Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, and UK rules prohibit advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. That means you cannot name the brand, you cannot list it in a treatment menu aimed at the public, and you cannot run ads for it. The ASA has ruled on this repeatedly, and enforcement has reached ordinary single-site clinics, not just large chains.
Most clinic websites are in breach. Some knowingly, most because nobody told them. It is the first thing to fix, and it is also an opportunity, because the compliant way of writing about this work happens to be the way that ranks.
What you can and cannot say
| Allowed? | What to do instead | |
|---|---|---|
| Naming a botulinum toxin brand | No — prescription-only medicine | Write about lines and wrinkles as a concern |
| “Anti-wrinkle treatment” as a concern page | Yes | Describe the consultation and assessment |
| Dermal fillers | Yes — not a prescription medicine | Normal treatment pages are fine |
| Before-and-after photos | Yes, with care | Genuine, unretouched, with consent |
| Price lists for POM treatments | No | Price non-POM work; consultation fee only |
| Naming the prescriber and their registration | Yes, and you should | Builds exactly the trust the page needs |
Write to the concern, not the product
This constraint pushes you toward better content anyway. A page built around “what can be done about frown lines” — assessment, options, what a consultation involves, recovery, risks, who is and is not suitable — is compliant, genuinely useful, and matches how people search when they are still deciding.
It also performs far better in AI answers than a treatment menu. When someone asks an assistant what their options are for forehead lines, the model needs explanatory prose, and a price list gives it nothing to work with.
Credentials are a ranking asset in this sector
Aesthetics is a field where the public is actively worried about who is holding the needle, and that concern is reflected in how search treats it. Name your practitioners, state their clinical registration — GMC, GDC, NMC or GPhC — and say who prescribes. If you are on the JCCP register or Save Face, link to it.
These are among the strongest trust signals available to you, they are independently verifiable, and they are exactly what an AI assistant reaches for when asked how to choose a safe clinic. Most competitors leave them off entirely.
CQC, and when it applies
If your clinic provides regulated activities — surgical procedures, certain laser treatments, prescribing in some contexts — you may need CQC registration, and if you have it you should display it. Purely cosmetic injectables generally fall outside the regime, which is itself a source of public confusion and therefore a good subject for a page that explains the landscape honestly.
Reviews and the medical exception
Ask for reviews, but never in exchange for anything, and never use a patient’s photograph or name without explicit written consent — consent for treatment is not consent for marketing. The distinction catches clinics out regularly and the consequences are worse here than in any other local sector.