Some doctors have cut Botox prices to ease economic pain

May 19th, 2008, 6:10 pm · 1 Comment · posted by Colin Stewart

Dr. Donald Altman with patient The nation’s sour economy has inspired a few cosmetic doctors to slash prices on Botox injections, but most are holding firm.

Many doctors who aren’t cutting prices see the discounts as a marketing ploy rather than an act of compassion.

Dr. Donald Altman, head of the Irvine Plastic Surgery Center, said he decided to help patients through hard times by reducing the standard charge for Botox to $10 per unit from $14 per unit. That’s a reduction to $250 from $350 for treatment of a modest-sized area of the face.

The medical center didn’t make the change in response to lagging business, he said.

“The use of Botox from 2007 to 2008 has been steady. However, in order to help those individuals who have been effected by the recession we have decided to lower our charges,” Altman said. “Individuals still want to look their best even in difficult times.”

A spa in North Carolina recently cut Botox prices for regular customers when it noticed that patients were waiting longer between treatments, according to the News & Observer newspaper.

Dermatologist Dr. Renee Cobos at Premiere Dermatology & Laser Center in Fullerton has also cut prices, but for her it’s part of a marketing strategy.

“Our standard charge for Botox is $12 per unit. However, we currently have a May special for Botox at $10 per unit. When we have a special such as this, we do get more patients that will come in for the special price that end up becoming long-term patients,” she said.

Doctors holding firm on rates include dermatologists Dore Gilbert of Newport Beach, Laurie Klein of the Dermatology & Laser Center in Laguna Niguel, and Christopher Zachary, chairman of the UC-Irvine Department of Dermatology.

“We have not seen any drop off. We are up 17 percent compared to last year. Maybe we are doing something right,” Gilbert said.

Klein said, “We charge $13 per unit, which is average among specialists in Orange County. The cost for Botox Cosmetic has increased every year for the last seven-plus years and my Botox business is booming despite the economy, so I see no
reason to decrease my prices. We have always offered a discount in our office to $10-11 per unit when patients purchase Botox-Fraxel or Botox-filler packages or join our Botox Club.”

Zachary was philosophic:

My grandfather, a wonderfully generous man, gave away free dental care during the second world war to those who could not afford the cost. He went broke. Sometimes you become too emotionally attached to a concept without remembering that you are running a business. It’s a complex arrangement; the provision of medical care of high clinical and ethical standards while at the same time benefitting financially from ones endeavors. Sometimes I think we all need to have a shrink by our sides to provide some guidance. Needless to say, we have not moderated our charges.

Allergan, which makes Botox, says sales are still growing, but less rapidly than in the past. Many cosmetic doctors say demand for Botox hasn’t decreased because of the slow economy, but some are seeing a drop in plastic surgeries.

Dr. John A. Grossman, plastic surgeon Dr. John A. Grossman (pictured), a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills, said bookings are down and patients are taking longer to decide about cosmetic procedures.

“We may need to market more heavily, offer discounts on some of the pricing and do that in cooperation with the hospital in terms of overall fees,” he told the Fresno Bee.

Similarly, a cosmetic hair-restoration practice in Florida has signed up with a wholesale pharmacy to reduce what economically strapped patients have to pay for Propecia (finasteride) anti-hair-loss medication.

“Currently, I prescribe (and dispense) roughly 100,000 tablets of Propecia per year,” said Dr. Alan J. Bauman of the Bauman Medical Group in Boca Raton, who has struck a deal with an FDA-registered pharmacy in New York to fill his patients’ finasteride prescriptions from raw materials supplied by Propecia-maker Merck Inc.

“Propecia costs our patients about $233 for 90 days. Compounded Finasteride will be around $155 for 90-days,” he said.

If you know of other price cuts by cosmetic doctors, excluding group discounts and limited-time special offers, please let me know by sending an e-mail to cstewart@ocregister.com.

PHOTO AT TOP by Register photographer Mark Rightmire shows Donald Altman, M.D., of the Irvine Plastic Surgery Center giving Botox injection to Rebecca Hansen of Mission Viejo during a 2007 fund raiser for Susan G. Komen breast cancer research.

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