Once regarded as a high-threshold, high-cost method to ease appearance anxiety, medical aesthetics is steadily becoming a daily consumer choice for modern urban dwellers in China. This shift has fuelled the rise of a vast and rapidly evolving consumer landscape, with medical aesthetics retail market projected to exceed 150 billion yuan by 2025 nationwide. This self-centric aesthetic revolution carries increasingly complex expectations from modern beauty seekers—they are no longer paying solely for visible outcomes but are investing in emotional value and self-identity.
Leveraging its dual expertise in Health + FMCG, cbh (Consumer & Big Health), a boutique of Illuminera, has the honour to work with multiple medical aesthetic players, to map the industry landscape in depth, analyse the decision-making journeys and unmet needs of beauty seekers, and identify new pathways for future growth amid rapid market transformation.
From "Internal Competition" to "Symbiosis"
Tracing the Evolution of the Medical Aesthetics Market
As consumers tighten their budgets and compare prices on everything, the "beauty revolution" continues to surge, driving rapid market iteration. Numerous brands and organizations are entering the market, making industry competition increasingly intense and creating a more diverse and liberated ecosystem of choices for beauty seekers.
01 Lower Prices Turn Hydrafacial into a Regular Ritual for Young Consumers
As a mature category, hydrafacial treatment offers a comprehensive product portfolio. While premium imported brands remain price-stable, emerging domestic brands continue to proliferate. In recent years, the introduction of at-home hydrafacial device has further normalized the idea of " Hydrafacial" as daily skincare.
02 New Mechanisms in Botulinum Toxin Appeal to Mature Users
Innovative botulinum toxin offerings, including new liquid formulations, peptide-based delivery, and mRNA-encoded technologies, are gaining traction. The enhanced safety profiles and longer-lasting effects make them especially appealing to mature users seeking meaningful, reliable improvements.
03 Regenerative Products Rise as the Preferred Anti-Aging Choice in the Premium Market
Since the Sculptra and Ellanse trends surged in 2022, regenerative injectables have continued to captivate consumers. Recently, novel materials such as CaHA have drawn increasing attention. As the highest-end injectable category focusing on long-term anti-aging, regenerative products significantly elevate consumers’ spending thresholds—the average consumer budget is expected to approach 30,000 yuan in the coming year.
From “Appearance” to “Inner-Self”
Interpreting the Mindset Shift of the New Generation of Beauty Seekers
Driven by the medical aesthetics wave, modern beauty seekers’ perceptions of “beauty” are undergoing a subtle transformation. According to cbh’s research, around 70% beauty seekers hold a bachelor's degree or above, with most households’ income over 30,000 yuan per month. Well-educated and affluent, they are far from impulsive buyers—instead, they are discerning, experience-driven participants in the beauty journey.
01 Me‑Focused Mindset Upgrade
Today’s beauty seekers are willing to invest in confidence. Their primary motivation for pursuing medical aesthetics is often to feel more confident, aligning their external appearance with an inherently positive self-awareness. They have more sense of deservingness, willingly paying for emotional fulfilment and psychological value. They also favour the concept of “Everyday Beauty”， with rising interest in skin maintenance and anti-aging. The pursuit of beauty now extends beyond one-off treatments to ongoing and routine-oriented care.
02 Long‑Termism for Natural Beauty
The era of blindly chasing the “Instagram face” is fading. Compared with 2021, demand for facial sculpting has declined, while interest in subtle, natural anti-aging—such as fine-line refinement—has grown rapidly. Medical aesthetics is no longer viewed as a one-time transaction. Beauty seekers now prefer holistic, customized combination therapy, prioritizing natural, long-term, and integrated transformation.
03 Social Media Reliance, Pre-decision, and Heightened Expectations
Modern beauty seekers are heavy social media users. They are not only passively exposed by information but also actively create content—posting experiences, seeding recommendations, and sharing warnings—forming a social ecosystem shaped by KOLs, KOCs, and UGC.
More than 90% of beauty seekers conduct extensive pre-research and arrive at clinics with a prepared “brand shortlist”. Yet final decisions still rely heavily on professional advice. Simultaneously, consumers now expect full-cycle management—valuing not just treatment results but also post-care guidance and ongoing communication. Their expectations extend toward a more holistic, sophisticated beauty transformation experience.
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As a more rational, self-aware generation of beauty seekers emerges, the medical aesthetics industry is transitioning from rapid expansion toward long-termism and professional specialization. Meanwhile, stricter regulations and tax policies are pushing the market toward standardization. How can brands truly understand the real needs of beauty seekers? How can they build differentiated competitiveness?
Illuminera will continue to help medical aesthetics brands capture evolving consumer demands, identify high-potential segments, and build sustainable product and service systems—unlocking new growth pathways in a vast market.
Data Source: Illuminera Research
For more relevant information, please send an email to marketing@illuminera.com.
