Customise Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorised as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyse the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyse the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Skip to content

Plastic Surgery Pricing: The $200,000 Facelift

plastic surgery pricing

Premium Pricing

I’ve long been a proponent of premium pricing for elective procedures, with a premium experience to match. The idea is to make the service and overall experience so good that the price is irrelevant.  

Inflation is on the rise. That doesn’t explain the $200,000 facelift fees being charged by some plastic surgeons.  This is, to quote a line from the recent article in the New York Times, “next level” in terms of pricing.  

Clearly, some surgeons are able to command these fees, while others believe this is unconscionable. I don’t have a position on this, except to say that it does illustrate the economic principle known as inelasticity of demand.   The concept is typically used to help doctors understand that lowering fees (i.e. discounting) doesn’t typically lead to an increase in demand. 

Plastic Surgery Boom

The pandemic caused a “zoom boom” in plastic surgery, where demand has increased. Some of the surgeons at the ultra-high-end of the pricing range indicate they are booked out for months. From a price-demand standpoint, higher fees seem to be associated with an increase in demand. Indeed, demand for elective medicine tends to behave similarly to luxury goods.  Broadly speaking, more expensive goods tend to be viewed as higher quality.  Increasing the unit price tends to increase rather than hurt demand.  

What Medical Practices Can Learn

In the end, the lesson here may simply be that your patients aren’t focused on price as much as you think. Yes, it’s an important consideration for most consumers.  However, it’s not the top consideration except for people who only buy on price.  And that isn’t the type of customer that a practice devoted to patient experience wants to attract.   

P.S. What’s your equivalent offering to the $200,000 facelift? Try to create a package around the procedure in terms of technology and white-glove service that would make the experience worthwhile … at any price!

Leave a Reply