The Evolution of Medical Aesthetics and Its Growing Foothold in the Beauty Space

David Moatazedi, president and chief executive officer of Evolus, spoke with Jenny B. Fine, editor in chief of Beauty Inc., to discuss medical aesthetics. The category is new to the WWD Beauty Inc. CEO Summit — as Fine nodded to the evolution and widening of the beauty industry.

Moatazedi, who held multiple leadership positions in the medical aesthetics space, noted the rise and transformation of medical aesthetics — particularly neurotoxins — in the last two decades. 

“This category has transformed — especially over the last five years — where this younger generation of Millennials or younger views it very differently than their parents,” Moatazedi said. “The older generation was introduced to medical aesthetics through a traditional medical doctor route.”

Notably, there are more than 30,000 medical aesthetic facilities in the U.S., which have emerged through medical spas, dermatology skin care centers and plastic surgery. Moatazedi said the level of care has evolved so that getting a procedure has become more of an experience as opposed to a doctor’s visit.

“Consumers are now booking their treatments the day of or the day before,” Moatazedi said. “They’re generally getting in and out of the office within half an hour. So the entire experience has transformed from a medical procedure to what is today viewed as a beauty treatment.”

Moatazedi said that younger generations are also much more open to sharing their experiences with treatments like Juveau, the neurotoxin that Evolus launched five years ago. They are also much more aware of the importance of starting early and the advantages of using the products as a preventative to signs of age such as wrinkles, he said.

Moatazedi noted that Evolus is very different from its competitors. “When investors invest in us, generally they’re investing in biotech companies — they don’t really understand the world of medical aesthetics. On the consumer side, they look at us as a beauty brand. We’re bridging a new language that will change over time.”

Evolus calls itself a “performance beauty company” as opposed to a pharmaceutical company — and has focused its efforts on the aesthetics segment of the business, rather than the pharmaceutical uses of neurotoxins. That enables the company to be free from the restrictions that come with medical use. 

The performance side of the company is no different than pharmaceutical companies when it comes to being FDA-approved and having lengthy development cycles. Evolus’ hallmark product Jeuveau is the fastest-growing aesthetic toxin with 12 percent of the market and was in development for six years and celebrated its fifth anniversary at the Beauty CEO Summit.

Moatazedi sees that the category does have a major stigma attached to it that it still has yet to overcome. “The way it started was about this beautification or overdoing it and that’s exactly what we’re trying to go away from. There’s scientific underpinning behind prevention and aging gracefully. That’s starting earlier and doing it more naturally. It becomes part of the broader beauty regimen. It’s not the one-solve; it’s part of something broader.”