Who is making medical beauty an "addiction"?

Every reporter Zhu Peng Ding Zhouyang Every editor Wei Guanhong

"Be patient, for the sake of beauty, bear with me." The doctor's comfort rang in his ears. But even with the anesthetic, when the needle of the water light needle pierced the thin skin near the temple, Wu Xiaoli still squeezed the pressure ball in her hand in pain.

After 20 minutes, the injection of 1,000 yuan water light needle with hyaluronic acid as the main ingredient was completed. 1,000 yuan is also the budget that Wu Xiaoli has continued to invest in medical beauty every month since then.

For beauty, endure pain and pay money. Beauty seekers with 20 million users have helped China become the second largest medical beauty market in the world, of which women account for 87.44% of the absolute main force. Medical beauty, a once unpopular medical sector, has grown rapidly under the stimulation of capital, technology, star benefits and appearance anxiety.

"In 2002, when I took the postgraduate entrance examination, plastic surgery was not a popular major, but it suddenly became a popular major in my next class." Kang Chunyu, director of Milan Baiyu Technology, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter. .

In the past ten years, medical beauty has further broken the circle and become a popular industry familiar to the public, and the boundary between medical care and consumption has gradually become blurred. In the live broadcast room, medical beauty was once a popular category of goods alongside clothing and beauty. Private medical and aesthetic institutions across the country have opened flagship stores on e-commerce platforms, with non-surgical skin procedures such as Thermage and IPL on the shelves, and even procedures such as liposuction, eye opening, nose pads, and facial fillings. Class cosmetic project.

"Sometimes we feel helpless as doctors." Li Chuan, an attending physician at the Plastic Surgery Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (that is, Beijing Badachu Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery Hospital), told reporters frankly, "Some young people strongly demand to do a job that requires a lot of effort. cosmetic surgery, I would advise: 'If you were in my family, I would not recommend this surgery to you.'"

"When medical beauty becomes more everyday and popular, we must pay special attention that this is not an ordinary consumer product, it is medicine, and we must return to the essence of medical treatment." Kang Chunyu said, "Medical beauty is not about changing clothes in a fashion, but doing whatever is popular. One, take care of your body."

The marketing routine uses 6 yuan moles as bait, "women's money is easy to earn"

After completing 400 phone calls a day, Jia Qing received feedback from about 40 consumers who were willing to come to the agency to experience a 6-yuan mole.

During college, Jia Qing worked part-time in a well-known private medical and beauty institution in Luzhou, Sichuan, and his daily job was to make phone calls according to the user list provided by the institution. "I have to make 400 calls a day for more than 20 days, an average of one per minute." Jia Qing told the "Daily Economic News" reporter.

There's also a set of marketing rhetoric about how to communicate with unfamiliar potential customers on the other end of the phone. "Mole spotting is the most draining. I will directly tell the other person to spot a mole for 6 yuan. After the event starts, I will come to the store to experience it, and provide free lectures and snacks. The purpose is to attract people first."

The seemingly old-fashioned telemarketing has a surprising success rate for Jia Qing. "After I made a phone call, I found out that women's money is really easy to earn, but it may also be because the list itself is very accurate." Jia Qing said, "Every day there are thirty or forty people who say, 'Okay, I'm interested, When the time comes, we'll see', it's close to a 7.5% pull rate."

After graduating from university, Jia Qing became an official employee of the operation post of a large chain medical and aesthetic institution in Chengdu, operating a doctor's social platform account. The organization has opened accounts for the doctor on Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin. Jia Qing needs to answer questions from netizens, interact with fans, and post some daily routines of the doctor on Weibo every day. "Every doctor has his own database, and I will send it in order." Jia Qing told reporters that for every 5 Douyin videos, 1 of them needs to perform well. "I would go buy a navy review and have them say things like 'I've done this doctor with him before, and it's really gentle,' mainly to help build trust in the doctor."

During Jia Qing's operation, another job was to package medical and aesthetic projects. According to him, the operation content of many projects has not changed substantially, but different institutions may call different names for the same type of surgery. "Usually, it sounds closer and vivid. For example, rib cartilage rhinoplasty sounds scary, so change the name to 'regeneration nose', and another private hospital may call it 'Bobo air cushion nose'."

"Medical cosmetology is a highly market-oriented industry, and marketing is inseparable from a high degree of marketization. The names of surgical projects in public hospitals are all under the supervision of the National Health Commission, and only a sufficiently objective academic title can be used, but private hospitals are different. , it is also a double eyelid plastic surgery, and it will be crowned with gimmicks such as 'rose blooming, bright eye look back surgery'." A plastic surgeon from a public tertiary hospital told reporters.

