Checklist · checked October 2026
Botox advertising rules, and the rest: what a clinic website can and can't say.
28 rules for UK clinic, salon and practice websites, in plain English: Botox and other prescription-only medicines, before-and-after photos, reviews, prices, titles and regulator badges. Each one links to the official page it comes from.
This is guidance, not legal advice. I build websites for clinics; I'm not a lawyer. Every rule below was checked against its official source in October 2026, and rules change, so follow the source link before relying on one. Your own website and your own social media posts count as advertising (since 1 March 2011; CAP Code scope). There is a printable checklist at the end.
01 · 7 rules
Botox and other prescription-only medicines
Botox (botulinum toxin) and the weight-loss injections are prescription-only medicines. Advertising them to the public is against the law, not just the advertising code, and it applies even when a doctor, dentist or nurse gives the injection.
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Don't
Name Botox, or any prescription-only medicine, on your website, price list or social posts.
That includes brand names such as Vistabel, Dysport, Bocouture and Azzalure, and it includes pictures and hashtags such as #botox.
Sources: Human Medicines Regulations 2012, regulation 284; CAP Code section 12: medicines and treatments; CAP Enforcement Notice: advertising Botox (December 2019)
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Don't
Swap the name for a phrase that can only mean Botox.
"Wrinkle-relaxing injections" and nicknames built on the brand are read as a Botox advert, because there is nothing else they could mean.
Source: CAP Enforcement Notice: advertising Botox (December 2019)
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Only if
Say "anti-wrinkle injections" only if you also offer fillers, and never beside a price for Botox.
If Botox is the only injectable you offer, the ASA reads the phrase as a Botox advert. Next to a Botox-type price it is treated as an advert for that medicine whatever else you offer.
Sources: ASA: Botox frequently asked questions (January 2020); CAP Enforcement Notice: advertising Botox (December 2019)
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Do
Advertise the consultation, not the medicine.
"A consultation for the treatment of lines and wrinkles" is the approach the regulator describes as likely to be acceptable. Make it clear the consultation may or may not end in a prescription.
Sources: CAP Enforcement Notice: advertising Botox (December 2019); ASA: A fine line, the dos and don'ts of advertising Botox
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Don't
Mention Botox on your home page, or on a prices page the home page links to directly.
Very limited, factual mentions may be acceptable further into the site, past the consultation page, where someone browsing is not likely to come across them by chance.
Sources: ASA: A fine line, the dos and don'ts of advertising Botox; ASA: Botox frequently asked questions (January 2020)
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Don't
Run offers on Botox: money off, two areas for one, or refer-a-friend deals.
The ASA's answer to whether you can promote offers on Botox on your own website is that it is likely to breach the Code.
Source: ASA: Botox frequently asked questions (January 2020)
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Don't
Name or hint at weight-loss injections: "weight loss jab", "pen", "GLP-1" or the brand names, and don't show the pens.
A joint notice from CAP, the medicines regulator (MHRA) and the pharmacy regulator (GPhC) covers your own organic posts, influencers and paid search as well as ads. Promote the consultation instead. The regulator says it is still looking at promotional pricing for these services.
Sources: CAP, MHRA and GPhC Enforcement Notice: weight-loss medicines (September 2025); ASA: weight-loss medicines enforcement report (April 2026)
02 · 3 rules
Before-and-after photos
Before-and-after pictures count as advertising claims, so they have to be true, typical and provable.
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Don't
Show before-and-after photos of Botox results.
They advertise a prescription-only medicine. Filler before-and-afters can be used if it is explicit that the photos show the non-prescription treatment.
Sources: ASA and CAP: cosmetic interventions advertising guidance; ASA: Botox frequently asked questions (January 2020)
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Only if
Use real, unretouched before-and-afters, with the client's signed and dated permission, showing a typical result.
Retouching the treated area makes the picture misleading, and a disclaimer does not fix it.
Source: ASA and CAP: cosmetic interventions advertising guidance
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Don't
Put beauty filters on any photo or video that shows what a treatment does.
The ASA's advice is to avoid filters on images that are directly relevant to what is being advertised.
