Average beauty clinic client is 44 year-old, educated woman visiting 10 times for botox

The average cosmetic clinic customer in the Netherlands is a relatively highly educated, well-paid 44.6-year-old woman, according to research by three Dutch universities. Botox and fillers are the most popular treatments. Women who get Botox get repeat treatments 10 times on average, and those who get fillers go back five times, AD reports.

The researchers from the universities of Tilburg, Wageningen, and Rotterdam interviewed over 700 clients of 36 different Dutch clinics.

“Anyone who watches reality TV and influencers on social media gets the stereotypical image that mainly women with a lower education and a lower income go to cosmetic clinics for fillers and Botox,” researcher Anne-Mette Hermans, an assistant professor of Social Sciences at Tilburg University, told the newspaper. That image is incorrect, the study showed. In addition to being educated with a well-paying job, the average customer also tends to be Dutch with Dutch parents.

“At the same time, it is not possible to identify one specific type of consumer,” Hermans added. “The ages range from 18 to 77 years old. However, 97 percent of the customers are women. The type of Dutch person who has a cosmetic procedure done is very diverse.”

Botox and fillers are the most popular treatments. Eyelid corrections and breast enlargement are the most common surgical procedures.

The researchers also looked into whether there is a causal link between social media use and cosmetic interventions. “The only relationship we saw is that women who have filers injected spend a relatively large amount of time on Instagram and TikTok,” Hermans said.

Fellow researcher Tom Decates is an assistant professor at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam and a cosmetic doctor in an outpatient clinic for filler complications. His advice for cosmetic treatments is to choose a good doctor. “Cosmetic medicine is a wonderful profession, but when things go wrong, everyone sees it,” he told AD.