French Medical Aesthetic Care Capped
“Reinforcer la sécurité des patients, garantir la qualité des formations et préserver le temps médical consacré aux soins,” [lesechos.fr] reported Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist said in a statement.
France published a decree on November 14, 2025, that officially caps the working hours doctors can spend on aesthetic procedures. The new rules restrict cosmetic medicine to 30 percent of a practitioner’s total workload.
The remaining 70 percent of working time must be dedicated to care within the doctor’s original specialty. The measure applies to all medical fields, covering dermatologists, surgeons, and general practitioners in both private practices and hospitals.
Aesthetic procedures like botulinum toxin injections, hyaluronic acid fillers, hair implants, and laser skin treatments are not reimbursed by France’s health insurance system.
Doctors must meet experience thresholds for cosmetic treatment authorization
Doctors wanting to offer cosmetic treatments must meet strict experience thresholds before applying for authorization. Practitioners need five full years of practice within their original medical specialty followed by mandatory qualifying training.
The French Order of Physicians will work alongside regional health agencies to verify candidate qualifications and professional backgrounds. Practitioners must submit their requests for a complementary practice right by July 1, 2027.
Doctors exclusively practicing cosmetic medicine for more than five years have a two-year window to begin scaling back. They must return to majority work in their baseline specialty within the subsequent three-year period.
“Alors que de nombreux Français rencontrent encore des difficultés pour accéder à un médecin, nous devons veiller à ce que les compétences médicales restent prioritairement mobilisées au service des patients,” Rist told [lesechos.fr].
Cracking Down on Fake Injectors
The government plans to intensify enforcement against illegal cosmetic practices run by untrained operators. Authorities warn that unauthorized providers perform medical aesthetic procedures that expose patients to severe complications, hospitalizations, and even death.
The National Council of the Order of Physicians welcomed the decree as an improvement to patient safety. The organization reported handling 280 alerts regarding illegal medicine since 2022 and forwarding about 80 cases to public prosecutors.
Roughly 10,000 doctors currently practice cosmetic medicine across France according to estimates from the Order of Physicians. That total includes about 1,000 surgeons and 3,700 dermatologists.
Questions about medical specialty caps and practitioner transitions
Which medical specialties are affected by the new cap?
The 30 percent limit applies to all medical specialties, including dermatology and general surgery. Both salaried doctors and private practitioners must follow the new workload restrictions.
What happens to doctors who currently practice only aesthetics?
Practitioners who have worked exclusively in cosmetic medicine for more than five years have a two-year transition window. They must gradually reduce aesthetic work to resume their original medical specialty within three years.
How many illegal injectors has the medical order reported?
The National Council of the Order of Physicians has received 280 reports concerning illegal cosmetic procedures since 2022. The organization has transferred approximately 80 of those cases directly to public prosecutors.