Article preview from IN VIVO - December, 2011
Solta Medical was formed by the merger of two aesthetic device start-ups targeting the same customer with complementary technologies: Thermage in skin tightening and Reliant in skin resurfacing. Solta Medical’s product and marketing strategy has made it more immune in the economic downturn than its peers in aesthetic energy devices. What’s helped it most these past few years is its reliance on high margin disposables, rather than capital equipment, for the majority of its revenues.
Article preview from IN VIVO - December, 2011
The aesthetic industry has changed drastically in the last 10 years. Once, cosmetic surgery was the privilege of the very wealthy with the time and means to undergo the knife to achieve perfect beauty. But today, thanks to less invasive technologies, aesthetic procedures are viewed by many as an anti-aging regimen that’s almost indispensable. At least so one might gather from the strength of certain aesthetic procedures during the recent recession.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007 and hit a trough in June 2009. During that time, non-invasive aesthetic procedures actually increased in volume. (See Exhibit 1.) With tight credit markets, high unemployment, and the decrease in discretionary spending that comes with a lack of consumer confidence, it is somewhat surprising that many considered facial rejuvenation indispensable, but over the past decade, the gathering of several forces has given the aesthetics market a certain momentum that was barely dampened during the economic downturn.
Cosmetic procedures began to pick up speed in 2002, the year Allergan Inc.introducedBotox (botulinum toxin type A).Botoxeffectively democratized the face lift by offering, with an injectable drug, high-efficacy and a low financial barrier to entry for patients and physicians, as well as a reason to keep patients coming back with regularity to aesthetic practices. Soon thereafter, a number of new injectable dermal fillers gained FDA approval as anti-wrinkle solutions, and these least invasive solutions for facial rejuvenation began to reach new types of patients willing to pay for procedures that subtly improve their appearance.
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