Advertising with
Before and after
With hyaluron.
Advertising with
Before and after
With hyaluron.
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Is it permissible to advertise minimally invasive cosmetic procedures such as lip injections with hyaluronic acid using before and after pictures? Or does this violate the law on advertising medical products? The case of Dr. Rick and Dr. Nick has now been decided by the Federal Court of Justice.
Advertising with before and after pictures for cosmetic surgery
Advertising with before and after pictures has proven to be an effective advertising tool for many. Doctors and other providers at home and abroad like to use this for beauty treatments such as lip or wrinkle injections with hyaluronic acid, Botox, lifting, hair transplants and other treatments. Advertising measures, especially in social media, are proving to be very effective and promise new customers. A picture is worth a thousand words and makes potential patients want to look like you.
However, advertising for cosmetic plastic surgery treatments is prohibited in Germany under the German Medicinal Products Advertising Act(HWG).
What does the Medicinal Products Advertising Act (HWG) say?
According to the HWG, surgical plastic surgery procedures to alter the human body without medical necessity may not be advertised with the effect of such treatment by means of a comparative representation of the body condition or appearance before and after the procedure.
But when is it a surgical plastic surgery procedure? Are injections with hyaluronic acid surgical plastic surgery procedures?
Dr. Rick and Dr. Nick
The doctors Dr. Rick and Dr. Nick, who are well-known on social media, offer aesthetic facial treatments under the name Aesthetify. They advertised these both on their website and on the social media platform Instagram with posts showing patients before and after treatment. The before and after pictures included images showing the change in the shape or form of the nose or chin as a result of injections with hyaluronic acid or hyaluronidase.
The consumer advice center considered this to be a violation of the law on the advertising of therapeutic products, as it was advertising for a plastic surgery cosmetic procedure.
Federal Court of Justice on advertising with before and after pictures
In its judgment announced today (Judgment of July 31, 2025 – Ref. I ZR 170/24 ), the Federal Court of Justice confirmed the opinion of the Higher Regional Court, which had previously ruled in favor of the consumer advice center and prohibited advertising with before-and-after images.
The Higher Regional Court was right to assume that the advertised treatment was a plastic surgery procedure. During the procedure, a cannula is inserted into the human body and its shape or form is changed.
This broad understanding of the term surgical plastic surgery is in line with the intention of the legislator and the protective purpose of this provision. The provision is intended to prevent unobjective advertising influences for procedures that are not medically necessary. People should not be improperly influenced in their freedom of choice by such images in order to expose themselves to unnecessary risks that could endanger their health.
The procedures are also not comparable with the risks of ear piercing, piercing and tattooing. Unlike injections with hyaluron or hyaluronidase, these are not surgical plastic surgery procedures in the sense of the law on therapeutic products, but merely aesthetic changes to the surface of the skin.
Conclusion
The Federal Court of Justice’s decision is hardly surprising and had already been foreshadowed. However, it has now also been clarified by the highest court that injections, e.g. with hyaluron or hyaluronidase, are a plastic surgery procedure.
Providers of cosmetic procedures should therefore refrain from advertising such procedures with before and after pictures if they do not want to risk cease and desist letters from competitors and associations due to violations of the law on mMedicinal products advertising or competition law. This also applies to foreign providers targeting the German market.
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