Industry status 10,000 yuan double eyelid surgery fee, 4,000 yuan to the channel

"Compared with 20 years ago, the biggest change in the medical beauty industry now is that the competition is too fierce." The person in charge of a well-known private medical beauty hospital in Chengdu said, "Private institutions generally live too difficult and too introverted."

A staff member of a medical beauty Internet platform revealed to reporters that medical beauty institutions have invested a lot in advertising and marketing. "For example, you spent 10,000 yuan to cut double eyelids in a private medical and aesthetic institution. For a private hospital, the 10,000 yuan of income used to cover the cost is only two or three thousand yuan, and the rest is three or four thousand yuan. Yuan will be used to pay the marketing fees of third-party platforms or other channel providers.”

The person in charge of the above-mentioned medical beauty hospital confirmed this statement to reporters. "The cost of acquiring customers for private medical and beauty hospitals is very high. To promote, planning a staff team will first cost a lot of money, and third-party platforms will also take a large part of the money."

Guohai Securities surveyed 11 medical and aesthetic institutions in various regions and found that from 2015 to 2019, the marketing expenses of medical and aesthetic institutions in mainland China accounted for as high as 35%, which directly led to the net profit of mainland medical and aesthetic institutions from 2018 to 2019. In the more mature market in Hong Kong, China, the proportion is less than 10%.

To put it simply, in China's medical beauty industry, which is still in its growth stage, those who sell medicines and sell advertisements are more profitable. Aside from "black clinics", even in regular private hospitals, there has long been a contradiction between "the doctor has the final say" or "the salesperson has the final say".

Some private medical and aesthetic hospitals are not even doctors, but consultants of non-professional medical staff, who are essentially salespeople who carry KPIs behind their backs. When the reporter visited a chain of medical and aesthetic institutions in Shanghai, they found that after filling in the information, there would be consultants to ask and exchange. During the interview with the doctor, the consultant is also there for the whole process. After that, the consultant will further introduce the relevant items, prices, items that can be extended, and give the consultant's personal advice.

In 2020, when Liu Jing worked as a consultant in a high-end private medical and aesthetic institution in a city in Sichuan Province, the basic salary was only about 1,600 yuan, and most of the salary depended on commission. "The basic commission ratio for most projects is two thousandths, and gradient commissions are used."

"The doctor team and the management team are generally two groups of people. The doctor thinks that it is still medical-oriented and safety first, while the management department has performance pressure and wants to sell the product." Kang Chunyu said, "It depends on Whether this institution can keep the bottom line, at least in the medical institution where I work, what is suitable for surgery and what is not is determined by the doctor based on the comprehensive evaluation of the beauty seekers and the results of the physical examination. The person in charge of the beauty agency needs to know the most basic medical principles. In recent years, the industry has repeatedly advocated that the medical beauty should return to the essence of medical treatment. Let the medical beauty truly become an industry with "medicine as the foundation and beauty as the result", which is beneficial to the industry. healthy development.”

After being addicted to appearance anxiety and "beauty", I always feel that I can make it better

Cosmetic plastic surgery is a branch of plastic surgery. In the public tertiary hospitals, the main work of plastic surgery is to treat patients with congenital deformities and acquired burns. With the changes in the social environment, the demand for cosmetic surgery is growing. Demand stimulated supply, and private medical and aesthetic institutions began to bloom everywhere.

Jumping out of the need for "treatment", beauty seekers resort to medical beauty more for the pursuit of "better" or even "perfect".

Xu Hang, technical director of Chengdu Xinyuerong Medical Beauty Hospital, often encounters some beauty seekers whose conditions are good enough. In the face of such beauty seekers, Xu Hang's more choice is to communicate. "If the beauty seeker can listen to the persuasion, then I will generally refuse it." But more often, he needs to face people who can't listen to the persuasion. Xu Hang told reporters, "Objectively speaking, plastic surgery is very important. Do it once at a time, a nose today, an eye tomorrow, plastic surgery is addictive, and I always feel that it can be more perfect if I adjust it again.”

Li Chuan told reporters that facial contouring surgery can greatly change a person's appearance. Even eye plastic surgery or rhinoplasty will obviously change the original appearance. Therefore, beauty seekers need to have a rational understanding of the appearance changes after surgery. Know.

A blogger once shared her plastic surgery experience on social media. According to her, she had done a lot of plastic surgery, and now looking back, many of them were unnecessary. "The thing I regret the most is the nose surgery. My nose was in good condition, but there was only a little hump, but at that time I was very persistent in wanting to remove the hump." She said, "When the preoperative communication was not sufficient, I would I flew to South Korea for rhinoplasty, but the surgery did not achieve the results I expected, and then repeated repairs followed, resulting in asymmetrical nostrils, obvious scars from the incision, and uncontrollable runny nose when exposed to heat. It’s really unnecessary to think about it. , the previous hump is actually very personal."

