AHPRA Before and After Advertising Rules: 2025 Guide
AHPRA's September 2025 guidelines changed the rules on before and after photos for cosmetic clinics. Here is exactly what is banned, what is allowed, and how to audit your existing content before a $60,000-per-breach penalty lands.
Vikas Thakur Updated Jun 15, 2026 9 min read 
Key Takeaways
- AHPRA’s September 2025 guidelines significantly tightened before and after advertising rules for higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures
- The “after” image must never be the most prominent or first image in any advertisement
- All images must be genuine patients of that specific practitioner, unedited and unairbrushed
- A mandatory disclaimer is required: results vary between individuals
- The “after” image must state the time elapsed since the procedure
- Images of patients under 18 are banned in any cosmetic procedure advertising
- Penalty per breach under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law: up to $60,000 for individuals, $120,000 for body corporates
- Existing website and social media content is not grandfathered in — audit it now
In Brief
AHPRA’s September 2025 cosmetic procedure advertising guidelines, covering over $1 billion in annual industry revenue, restrict how higher risk non-surgical clinics in Australia use before and after images across every channel.
You have seen the Instagram post. A single split-panel photo. Left side: lips that look thin. Right side: lips that look plump. A clinic logo in the corner. One thousand likes.
That post is now non-compliant under AHPRA’s September 2025 guidelines.
The rules did not ban before and after images outright. But they changed the conditions so significantly that most of the before and after content currently live on Australian cosmetic clinic websites and social feeds is in breach.
If you run a cosmetic clinic and you are still showing split-panel transformation photos the same way you did in 2024, you are exposed. The penalty is up to $60,000 per breach for individuals and $120,000 per breach for body corporates under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
This post covers exactly what changed, what is banned, what is still allowed, and how to clean up your existing content.
Why AHPRA Changed the Rules in 2025
Between September 2022 and March 2025, AHPRA received around 360 formal complaints and over 1,500 calls to its dedicated cosmetic surgery hotline. A recurring theme in those complaints was misleading advertising, especially before and after imagery that set unrealistic expectations.
The industry was also growing fast. Australia’s non-surgical cosmetic procedures sector reached over $1 billion in annual revenue. That scale combined with a Wild West advertising environment pushed AHPRA to act.
The result was two new sets of guidelines released on 3 June 2025 and effective from 2 September 2025: Guidelines for practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures and Guidelines for practitioners who advertise higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures.
The advertising guidelines apply to anyone advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures, not just the practitioners performing them. That includes clinic marketing managers, third-party agencies, and any social media account associated with the practice.
What Counts as a Higher Risk Procedure
The before and after rules apply specifically to advertising of higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures. According to AHPRA’s September 2025 guidelines, these include:
| Procedure category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Cosmetic injectables | Botulinum toxin (Botox, Dysport), dermal fillers (lip filler, cheek filler) |
| Injection lipolysis | Fat dissolving injections |
| Thread lifts | PDO threads, barbed thread procedures |
| Sclerotherapy | Vein treatments, microsclerotherapy |
| Platelet rich plasma | PRP injections, hair PRP |
| Dental veneers | Porcelain veneers, composite veneers |
| Hair transplants | FUE, FUT procedures |
If your clinic advertises any of these, the new before and after rules apply to your content.
What Is Banned Under the 2025 Rules
The “After First” Layout Is Over
The most significant change is about image prominence. Under AHPRA’s 2025 guidelines, the “after” image must not be the most prominent or first image in an advertisement.
This rules out:
- Any post or ad where the “after” result is the hero image
- Carousel posts that lead with the treated result
- Reels or videos that open on the post-treatment appearance
- Google Display ads built around a dramatic result shot
- Website hero banners showing final results
The before image, or a composite of both before and after, must be the primary or first visual. This single change invalidates a large majority of transformation content currently in use across Australian cosmetic clinic social accounts.
Edited and Airbrushed Images Are Out
AHPRA’s guidelines require that advertisements only use real images and avoid airbrushing or editing that misleads the public.
That means no:
- Skin retouching or smoothing
- Lighting adjustments that make results appear more dramatic
- Filters that alter perceived skin tone or texture
- AI-enhanced “after” images
Images Must Be Your Own Patients
Every before and after image in your advertising must be a genuine patient of the specific practitioner being advertised. Stock photos, sourced images, and images from other clinics or practitioners are prohibited.
The image must reflect a procedure performed by that specific practitioner. If a nurse injector leaves your clinic, their patient images cannot stay in your advertising rotation.
No Images of Minors
Patients under 18 cannot appear in any cosmetic procedure advertising. This applies to before and after imagery regardless of whether the procedure was performed with parental consent.
The Educational Exemption Is Gone
A grey area that some clinics relied on was using before and after imagery under an “educational” framing — labelling the content as clinical or informational rather than promotional. AHPRA’s 2025 guidelines explicitly close this. If the image shows a patient before and after a treatment, it is advertising regardless of the framing, and the same rules apply.