Source: ASA: beauty filters in cosmetic advertising (February 2021)
03 · 3 rules
Reviews and testimonials
Since 6 April 2025 fake and hidden-incentive reviews have been illegal under consumer law, not just against the advertising code.
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Don't
Post fake reviews, or reviews you paid for or rewarded without saying so.
Both are banned outright under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 and CAP rules 3.44 and 3.45.
Sources: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, Schedule 20; CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising
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Don't
Hide bad reviews, show only the good ones, or ask only your happy clients to leave one.
The Competition and Markets Authority names "encouraging just those who are satisfied to leave reviews" as a way of giving a misleading picture. Ask every client the same way.
Sources: CMA: fake reviews guidance, CMA208 (April 2025); CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising
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Only if
Use a testimonial only with the person's permission, proof it is genuine, and their contact details on file.
It also must not suggest a result the average client would not get.
Sources: CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising; ASA and CAP: cosmetic interventions advertising guidance
04 · 4 rules
Prices and offers
These rules apply to every clinic, salon and practice, whatever the treatment.
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Do
Show the full price, including any fee every client has to pay.
Compulsory extras, such as a booking or consultation fee everyone pays, belong in the price shown, not added later.
Sources: CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising; Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, section 230
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Only if
Use "from" prices only if a fair number of clients really pay that.
"From" and "up to" must not exaggerate how available the price is.
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Only if
Call something "free" only if it costs nothing extra.
A free consultation that is only free if you book, or is deducted from a treatment, has to say so plainly.
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Don't
Invent a "was" price or a saving.
Price comparisons must not claim an advantage that isn't real.
05 · 4 rules
Qualifications, titles and "specialist"
What you call yourself is a claim like any other, and some titles are protected.
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Only if
Say "qualified", "consultant", "specialist", "expert" or "experienced" only if you can prove it for everyone it describes.
"Our qualified surgeons" is misleading if only some of them are. CAP requires practitioners to have relevant, recognised qualifications.
Sources: CAP Code section 12: medicines and treatments; ASA and CAP: cosmetic interventions advertising guidance
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Don't
As a dentist, call yourself a "specialist" or "orthodontist" unless you are on a GDC specialist list.
Dentists not on a list can say they have a special interest in, or experience of, an area of dentistry.
Source: GDC: guidance on advertising
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Do
On a dental practice website, show each dentist's GDC number and qualifications, the practice address, a link to the GDC and how to complain.
The GDC's advertising guidance lists what a practice website must carry.
Source: GDC: guidance on advertising
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Only if
As a dentist, use "Dr" only with a clear statement that it is a courtesy title and you are not a medical doctor.
The ASA's advice is to qualify the title clearly and prominently.
06 · 4 rules
Treatment claims and who you aim at
The basics that apply to every treatment page and every post.
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Only if
Make a claim about results only if you hold the evidence for it.
Objective claims need documentary evidence, which for treatments usually means trials on people.
Sources: CAP Code section 12: medicines and treatments; CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising
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Don't
Put anyone off seeing a doctor for a condition that needs one.
Ads must not discourage essential treatment for conditions that need medical supervision.
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Don't
Make cosmetic treatments sound trivial: competition prizes, treatment parties or pushy deadline deals.
Ads should not suggest cosmetic interventions be undertaken lightly.
Source: ASA and CAP: cosmetic interventions advertising guidance
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Don't
Aim cosmetic treatment ads at under-18s.
Since 25 May 2022 they must not be placed in media aimed at under-18s, or where under-18s are more than a quarter of the audience. Separately, in England it is a criminal offence to give Botox or filler injections to under-18s for cosmetic reasons, or to arrange them.
Applies: Ad rule UK-wide; the treatment offence England only
Sources: CAP Code section 12: medicines and treatments; ASA: strict new rules for cosmetic intervention ads (November 2021); Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021, section 1
07 · 3 rules
CQC, JCCP and badges
Regulator and register logos are trust marks, and using one you aren't entitled to is misleading.
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Do
If the CQC has rated you, show the rating on your website with a link to your CQC page.
It must be displayed conspicuously and legibly on the website as well as at each location. This applies once a service has been rated.
Applies: England
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Don't
Claim a registration, approval or badge you don't hold.