"In fact, plastic surgery needs to be accepted as soon as it is good." Xu Hang analyzed, "Actually, a person's beauty does not necessarily mean that the facial features look good alone, but more about the whole. As long as the proportions are appropriate, the facial features will look good."

On the premise of not involving the privacy of the beauty seeker, Xu Hang shared with reporters a case he completed the day before the interview. The beauty seeker is a young girl. Because of the depression of the orbital sulcus, she had fat filler done in another institution, but after the surgery, she felt that the photo was not as good as before, so she wanted to remove the fat filler. "From the effect of the operation, I don't think there is any problem, but she thinks it is a big problem." The girl came back and forth two or three times. At first Xu Hang rejected her, but she was very persistent and anxious. . "I asked her how often she looked in the mirror at home, and she told me she would never leave the mirror." In the end, Xu Hang agreed to do it for her.

"In plastic surgery, especially cosmetic surgery, many times it is not just about treating the appearance, but more about treating the heart. Therefore, doctors also need to analyze the psychology of beauty seekers." Xu Hang sighed.

There are four levels of medical aesthetic surgery projects, and different levels of surgery have corresponding doctor qualifications and hospital qualification requirements. Among them, facial contouring surgery such as bone grinding and osteotomy belongs to the fourth-level surgery, and the qualification requirements of the fourth-level surgery have blocked many private hospitals from the door.

The establishment of norms and standards of authority is not a one-day achievement. In November 2010, "Super Girl" Wang Bei died unexpectedly after undergoing maxillofacial plastic surgery in a medical and aesthetic institution in Wuhan. Subsequently, the former Ministry of Health held a symposium on the supervision of China's medical plastic surgery and beauty industry in Beijing.

In addition, in November 2021, the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation released the "Guidelines for Law Enforcement of Medical Beauty Advertising", which will focus on combating the phenomenon of creating "appearance anxiety" and using advertising spokespersons to make recommendations for medical beauty.

The temptation of high prices is willing to pay high naming fees and do the best

Most women who open the door to medical beauty do not take saving money as their first appeal. Compared with cost performance, quality is the focus of their consideration.

The institution where the medical beauty consultant Liu Jing works will generally attract new ones through low prices first, and then promote consumers to increase orders. The price of rhinoplasty ranges from 60,000 to 40,000, but most customers tend to choose the more expensive ones in the end, "do it well".

"The high price is not due to the materials used, but mainly to the technical fees of doctors." Liu Jing told reporters that in private hospitals, doctors with different levels of expertise correspond to different prices. The same rhinoplasty surgery, the chief surgeon of the technical director is twice as expensive as that of ordinary doctors.

Jiaming has been working on projects in the same institution since he completed his first experience in medical aesthetics in Chengdu in 2019. According to him, he has received three or four doctors' treatment before and after M22 (a classification project of photon rejuvenation), and the effect of the director's treatment is the best. In order to obtain this clearly different experience, Jiaming needs to pay an additional 3,000 yuan for the roll call fee.

"The key to medical safety is doctors, including surgeons and anesthesiologists. With the full commercialization of medical aesthetics and the intensification of competition among institutions, there are fewer truly high-level plastic and cosmetic surgery experts, and the salaries of such doctors are generally relatively high. In order to survive and make profits, they will make full use of the asymmetry of medical resources information of beauty seekers to mislead consumers. For example, low-level doctors are packaged as industry leaders, and they charge high fees in disguise." How to avoid liposuction after accepting the "Medical Beauty Health Guide" During the interview of stepping on the pit, Liu Xuejun, technical director of Shenzhen Dr. Liu Medical Beauty Clinic, told reporters.

"As far as liposuction is concerned, this is a second-level surgery, and it needs a medical institution with a second-level or higher surgical qualification to carry out it. It is recommended that you understand the hospital qualifications in detail when choosing, and fully understand the educational background and working experience of your chief surgeon. , to find out if your anesthesiologist is above the level of attending physician, and whether you have work experience in a large hospital." Liu Xuejun said, "Don't believe the doctor's statement that there are tens of thousands of liposuction operations. The doctor performs one operation every day, 3650 in ten years. , then he must have at least 35 years of liposuction experience."

Different doctors have different prices. As long as it is a real situation and a transparent price system, in the eyes of beauty seekers, it is reasonable and reasonable. And some expenses make people feel that they belong to the "IQ tax".

