Plastic surgery advertising works best as two jobs: Google search campaigns built around individual procedures, which reach people already looking for a surgeon, and Meta ads on Facebook and Instagram for visual procedures, targeted to adults 18 and older. Every ad has to follow the platforms’ health rules, the FTC’s rules on testimonials and, for ASPS members, the society’s Code of Ethics on before-and-after photos. Judge the results by cost per consultation booked, not by clicks.
Brand Lift 360 runs Google and Meta ads management for plastic surgery and other medical practices in Roseville and Greater Sacramento. We recommend an ad budget from $1,500 a month per campaign, paid directly to Google or Meta with no markup. Management is part of our managed marketing plans: Growth from $1,499 a month, or Authority from $2,999 a month, which adds integrated paid social. This guide covers campaign structure, the rules on photos, testimonials and targeting, and how to tell whether ads book consultations. For the wider picture, see our plastic and cosmetic surgery marketing page.
Questions Practice Owners Ask
How Does Plastic Surgery Advertising Work?
Plastic surgery advertising is paid placement on Google, Facebook and Instagram that sends people to a page where they can request a consultation. Each platform does a different job.
| Channel | Who it reaches | Best for | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google search ads | People typing a procedure and a place, such as “tummy tuck Roseville” | Procedures people search by name, such as rhinoplasty | Your own audience lists can’t be used |
| Meta ads (Facebook, Instagram) | People who haven’t started searching yet | Visual procedures, shown within the rules | Must target 18+; tracking data may be limited |
| Retargeting | People who already visited your site | Reminding visitors to book | Restricted on Google; on Meta, only where allowed |
PPC (pay-per-click) means you pay each time someone clicks your ad, not each time it is shown. Plastic surgery PPC usually means Google search ads, the place to start, because the searcher has already said what they want.
How Should a Plastic Surgeon Set Up Google Ads?
Build around procedures, not around “plastic surgery.” A campaign is a group of ads with its own budget and settings; an ad group sits inside it and holds keywords that share one ad and one landing page. Someone searching “mommy makeover cost” and someone searching “eyelid surgery near me” want different pages.
- One ad group per procedure, with the cities you serve, pointing to that procedure’s page.
- Negative keywords, which are words that stop your ad from showing, such as “jobs,” “salary,” “school” or “free.”
- A separate budget for your highest-value procedures, so a cheaper procedure doesn’t use up the money first.
- Calls tracked as conversions. A conversion is the action you count as a result, such as a call or a consultation request.
One rule changes how plastic surgery ads work on Google. Google’s Health in personalized advertising policy lists “invasive medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures, or injections” as a sensitive interest category. Ads promoting them can’t use advertiser-curated audiences: Customer Match (uploading your patient or lead list), your data segments (lists of past site visitors), audience expansion or lookalike segments. Predefined Google audiences, such as in-market segments, demographics and location, are still allowed, and people under 18 aren’t eligible for personalized ads of any kind.
Google’s Healthcare and medicines policy mostly covers prescription drugs, pharmacies, addiction services and experimental treatments. Read it before advertising prescription weight-loss medication or experimental therapies. When we take on a practice, ads usually go live around week 2, sometimes sooner.
Ads buy the top of the page; the organic results and Google’s AI Overview, the AI-written summary above many results, come from your procedure pages. One plastic surgery practice we work with was named in Google’s AI Overview for its signature body-contouring procedure. Our guide to plastic surgery SEO covers that side.
Questions Practice Owners Ask
Do Facebook and Instagram Ads Work for Plastic Surgery?
They can, for procedures where seeing a result matters. Meta’s Health and Wellness ad policy says ads promoting cosmetic procedures or surgeries must be targeted to people at least 18 years old. Within that, it allows ads for procedures including breast augmentation, breast reduction, abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty, rhytidectomy (facelift) and hair restoration surgery, and it allows general cosmetic procedure ads that show a before-and-after transformation.
The same policy says these ads can’t contain statements of inferiority, meaning wording or questions that attack a person’s appearance or body parts. They also can’t use clickbait, such as promising specific outcomes within a set time without qualifiers. Meta’s Personal Health and Appearance policy adds that ads must not imply or try to create negative self-perception; its examples of non-compliant ads include before-and-after images of weight loss and zoomed-in images of a person’s abs.
“Considering a tummy tuck? Meet our surgeon” is the right shape. “Hate your belly?” is not. Body-contouring ads need the most care, because results can read as weight-loss imagery.
Meta also sorts websites into data source categories. For categories with extra restrictions, it may block custom URL details, restrict mid- and lower-funnel events such as a lead, or fully restrict event sharing. A pixel is code on your site that tells Meta what visitors do, and these limits reduce what it reports. That is why we run Meta retargeting only where the platform allows it.
Tracking also raises a HIPAA question. HHS guidance says tracking tools on pages where people enter health information, such as appointment scheduling, can involve protected health information; a federal court vacated part of that guidance in June 2024. This is general information, not legal advice, and it applies only if your practice is a covered entity.
What Are the Rules for Before-and-After Photos and Testimonials?