CAP rule 3.52 bars showing a trust mark or quality mark without authorisation. The CQC's own scope page says its surgical procedures activity does not include injections to enhance appearance, so check before implying any CQC registration or approval.
Sources: CAP Code section 3: misleading advertising; CQC: scope of registration, surgical procedures
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Only if
Show the Accredited Register quality mark only if you are on an accredited register, such as the JCCP practitioner register.
The JCCP's practitioner register is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority, and only registrants of accredited registers may use the mark. Registration is voluntary. The JCCP's separate education and training register is not accredited, so don't mix the two up.
Sources: Professional Standards Authority: Accredited Registers; JCCP
Not in force yet
Licensing for non-surgical treatments in England.
The Health and Care Act 2022 lets the government license practitioners and premises for non-surgical cosmetic procedures in England. In August 2025 it said the highest-risk procedures will come under the CQC, lower-risk ones under council licensing, with age limits, but the regulations still have to go through Parliament. As of October 2026 the scheme is not yet in force. The gov.uk consultation page is where any change will appear first.
Rules on this page are UK-wide unless marked. CQC registration and the under-18s treatment offence are England only; Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland register clinics differently, and this checklist does not cover those systems.
Printable checklist
Go through your website with this.
Advertising rules checklist for UK clinic and salon websites. Checked October 2026. Sources for every line: resoclinx.com/guides/clinic-website-advertising-rules/. Guidance, not legal advice.
Botox and other prescription-only medicines
- Don't: Name Botox, or any prescription-only medicine, on your website, price list or social posts.
- Don't: Swap the name for a phrase that can only mean Botox.
- Only if: Say "anti-wrinkle injections" only if you also offer fillers, and never beside a price for Botox.
- Do: Advertise the consultation, not the medicine.
- Don't: Mention Botox on your home page, or on a prices page the home page links to directly.
- Don't: Run offers on Botox: money off, two areas for one, or refer-a-friend deals.
- Don't: Name or hint at weight-loss injections: "weight loss jab", "pen", "GLP-1" or the brand names, and don't show the pens.
Before-and-after photos
- Don't: Show before-and-after photos of Botox results.
- Only if: Use real, unretouched before-and-afters, with the client's signed and dated permission, showing a typical result.
- Don't: Put beauty filters on any photo or video that shows what a treatment does.
Reviews and testimonials
- Don't: Post fake reviews, or reviews you paid for or rewarded without saying so.
- Don't: Hide bad reviews, show only the good ones, or ask only your happy clients to leave one.
- Only if: Use a testimonial only with the person's permission, proof it is genuine, and their contact details on file.
Prices and offers
- Do: Show the full price, including any fee every client has to pay.
- Only if: Use "from" prices only if a fair number of clients really pay that.
- Only if: Call something "free" only if it costs nothing extra.
- Don't: Invent a "was" price or a saving.
Qualifications, titles and "specialist"
- Only if: Say "qualified", "consultant", "specialist", "expert" or "experienced" only if you can prove it for everyone it describes.
- Don't: As a dentist, call yourself a "specialist" or "orthodontist" unless you are on a GDC specialist list.
- Do: On a dental practice website, show each dentist's GDC number and qualifications, the practice address, a link to the GDC and how to complain.
- Only if: As a dentist, use "Dr" only with a clear statement that it is a courtesy title and you are not a medical doctor.
Treatment claims and who you aim at
- Only if: Make a claim about results only if you hold the evidence for it.
- Don't: Put anyone off seeing a doctor for a condition that needs one.
- Don't: Make cosmetic treatments sound trivial: competition prizes, treatment parties or pushy deadline deals.
- Don't: Aim cosmetic treatment ads at under-18s.
CQC, JCCP and badges
- Do: If the CQC has rated you, show the rating on your website with a link to your CQC page.
- Don't: Claim a registration, approval or badge you don't hold.
- Only if: Show the Accredited Register quality mark only if you are on an accredited register, such as the JCCP practitioner register.
Guidance, not legal advice. Checked against the official sources linked above in October 2026. If you think a line here is out of date, tell me on the contact page and I'll check it again. Free to share and to link to.
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