"It was my first time to remove freckles, and I didn't understand it, so I wanted to find the best solution. I chose the 'Super Picosecond Package', which said that the cost of two ultra-picoseconds was 10,000 yuan, and I got a whitening needle. I ended up buying the package. Later, I found out that the price of buying two ultra-picoseconds alone is less than 4,000 yuan, and the whitening needle is 5,000 yuan!" He He felt that the so-called "medical beauty package" is often a routine, "I also bought a one-year package. 'Photon Hair Removal Package', but it is extremely difficult to find out what items are left, you have to make an appointment directly, and you will know that your package items have been used up, and you can only buy them when you arrive."

Thermage is undoubtedly the hottest high-end skin medical beauty project in recent years. Searching for "Thermage" on the Xiaohongshu APP, there are more than 60,000 related sharing notes. This project is currently a popular choice for anti-aging treatment in the medical beauty market. Many celebrities and internet celebrities have publicly stated that they have done Thermage, and they have also caused heated discussions due to the high price of 10,000 yuan per single.

The reporter inquired and learned that the Thermage instrument was developed by Thermage Company of the United States, and the introduction of foreign medical beauty instruments into the domestic market requires the approval of the State Food and Drug Administration, and this process often takes several years. Faced with the potential benefits brought by the time difference, many institutions choose to skip the approval process.

The latest generation of instruments that have been approved in China is the fourth generation of Thermage. However, in the medical beauty area of ​​a certain platform, there are still many results in the search of the five generations of Thermage, but the project name is "New Generation Thermage".

The reporter randomly called two of the institutions. After asking whether it was the fifth-generation Thermage, the reporter got a clear reply from the other party, and said that the instruments and probes can be checked before the doctor actually operates them. On this platform, the reporter compared the prices of the Thermage IV and the "New Generation Thermage" facial and neck treatment projects, and found that most of the price differences exceeded 10,000 yuan, and some projects even exceeded 30,000 yuan.

Beautiful "loan" price with financial institutions, the monthly interest rate reaches 1.12%

In addition, the frequently exposed medical beauty traps and other incidents have also caused the medical beauty industry to be labeled as "barbaric growth".

Since 2014, relevant departments have launched a campaign against illegal medical aesthetics every year, from source injection products to black medical and aesthetic institutions to investigate and deal with. According to the complaint data on the official website of the China Consumers Association, from 2015 to 2020, the number of complaints received by the National Consumers Association increased from 483 to 7,233 in the medical beauty industry, and the number of complaints increased by nearly 14 times in five years.

Financial loan service is a link worthy of attention in the current medical and aesthetic institutions. At present, some formal medical and aesthetic institutions have signed contracts with financial platforms to provide loans that match their credit lines to beauty seekers in need.

Liu Jing told reporters that the medical and aesthetic institutions she worked in before cooperated with financial institutions such as Immediate Installment and Wuka Bear. "The loan amount cannot be less than 3,000 yuan, and the longest installment can be 24 months. The monthly interest rate is 1.12%." Liu Jing couldn't bear to see those young people willing to take out loans and debts for medical and aesthetic purposes. "I resigned."

The medical and aesthetic institutions where Jiaming worked on the project and the institutions where Jia Qing once worked have also provided corresponding financial loan services. According to Jia Qing’s description, first of all, Huabei and Borrower can be used; if the loan amount is not high, sales can also help to calculate whether the cumulative overdraft limit of beauty seekers on various platforms meets the project needs.

Li Chuan, who is in a public hospital, also encounters beauty seekers who use loans as projects. "When they pay the hospital deposit, their credit card limit suddenly appears, or they have to withdraw cash from Alipay's borrowing platform. Seeing this situation, I feel very uncomfortable. It is unnecessary to carry debts for a cosmetic surgery." As a doctor , Li Chuan does not have the power to stipulate the source of funds for beauty seekers, but during the interview, he will try to understand the other party's economic situation as much as possible, "If they are going to take out a loan for medical beauty, I will remind them to communicate with their families. We don't want to see cosmetic surgery causing family discord and couples turning against each other."

"The beauty industry can develop to a limited extent, but it cannot form a trend that everyone loves beauty too much. An old professor of Beijing Badachu Plastic Surgery Hospital once said that as a plastic surgeon in a public hospital, we must properly Against the trend of plastic surgery." Li Chuan took it seriously, "We cannot make medical aesthetics a particularly strong fashion. For some people who are not suitable for medical aesthetics or irrational beauty seekers, we must decisively refuse."

(Note: At the request of the interviewee, Jia Qing, Jia Ming, Liu Jing, He He, and Wu Xiaoli are all pseudonyms in the text.)

Responsible editor: Wang Maohua