a medical professional or is regulated by a professional body if that isn't the case.

Content that avoids the common problems

• Practitioner profiles, with qualifications you can prove.
• Treatments described by the concern they address, not by product.
• A clear prompt to book a consultation.
• Reviews, checked first. CAP's advice is that testimonials must not mention Botox, directly or indirectly, and a Google review synced to your screen could. On Screenli, a review can be hidden, and it stays hidden through later syncs.

Build sign-off into the process

Have every new piece of content go past your clinical lead before it reaches a screen. Screenli keeps your images and videos in one media library, so there's one place to check. The decision about what goes on screen stays with the clinic.

Sources, checked on 26 September 2026: the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, plus ASA and CAP guidance on botulinum toxin, cosmetic interventions, point-of-sale material and weight-loss medicines.