Medical influencer in court: Advertising for beauty interventions-BGH clarifies limits

Splashed lips, smooth wrinkles, a corrected nose or defined cheekbone – the market for so -called minimally invasive beauty treatments with botox or hyaluron is large. On the Internet and above all on social media, providers advertise these interventions partly with pictures that should show patients before and after treatment. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe now pushes a stop to this type of advertising.

For treatment in which the customer injected hyaluron and thereby changing the shape or shape, for example by the nose or chin, the highest German civil court on Thursday makes it clear in a judgment. Specifically, the procedure about the company Aesthetic from the two known doctors and influencers “Dr. Rick and Dr. Nick”. (Az. I ZR 170/24)

At a total of six locations in Germany, Aesthitify offers aesthetic treatments such as nasal corrections or lip formations with hyaluron or botox. In the past, the company, based in Recklinghausen, had distributed before and after-after pictures of the minimal invasive treatments on its website and on Instagram.

The Consumer Center in North Rhine-Westphalia saw this a violation of the Memorial advertising Act. This is forbidden comparative representations before and after the intervention in advertising for “operational plastic surgery”, which are not medically necessary. At the center of the procedure was the question of whether minimally invasive interventions with syringe instead of scalpel fall under this description and thus under the ban.

The BGH now affirmed this and thus confirmed an earlier decision by the Higher Regional Court of Hamm. The colleagues from North Rhine-Westphalia were rightly assumed that the treatments in which an instrument is intervened in the human body and thereby changed its shape or shape, the Senate explained. As such, it should not be advertised with comparison images for their effect according to the memorial advertising law.

This wide interpretation is compatible with the wording of the law and corresponds to the protection purpose of the regulation, the BGH justified its decision. Because the prohibition should push back incessant influences through potentially suggestive and misleading advertising for medically non -necessary interventions. This should prevent people from exposing unnecessary risks that could endanger their health.

“Risk profile” did not play a role in the BGH

Aesthetify had argued that the botox and hyaluron treatments had “a completely different risk profile” than classic beauty operations with scalpel. The risk of minimally invasive interventions is more comparable to a tattoo or piercing. But this argument also did not draw on the BGH. After all, pierces or tattooing are only aesthetic changes in the skin surface, according to the Senate.

Your company has no longer used before and after pictures for some time, managing director Henrik Heüveldop (“Dr. Rick”) and Dominik Bettray (“Dr. Nick”) explained after the hearing in early July. In Karlsruhe, however, they were concerned with standing for their patients. They would like direct comparison pictures and would also have the right to comprehensive information – including “visual impressions”.

Risks include bruises and infections

The Consumer Center North Rhine -Westphalia is completely different. If only the positive end result is shown on before and after photos in advertising, there is a risk that consumers completely ignore the risks of the treatment, said lawyer Susanne Punsmann. Aesthetify names the dangers on his website – including swelling, bruises or infections, allergic reactions and embolism.

The Karlsruhe judgment protects consumers from manipulative advertising and unrealistic promise of beauty on social media, says Wolfgang Schweltzinski, board member of the consumer advice center after the announcement. “Beauty by syringe is not a harmless trend, but a medical intervention-and must not be marketed like a lifestyle product”. Before and afterwards are also allowed in the medical consultation.