What Is Still Allowed
Before and after images are not banned outright. They are allowed — with conditions that many existing pieces of content do not meet.
A compliant before and after image must:
- Show a genuine patient of that specific practitioner
- Be completely unedited and unairbrushed
- Display the before image or a composite image first and most prominently
- Include a clear disclaimer: “Results vary between individuals. These images are examples only”
- Label how long after the procedure the “after” image was taken (e.g., “2 weeks post-treatment”)
- Show an adult patient (18 or over)
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Image authenticity | Real patient, this practitioner, unedited |
| Image prominence | Before image must appear first |
| Time label | Must state how long post-procedure |
| Disclaimer | Results vary disclaimer visible |
| Age | Patient must be 18 or over |
| Platform | Must be identified as adult content on social media |
The social media requirement deserves its own mention. Under the 2025 guidelines, advertising of higher risk cosmetic procedures on social media must be identified as adult content. On platforms like Instagram and TikTok, this means using the available age-restriction settings. Content that is accessible to under-18s without any restriction is non-compliant.
What to Show Instead of Traditional Before and After Content
Restricting your content to compliant before and after images is one option. Shifting your content strategy away from transformation imagery is another. Here is what compliant cosmetic clinic advertising looks like without leaning on before and after photos.
Procedure education content
You can explain what a procedure involves, what it targets, how it is performed, and what the recovery looks like. According to AHPRA’s guidelines, clinical descriptions of treatments are permitted as long as they do not use testimonials or imply guaranteed outcomes.
“Dermal filler is a gel-like substance injected into the skin to add volume” is compliant. “Dermal filler will give you fuller lips like these” is not.
Credentials and experience
Describing your practitioners’ qualifications, training, years of experience, and areas of clinical focus is compliant. This positions your clinic on expertise rather than results.
Clinical photography used in consultations
AHPRA’s guidelines govern advertising, not clinical records. You can still show before and after photographs during consultations as part of the informed consent process. You just cannot use them in public-facing advertising.
Outcome language without images
You can describe categories of outcome without showing images. “This treatment reduces the appearance of wrinkles” is different to “this treatment eliminated this patient’s wrinkles as shown in the photo.”
Auditing Your Existing Content
There is no grandfathering provision. AHPRA’s guidelines apply to all current advertising, not just new content created after September 2025. A before and after post you published in 2023 that is still live on your Instagram grid is non-compliant today.
Where to audit
- Website: service pages, gallery pages, blog posts, homepage imagery
- Instagram: all posts, stories highlights, Reels, paid ads
- Facebook: posts, paid ad library, cover images
- TikTok: all posted videos
- Google: Google My Business photos, Google Display ad creative
- Email campaigns: any active or recently sent sequences with before and after content
- Printed materials: brochures, flyers, signage
- Third-party directories: profiles on platforms like Yelp or health directory sites
What to do with non-compliant content
Remove it. Do not simply archive it or take it private. AHPRA’s definition of advertising covers content that is accessible to the public. If the post exists and is viewable, it is in scope.
Document the removal. Note the date, the platform, the specific content removed. If a complaint is ever made about historical content, demonstrating proactive remediation is a relevant factor.
How long does an audit take?
For a typical cosmetic clinic with two to three years of active social media posting, a thorough audit of all channels takes between four and eight hours. It is worth doing properly once rather than reactively after a complaint.
The Penalty Structure
AHPRA’s advertising requirements are enforceable under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law. A breach is a criminal offence, not just a regulatory issue.
| Type of entity | Maximum penalty per breach |
|---|---|
| Individual health practitioner | $60,000 |
| Body corporate (clinic company) | $120,000 |
Each non-compliant piece of advertising is a separate breach. A clinic with five non-compliant Instagram posts, a non-compliant website gallery, and two non-compliant Google Ads has eight separate potential breaches.
AHPRA also reported that over 70% of cosmetic advertising audited in the 2024-25 financial year contained at least one breach. They are actively auditing. This is not a theoretical risk.
Registered health practitioners who breach advertising requirements can also face disciplinary action in addition to financial penalties, including conditions on their registration or suspension.
The Fastest Path to Compliance
Do not try to make your existing before and after content compliant by adding disclaimers to non-compliant images. A disclaimer on an “after first” image does not fix the structural breach.
Work through each channel systematically. Remove content that cannot be brought into compliance. For content that can be made compliant, ensure all five requirements are met: real patient, unedited, before image first, time label, results-vary disclaimer.
Then build a content sign-off process that checks every new piece against AHPRA requirements before it goes live.
If you want a second set of eyes on your clinic’s advertising, we audit cosmetic clinic marketing for AHPRA compliance as part of our ClinicPipeline service.
Get a free AHPRA compliance audit at rockingweb.com.au/clinicpipeline/.
Vikas Thakur
Founder of RockingWeb. 16 years building for companies like TPG, iiNet and Monadelphous, now focused on websites and marketing that comply with AHPRA's advertising guidelines and still book patients.
