Medical aesthetics, short for cosmetic medicine, is a concept that, along with lifestyle aesthetics, constitutes the broader field of beauty. Although both are called beauty treatments, there is a clear boundary between medical and lifestyle aesthetics. In reality, some patients and practitioners unintentionally or intentionally confuse these boundaries, posing significant risks to the safety and quality of medical aesthetic procedures.

So, what procedures fall under the category of medical aesthetics?

Medical aesthetics refers to the use of drugs, surgery, medical devices, and other invasive or irreversible medical techniques to repair and reshape the appearance and body parts.

Another simple distinction is that procedures that penetrate the epidermis to reach the dermis or even deeper layers, potentially causing infection or scarring, are considered medical aesthetics. For example, laser hair removal, while not leaving wounds, requires sufficient energy to reach the deep dermis to destroy hair follicles; improper operation can lead to scarring, thus falling under the category of medical aesthetics. Other examples include wrinkle-reducing injections, facial slimming injections, and leg slimming injections, all of which involve injecting botulinum toxin into the skin. Although it is merely an injection procedure, patients may experience drug allergies, and even systemic symptoms or death due to improper dosage control. Therefore, the aforementioned injection procedures also fall under the category of cosmetic medical procedures.