What Anti-Wrinkle Injections Cost in Brighton, and What Drives the Price

One of the most common questions we are asked at Dr Selvi Clinic in Brighton is what anti-wrinkle injections cost. It is a fair question, and it deserves a fuller answer than a number on a page.

Why UK clinics do not publish a price list for this treatment

Botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine. Under UK medicines regulations, prescription-only medicines cannot be advertised or promoted to the public, and that includes brand names and headline prices. Any clinic running "three areas for a fixed price" offers on social media is, at best, working in a grey area.

That is not a technicality we hide behind. It exists because a prescription-only medicine has to be prescribed for you, by a prescriber who has assessed you in person, at a dose chosen for your anatomy. A price cannot be set before that assessment has happened, because the treatment has not been decided yet.

So instead of a number, here is what actually sits behind the cost, and what to look at when you are comparing clinics in Brighton.

What you are paying for

• The prescriber. In the UK, botulinum toxin must be prescribed by a doctor, dentist, nurse prescriber or pharmacist prescriber. In a doctor-led clinic, the person who assesses you, prescribes and injects is the same person, and is medically qualified to manage a complication if one occurs.

• The consultation itself. A proper assessment covers your medical history, medication, previous treatments, muscle strength and facial asymmetry. Faces are not symmetrical, and a treatment plan that ignores that produces a result that looks off.

• The product and the dose. Different licensed toxins are not interchangeable unit-for-unit. A treatment described as cheap is often simply a smaller dose, which is why it wears off in eight weeks instead of three to four months.

• The follow-up. A two-week review to check the result and adjust it if needed should be part of the price, not an extra.

• Insurance, waste handling, cold-chain storage and regulated premises. These are invisible until something goes wrong.

Units, areas and why the comparison is harder than it looks

Clinics price in one of two ways: per area, or per unit. Per-area pricing is easier to understand but tells you nothing about the dose. Per-unit pricing is more transparent but harder to compare at a glance.

A strong male frontalis muscle may need close to double the dose of a fine-featured brow. If two clinics quote the same figure for "one area" and one is delivering half the units, you have not found a bargain. You have found a treatment that will fade before you have finished paying attention to it.

The honest way to compare is annual cost. A well-dosed treatment lasting three to four months at three sessions a year can cost less over twelve months than a light-touch treatment that needs topping up five or six times.

Where cheap becomes expensive

• No prescriber present. If nobody has assessed you face to face before the medicine was prescribed, that is a regulatory problem and a safety problem.

• Treatment in a non-clinical setting. Hotel rooms, salons and living rooms do not have the equipment to manage an adverse reaction.

• Pressure to book on the day, or a discount that expires. Prescription medicines should never be sold on urgency.

• No review appointment offered. Asymmetry is common and usually easy to correct in the first fortnight. It is much harder to fix once the clinic has moved on.

• Correcting a poor result is more expensive than getting it right first time, and sometimes it simply cannot be corrected. It has to wear off.

How long it lasts

For most people, three to four months. It tends to be shorter in the first year and lengthen with regular treatment, as the muscles gradually weaken with less habitual use. Very active facial muscles, intensive exercise and a fast metabolism can shorten it. Chasing longevity by increasing the dose beyond what your anatomy needs is how people end up with the frozen look nobody actually wants.

What happens when you come in

Your first appointment at our Brighton clinic is a consultation, not a sales appointment. We look at what is bothering you, whether injectable treatment is the right answer at all, and what it will and will not do. Sometimes the honest answer is that skin quality, not muscle movement, is what is ageing the face, and a different treatment is the better use of your money. You will get a written plan and a cost before anything is prescribed.

You are also free to leave and think about it. That should be true of every clinic you visit.

Book a consultation in Brighton

Dr Selvi Clinic is at 57B London Road, Brighton BN1 4JE, a few minutes from London Road station and within easy reach of Hove, Lewes and Worthing. All treatment is carried out by a GMC-registered doctor. Contact us to arrange a consultation and we will give you a straight answer about cost, dose and whether treatment is appropriate for you at all.