Product innovation sees US market for non-cosmetic procedures sky rocket

And the growth rate seems only to be accelerating in recent years, with Kline’s most recent report, Professional Aesthetics: US Market Analysis and Opportunities highlighting how sales of professional aesthetics products increased by 7.5% in 2012 alone.

The study highlights how the ease and relative affordability, together with the increasing diversity of the treatments, mean that many individuals can fit such procedures into their lunch hour at work and tackle any number of skin, hair and general cosmetic issues.

The 'missing link' in professional skin care​

"We felt this was an important market to thoroughly assay as it is the missing link within the professional skin care equation,”​ said Karen Doskow, Industry Manager at Kline’s Consumer Products Practice.

“There are essentially three levels of how skin care concerns can be addressed on a professional basis - with topical products purchased at a spa or from a doctor, using an at-home device, or having an in-office treatment performed using a laser, IPL, or injectable.”​

Injectables is the most important category in this area. Bought to the fore by Botox anti-wrinkle facial treatments, the category has grown tremendously in recent years, with a plethora of other treatments competing in the same area, as well as offering treatments for body contouring and cellulite.

Launch of more targeted injectables drives category​

In particular, the report highlights the launch of the latest injectable on to the market, the Belotero Balance dermal filler from Merz, which has helped to drive a forecast growth of 20% for this category in 2013.

Beauty devices are also playing an increasingly important part of the overall market growth for this area, particularly due to the increasingly wide selection of at-home devices which offer targeted treatments for wrinkles, hair removal, hair growth, cellulite and various other cosmetic skin concerns.

Technological advances in this area are not only bringing an increasing range of functionality to devices, but also allowing larger devices that could previously only be used in a professional environment to be reduced in size for home use.

Multifunctional professional devices on the rise​

One new trend in the professional devices area is products that offer a range of functionalities thanks or upgrades attachments. One example of this is Cutera’s Xeo Platform, which offers attachments targeting skin fitness, hair removal and vascular therapies, all in one device.

Beyond the professional devices market, a lot of the big cosmetic and personal care players, including Unilever and P&G, have become involved in the fast-growing at home devices market in recent years, underlined by Unilever’s partnership with Cynosure to launch skin rejuvenation devices.

Looking to the future, the study points to the possible development of patches that could be honed to replace injectables, while micro-needling may also provide an alternative to laser treatments.

However, in such a fast-growing and developing market, it is guaranteed that the landscape will have seen some significant changes by this time next year.