Cosmetic Dermatology Trends of 2018

Now all the Christmas cheer has come to an end and New Year’s resolutions have been made it is time to take a look at what dermatology treatments and trends were popular in 2018 and what might be popular in 2019. For this we’ll compare our most recent data to our previous dermatology treatment review in 2017.

Last year based on our own data and some supporting statistics from Google Trends we expected Thermage to become more popular. We also predicted that CoolSculpting’s popularity would continue and that Juvederm Voluma would also have a lot of interest. What we saw was that Thermage did indeed have an increase in popularity in terms of people enquiring about having the procedure undertaken, particuarly with some interest in Thermage FLX also.

Overall, CoolSculpting’s still remained one of the most popular choices and also had a good year in terms of general search visibility (source: Google Trends) remaining steady overall. Juvederm Voluma also remained relatively consistent with the previous year but did not make it into our top 10.

The Top 10 Cosmetic Dermatology Treatments in 2018

Our most popular treatments of the year were as follows:

1. PRP hair treatment restoration
2. Acne scar treatment
3. Skin-lightening
4. CoolSculpting
5. Botox, particularly “Non-surgical Jaw Reduction”
6. Thermage
7. Laser tattoo removal
8. Cosmelan
9. Post laser hyperpigmentation
10. African American skin treatment

Over the last few years Laser Tattoo Removal’s popularity has wavered. Last year we saw a slight decrease in interest, and this has continued into 2018 in terms of general visits and information gathering, but an increase in terms of people actively seeking out a tattoo removal solution.

Botox treatments remain very popular, and another interesting trend is that people are now becoming interested in how Botox can be used in different ways. This year we have seen that non-surgical jaw reductions using Botox has become popular and has made it into our top-ten treatments. Botox overall has made a comeback in 2018.

This alternative use of Botox has become much more popular since it is a quick, easy and effective way to gain the look of a smaller jaw, without having to undergo costly, and invasive surgical procedures that would require a lot of down time for recovery. Interest in use of Botox on the upper lip to lift it has also increased a lot in 2018.

PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) treatments for hair loss, was in the number one position for procedures this year, and has fast become a popular option for our patients. In fact, this treatment started to become popular back in 2016 which was its breakout year. Hair loss treatments have always been popular, but this popularity hasn’t always matched the effectiveness of the treatments available. With PRP this has changed and now there is a treatment which has had proven results for issues with hair loss.

African American skin treatments increased in popularity in 2017 and this continued into 2018. Some of the reasons for this continued increase, is product awareness and the fact more modern dermatology techniques are available for this skin type.  Asian skin treatments continue to be a popular page for visitors too.

Treatments that are becoming less popular in 2018

Two treatments that have dropped just out of the Top 10 this year are Stretch Marks & Scars. Both remain popular and scar treatment specifically always remains quite consistent in terms of interest.

Kybella treatments fell in 2017 and this trend has continued across 2018 with another decrease in interest levels. You can see this drop from the high at the start of 2017 to a significant drop across the same period in 2018 (Google Trends data below is for the term Kybella):

Our Predictions for 2019

For 2019 we predict that PRP will continue to grow in popularity are more people discover this treatment. CoolSculpting continues to be popular thanks to its commercial backing, including a current campaign for a Free CoolSculpting Consultation (Offer valid for new patients only and cannot be combined with any other offers).

Chemical peels are a treatment area that may fall in 2019. What we tend to find is that for treating certain conditions such as acne, then it is still a very popular method. However, for more general cosmetic work, interest has fallen, and the trend appears to be for individuals to move towards other types of solution, such as laser treatments. This trend tends to fall in with a general industry movement towards treatments that use HA (Hyaluronic acid) and injectables in general. For many people the less recovery time these treatments offer are a big plus.

If you are interested in any treatments in 2019, you can also find out more about the dermatology procedures mentioned in this article, or alternatively if you are interested in something else that we have not mentioned you can book an appointment with Dr. Michele Green via our contact form, or call 212-535-3088