Why Does Every New Treatment Start as a Miracle?
How Experience, Evidence and Time Separate Promise from Proof
It seems like every few months, a new treatment appears that promises to transform the management of facial ageing.
Sometimes it is a new injectable.
Sometimes it is a new skin treatment.
Sometimes it is simply a new way of using an existing product.
The messages are often remarkably similar:
"The next generation." . . .
"A breakthrough." . . .
"Revolutionary."
Occasionally those claims prove to be entirely justified. Sadly, more often the truth turns out to be far more complicated.
After more than twenty-five years in aesthetic medicine, I have noticed that many new treatments seem to follow a surprisingly familiar pattern.
The Life Cycle of the "Next Big Thing"
1. A genuinely interesting treatment appears.
Most innovations begin with a good idea. There will be laboratory research, encouraging early clinical results or a genuine engineering improvement. At this stage, curiosity is entirely justified.
2. A handful of clinicians begin using it.
The manufacturers sponsor, so called KOL’s (key opinion leaders) to try it. Early adopters explore the treatment. Almost immediately, social media influencers begin to take notice. The very best before-and-after photographs appear online, training courses begin and interest grows rapidly.
3. The excitement gathers momentum.
Manufacturers invest in education and promotion.
Conferences discuss the treatment.
More doctors begin introducing it into their practices.
The online conversation becomes increasingly enthusiastic.
Currently Julaine is receiving a lot of media attention. Only time will tell if it deserves the hype.
4. The treatment becomes the answer to almost everything.
This is the point at which enthusiasm can begin to run ahead of the evidence.
"This looks promising." Gradually becomes . . . . "This is the future!"
It is also the stage at which patients are led to believe they are seeing the next revolution in aesthetic medicine.
5. Reality begins to catch up.
Doctors gain more experience.
Less successful cases appear.
Limitations become clearer.
Better studies begin to answer the questions that early enthusiasm could not.
The treatment sometimes proves to be good.
But it turns out not to be the answer to every problem.
6. The pendulum swings back.
Some clinicians lose interest.
Others conclude that the treatment was overhyped and doesn’t live up to the early results.
However, occasionally it may be dismissed too readily.
7. The treatment finally finds its proper place.
This is usually the most interesting stage. The excitement has faded. The marketing has become quieter.
What remains is a clearer understanding of which patients benefit most, which techniques work best and where the treatment genuinely belongs.
That is often when a treatment becomes most valuable. This pattern is not unique to aesthetic medicine.
Throughout medical history, new drugs, surgical techniques and medical devices have often followed a remarkably similar journey before finding their true place in everyday clinical practice.
The difference today is speed.
Social media has compressed a process that once took years into one that can happen within a matter of months.
Why does this happen?
Early experience naturally focuses on success.
Doctors remember excellent results.
Commercial interests highlight encouraging data.
Patients share positive experiences.
The most impressive cases are the ones most likely to be photographed, shared and discussed online.
None of this is surprising.
It is also worth recognising that manufacturers, trainers and clinics all have perfectly understandable commercial interests. Innovation drives progress, but it also drives business. That does not mean the claims are untrue. It does mean that enthusiasm often spreads much faster than scientific certainty.
Social media accelerates the process even further. Consider reading Why Social Media Popularity Isn't a Guarantee Of Safety in Aesthetics
Social media rewards spectacular results, certainty, novelty and confidence.
It is far less effective at communicating uncertainty or the limitations of small clinical studies. That is not a criticism of social media. It is simply not what social media is designed to do.
My own approach
I remain genuinely interested whenever a new treatment appears. In fact, I usually read the published evidence with great enthusiasm. At the same time, I have developed a habit that occasionally surprises people.
Whenever a new treatment arrives, I almost hope it doesn't live up to all the claims. Not because I dislike innovation. Quite the opposite. If it offers no meaningful advantage, I can happily continue using treatments that have already earned my confidence.
Occasionally, however, a treatment surprises me. Those are the moments every doctor hopes for. Polynucleotides are a good example. I approached them with considerable scepticism.
I gradually became convinced that, in carefully selected patients, they really could offer something worthwhile.
That is exactly how good innovation should work. Not because somebody tells me it is revolutionary. But because the evidence—and eventually my own clinical experience—persuades me.
Curiosity is essential. So is patience.
Medicine advances because people are prepared to question established ideas.
It also advances because those same ideas are tested carefully.
Good innovations deserve enthusiasm.
They also deserve scrutiny.
That balance protects patients and ultimately strengthens the treatments that genuinely work.
The next revolutionary treatment may indeed change aesthetic medicine and some eventually do.
The important question is not whether a treatment is new. It is whether, after careful research and growing clinical experience, it genuinely improves patient care.
New treatments deserve open minds.
But they also deserve the patience required to prove themselves.
About the author
Dr Peter Forrester is Medical Director of The Cosmetic Doctors Company in Esher, Surrey. He has practised aesthetic medicine for over 25 years and has extensive experience in non-surgical facial rejuvenation. He believes that all good aesthetic treatment begins with a thorough consultation, honest advice and a commitment to providing safe, natural-looking results for every patient.