The FTC’s rules apply to any advertiser; the ASPS Code of Ethics binds members of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. An endorsement is any message that tells people what a patient or other person thinks of you, including a testimonial.
| Rule | What it says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Typical results | An ad featuring someone with exceptional, or even above-average, results must make clear what results people can generally expect | FTC Endorsement Guides |
| Real and honest | Honest opinion and real experience; ASPS adds the patient must have received the member’s services | FTC; ASPS |
| Paid or discounted patients | Payment or anything of value, including free or discounted treatment, must be disclosed clearly | FTC; ASPS |
| Same conditions | Before-and-after pairs can’t use different light, poses or photographic techniques to misrepresent results | ASPS |
| Atypical results | Need a clear, noticeable disclosure | ASPS |
| Models | A model who didn’t have the procedure must be identified as such | ASPS |
| No guarantees | Ads can’t guarantee satisfaction or a cure | ASPS |
| Board certification | Claim it only for a board ASPS recognizes, such as one recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties | ASPS |
| Reviews | Don’t tie a discount to a positive review, and don’t hold back negative reviews | FTC |
The FTC’s Health Products Compliance Guidance, written for health products, adds that testimonials reporting results more dramatic than people can generally expect are likely to be deceptive, and that a “results not typical” line doesn’t fix that. ASPS members must also approve every ad before it runs, keep copies for one year, and are personally responsible for violations by the firms they hire. Get each patient’s written permission before using their photos or words.
What Should a Consultation Landing Page Include?
A landing page is the page an ad sends people to. It should answer who the surgeon is, roughly what it costs and what happens at the consultation.
- One procedure per page, using the same words as the ad.
- Surgeon credentials near the top: name, board certification worded exactly as the certifying board allows, training and experience with the procedure.
- A price range or “starting at” figure, saying what it includes and that the consultation sets the final quote.
- Before-and-after photos taken under the same conditions, with the disclosures above.
- What the consultation involves, including any fee.
- One action: request a consultation, with a tap-to-call number on mobile.
- A form suited to health information. Standalone websites we build use a HIPAA-compliant form tool set up with the practice.
How Do You Track Cost per Consultation Booked?
Cost per consultation booked is your ad spend divided by the consultations those ads produced. It beats cost per lead as a measure, because a lead is only a call or a form, not a person on your calendar.
For example, $3,000 in spend that produces 60 leads and 15 booked consultations is $50 per lead but $200 per consultation booked. If only 5 book, it is $600, and the problem is follow-up, not the ad.
- Count calls and forms as conversions in Google Ads and Meta.
- Put every lead into a CRM, software that tracks each person who contacts you and what happens next, and mark when they book, show up and schedule surgery.
- Review each procedure monthly: spend, leads, consultations booked and cost per consultation booked.
Common Questions About Plastic Surgery Advertising
What is plastic surgery PPC?
PPC stands for pay-per-click: you pay each time someone clicks your ad rather than each time it is shown. For plastic surgery it usually means Google search ads built around individual procedures, so someone searching for a tummy tuck in your city sees an ad and a page about that procedure.
How much should a plastic surgery practice spend on ads?
We recommend starting from $1,500 a month per campaign, paid directly to Google or Meta. That is a planning figure, not a platform minimum or a promise of results. Management is separate: our Growth plan starts at $1,499 a month, and Authority, which adds integrated paid social, starts at $2,999 a month.
Can plastic surgeons use before-and-after photos in Facebook and Instagram ads?
Meta's Health and Wellness policy allows cosmetic procedure ads that show a before-and-after transformation when the ads are targeted to people 18 or older. The ads can't contain statements of inferiority about a person's appearance, and photos should be taken under the same lighting and poses, with atypical results disclosed.
Can I retarget website visitors with cosmetic surgery ads?
Not on Google with your own lists. Google treats cosmetic surgery as a sensitive health category, so remarketing lists, Customer Match and lookalike segments can't be used, though predefined Google audiences can. On Meta, retargeting depends on how Meta categorizes your website, and some health-related sites have event sharing limited or fully restricted.
Are patient testimonials allowed in plastic surgery ads?
Yes, if they are real and honest. The FTC says an ad featuring someone with exceptional results must make clear what results people can generally expect, and any payment or free or discounted treatment must be disclosed. The ASPS Code of Ethics adds that the patient must actually have received the surgeon's services.
What to Do This Week
Open your Google Ads account and list every campaign. Split any campaign that covers several procedures or lands on your homepage. Then check that no cosmetic procedure campaign uses a remarketing list or Customer Match, and that every before-and-after photo was taken under the same conditions. Last, pull last month’s leads and count how many booked a consultation. If you can’t get that number, fix tracking before you raise the budget. For the organic side of the same procedures, read Plastic Surgery SEO: Ranking Procedure Pages in Google and AI Overviews.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, “FTC’s Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking”, last updated July 15, 2025, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for generally expected results, honest endorsements, disclosing material connections and the rules on review incentives and suppression.
- Federal Trade Commission, “Health Products Compliance Guidance”, December 20, 2022. Source for testimonials with results more dramatic than people can generally expect, and “results not typical” disclaimers.
- American Society of Plastic Surgeons, “Code of Ethics”, updated January 2025. Source for before-and-after photo conditions, atypical results, models, testimonials, guarantees, board certification claims and ad approval and record-keeping.
- Meta Transparency Center, “Health and Wellness” advertising standard, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for 18+ targeting of cosmetic procedure ads, the listed procedures, before-and-after transformation, statements of inferiority and clickbait.
- Meta Transparency Center, “Personal Health and Appearance” advertising standard, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for negative self-perception and the non-compliant image examples.
- Meta Business Help Center, “Understand data sharing restrictions based on data source categories”, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for core setup, restricted standard events and full restrictions.
- Google Advertising Policies Help, “Health in personalized advertising”, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for cosmetic surgery as a sensitive interest category, the audiences that can and can’t be used, and under-18 eligibility.
- Google Advertising Policies Help, “Healthcare and medicines”, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for the policy’s scope.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Use of Online Tracking Technologies by HIPAA Covered Entities and Business Associates”, content last reviewed June 26, 2024. Source for tracking on pages that collect health information and the June 2024 court ruling.
- Brand Lift 360, Paid Advertising for Medical Practices, accessed October 29, 2026. Source for ad budget, plan pricing and our retargeting and tracking approach.