When you're choosing your aesthetic practitioner, it's important to consider their credentials, surgical expertise, safety record, and real-world results. But in the modern age, a slick social-media profile is often just as appealing as a cabinet full of qualifications.
Instagram-famous practitioners mark a shift for the industry. These experts used to be faceless, with little known about them besides their work, but with celebrities name-checking their doctors and sharing selfies from their clinics of choice (Kim Kardashian and cosmetic dermatologist Simon Ourian, we’re looking at you), surgeons and doctors are becoming famous in their own right.
© InstagramAlthough a practitioner with tens of thousands of followers, engaging reels and a carefully managed feed is undeniably enticing, the knowledge that their profile is backed up by experience is still more important than how many followers they have.
Aesthetics expert Olivia Falcon took to Instagram (of course) to share her take on Insta-famous surgeons
"Some of the best cosmetic doctors and surgeons in the world are absolutely terrible at Instagram. On the flip side, some of the most successful Instagram surgeons and doctors don't necessarily have the best skills.
"The problem is that some patients confuse marketing with medical skill. A surgeon might be brilliant in theatre and regularly produce natural, beautiful results, and on the rare occasion an issue arises, they display incredible complication-management skills – but they post once every three months with terrible lighting.
"Meanwhile, surfing the algorithm, another doctor may have slick videos, luxury lifestyle content and hundreds of thousands of followers. But buyer beware – followers don't necessarily equal outcomes.
"When I research practitioners for the premium beauty and wellness service The Editor's List, I'm looking for:
Training
Experience
Complication rates
Peer reputation
Most importantly, patient results
"I’m not looking for how many views their latest Reel notched up. Instagram can be useful, but it should not be your main criterion for selection – because when it comes to your face, you're hiring a doctor, not an influencer."
These are the doctors at the top of their game – and the ones who happen to be amassing ever-growing social-media followings, too.
Dr Jonny Betteridge
© InstagramSince founding JB Aesthetics, his clinic in London’s Marylebone, in 2018, Dr Jonny Betteridge has won a combined following of more than 500,000 on TikTok and Instagram.
As popular for his industry insights as he is for his celebrity surgery explainers, Dr Betteridge takes his followers behind the scenes, demystifying the sometimes confusing world of cosmetic surgery. The beauty of his profile is that his page isn't exclusively dedicated to promoting his services, making him a genuinely useful – not to mention charismatic – person to follow.
Dr Richard Devine
© InstagramDr Richard Devine is based in London and Dubai, and his clients fly from around the world to lie on his treatment bed. For those who can't afford the air fares, he invites his followers into his aesthetically pleasing clinic via social media, offering treatment breakdowns, impressive before-and-afters and candid commentary on the procedures that will truly make a difference.
Dr Devine isn't afraid to jump on social-media trends, using them to educate his followers through videos with titles such as “Five treatments 100% worth your money” and “Overrated treatments”. His honesty is refreshing in a sometimes cloak-and-dagger industry.
Dr Andrew Jacono
Best known for performing the American fashion designer Marc Jacobs's 2021 facelift, Dr Andrew Jacono doesn't have a packed feed, but he still has more than 580,000 followers on Instagram, proving that skill with a scalpel can be as important as clever editing. His profile is mainly dedicated to side-by-side transformation videos showcasing his work, although his collaboration with Marc helped him soar in popularity both in real life and on social media.
Dr Ahmed El Muntasar
© InstagramMore than one million Instagram followers hang on to Dr Ahmed El Muntasar's every word, with his page one of the most engaging and welcoming out there – ironic, given that when he set up his profile in 2018, he believed that posting on social media as a doctor was "shameful".
However, he held on to his dream of demystifying treatments for his followers. To this day, every video begins with his signature greeting – "Hello, beautiful people!" – and it only gets more captivating from there.
On his growing profile, Dr El Muntasar has said: "People were coming not just to get a great treatment but also to meet me."
Rather than filling his page with dramatic before-and-afters, he uses his profile to shoot 60-second safety videos, educating clients rather than relying on his platform to promote his work – the results speak for themselves.
Dr Nina Bal
© InstagramIf you're looking for an aspirational social-media page, Dr Nina Bal's profile is the perfect place for you. The doctor strikes the perfect balance of insights into her glamorous, red-carpet-filled life and breakdowns of the work she has done, plus deep dives into the treatments she offers in her clinic in Kensington, London.
Dr Bal has a line-up of starry clients and considers the comedienne Katherine Ryan a “longtime friend and client”. She has appeared on Olivia Attwood's popular TV show The Price of Perfection, increasing her audience while sharing her wisdom.
