WMA Statement on Aesthetic Treatment

Adopted by the 65^th World Medical Assembly, Durban, South Africa, Otober 2014
and revised by the 76th WMA General Assembly, Porto, Portugal, October 2025

PREAMBLE

For the purpose of this statement, aesthetic treatment is defined as an intervention that is performed not to treat an injury, a disease or a deformity, but for non-therapeutic reasons, with the sole purpose of enhancing or changing the physical appearance of the individual concerned. In this statement, the individual undergoing treatment is referred to as the patient.

The treatments available include a great variety of interventions, ranging from surgical procedures to injections and different kinds of skin treatments. This statement focuses on interventions that are methodologically similar to those performed in conventional health care. Tattooing, scarring and similar interventions are therefore not considered in this statement.

Aesthetic treatments are performed by practitioners with widely differing clinical and educational backgrounds.

Body image affects a person’s self-esteem and mental health and is an integral part of a person’s overall health and well-being. However, media portrayals of “perfect bodies” cause some people, especially children and adolescents, to develop unrealistic and unhealthy body images. Social media in particular has the potential to impact the physical and mental health of individuals.

Some aesthetic treatments can also be motivated by cultural stigma and colorism.

Many aesthetic treatments involve risks and may potentially harm the health of the patient. Minors¹

For the purpose of this statement minor is defined as a person who, according to applicable national legislation, is not an adult.

are particularly vulnerable, as their bodies are often not fully developed. The WMA has developed the following basic recommendations to protect persons considering or undergoing aesthetic treatment.

Reaffirming the medical ethics principles laid out in the WMA Declaration of Geneva, the WMA Declaration of Lisbon on the Rights of the Patient and the WMA International Code of Medical Ethics, and consistent with the mandate of the WMA, this statement is addressed primarily to physicians. However, the WMA encourages other practitioners performing aesthetic treatments to adopt these principles.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. The patient´s dignity, autonomy, integrity and confidentiality must always be respected.

2. Physicians have a role in helping to identify unhealthy body images, including those motivated by gender norms, cultural stigma and colorism, to address and treat disorders when these exist, and to refer the patient to a psychiatrist or other mental health professional and/or other relevant health professionals as needed.

3. Aesthetic treatments must only be performed by practitioners with sufficient knowledge, skills and experience of the interventions performed. Aesthetic treatments that involve the practice of medicine must be performed by or appropriately supervised by a physician.

4. All practitioners providing aesthetic treatments should hold a specific degree and must be registered with and/or licensed by the appropriate regulatory authority, and act only within the scope authorized.

5. All aesthetic treatments must be preceded by a thorough examination of the patient. The practitioner must consider all circumstances, physical and psychological, that may cause an increased risk of harm for the patient and should refuse to perform the treatment if the risk is unacceptable. This is especially true in the case of minors. Practitioners should always choose the most appropriate treatment option, rather than the most lucrative one.

6. Minors may need or benefit from plastic medical treatments, but purely aesthetic procedures should not be performed on minors. If, in exceptional cases, aesthetic treatment is performed on a minor, it must be done with special care and consideration and only if the aim of the treatment is to avoid negative attention rather than gain positive attention. All relevant medical factors, such as whether the minor is still growing or whether the treatment will need to be repeated at a later date, must be considered.

7. The patient must consent explicitly to any aesthetic treatment, preferably in writing. Before seeking consent, the practitioner must inform the patient of all relevant aspects of the treatment, including different treatment options, how the procedures are performed, possible risks and harms and the fact that many of these treatments may be irreversible. The patient must be given sufficient time to understand and consider the information before the treatment starts. Where the patient requesting the treatment is a minor, the informed consent of the minor’s parents or legally authorized representative should be obtained.

8. All aesthetic treatments performed must be carefully documented by the practitioner. The documentation must include a detailed description of the treatment performed, information on medications and medical equipment used, and all other relevant aspects of the treatment.

9. Aesthetic treatments must only be performed under strictly hygienic and medically safe conditions on premises that are adequately staffed and equipped. This includes expertise and equipment for treating life-threatening allergic reactions and other potential acute and, ideally, late complications.

10. The WMA discourages the use of social media to promote unrealistic and unhealthy expectations of appropriate body images and encourages physicians, in keeping with the WMA Statement on the Professional and Ethical Use of Social Media, to promote health literacy among patients and combat misinformation and disinformation on social media.

11. Advertising and marketing of aesthetic treatments must be conducted professionally and responsibly, be based on factual and not misleading information, and must never be targeted to minors or foster unrealistic expectations of treatment results. Unrealistic or altered photographs showing patients before and after treatments must not be used in advertising and marketing.

12. Practitioners should never offer or promote financial loans as a means of paying for aesthetic treatment.

13. Products and devices used for aesthetic treatments should be subject to legal frameworks ensuring their traceability and safety.

14. Further research is encouraged into the long-term consequences of aesthetic treatments on individuals and society, including its role in reshaping ideals and views of normality.