Cosmetic surgery can be advertised on Meta and Google. The rules don't stop the campaign. They shape what the ad can say, who it can reach and what it can show, and creative that ignores them gets rejected.

This post is what the two platforms actually say, quoted from their own policy pages, and what I do on top of that. It's not legal advice, and both platforms change these pages. I read them on 31 October 2026, and I re-read them before every new account.

What Meta allows

Meta treats cosmetic surgery as a restricted category with an age floor. Its health and wellness policy says ads promoting cosmetic procedures or surgeries "must be targeted to people at least 18 years or older."

Inside that floor, a lot is allowed. The same page lists procedures advertisers can promote to adults, including breast augmentation, abdominoplasty, blepharoplasty, rhinoplasty and rhytidectomy. It also allows ads for "General cosmetic products, procedures, surgeries depicting before and after transformation."

So before-and-after isn't banned on Meta. For cosmetic procedures aimed at adults, its own policy page allows it.

What Meta won't run

The cosmetic prohibition on that page is about how the ad talks about the person. Ads can't contain "statements of inferiority about physical appearance," which the page defines as terms, descriptions or questions "that are negative and attack an individual's appearance, specific body parts, or hygiene."

Meta's personal attributes policy adds a second line. Ads can't assert or imply things about the person reading them, and age is one of the attributes. Its own examples make the difference clear: "Our new lotion and creams fight wrinkles like never before!" is allowed, and "Ready to upgrade your skin to look younger?" is not. One describes the product. The other tells the reader something about themselves.

So the test I apply to every line of copy is simple: does it describe the procedure, or does it describe the reader? "Tummy tuck consultations with a board-certified surgeon" describes the procedure. "Tired of your stomach?" describes the reader, and it's the kind of line that gets an ad rejected.

Lead forms have their own rule. Meta's lead ad rules say ads "must not request health information, including physical health, mental health, medical treatments, medical conditions or disabilities without our prior permission." I keep the form to contact details and leave the clinical questions for the consult.

What Google says

Google treats cosmetic surgery as health. Its health in personalized advertising page lists "Invasive medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures, or injections" as personal health content, a sensitive interest category.

That matters most for targeting. In a sensitive category, Google says "You can't use advertiser-curated audiences," and the same page marks customer match, your data segments (Google's term for remarketing), audience expansion and lookalike segments as not supported. You can still use Google's predefined audiences, in-market and affinity segments, and location targeting. What you can't do is upload your patient list or follow site visitors around the internet with surgery ads.

Imagery matters too. Google's sexual content policy classifies ads by what the image shows, not by the industry. It restricts images that "display exposed intimate body parts," including partial exposure, and it restricts "Using techniques to direct attention to the breasts as the primary focus," like close-ups or cropping "with no contextual reason for it." Ads classed as sexual content can run on the Search Network but not the Display Network or YouTube, and image ads aren't allowed for them at all. The policy doesn't mention surgery, but a breast augmentation photo is judged by the same test as any other image.

Claims are covered by Google's misrepresentation policy, which prohibits ads that present "an improbable result (even if this result is possible) as the likely outcome a user can expect."

I found no Google policy page that mentions before-and-after images by name.

Why I'm still careful with before-and-after

Allowed isn't the same as wise. A before-and-after photo implies a result, and a result is what a patient will hold the practice to. On Google, an image of the body can be classed as sexual content and lose most of its placements. And on either platform, a transformation that looks too good invites the "improbable result" problem.

So I use before-and-after only where the practice has real, consented photos of its own patients, shown in context, targeted to adults, and never cropped to make a body part the subject. Where those conditions aren't met, the creative sells the surgeon, the consult and the recovery plan instead. Professional and state rules on patient photos also apply, and those are for the practice and its counsel to check, not me.

What happens if an account gets restricted anyway

It happens in this category even with compliant creative. Reviews are partly automated, and an ad can be flagged for an image or a word near a policy line.

When it does, I handle the appeal and rebuild inside the rules. Keeping one procedure per campaign helps here too: a flag on one doesn't take down the rest. I explained why each procedure gets its own campaign in plastic surgery marketing: one procedure, one message.

What I won't claim

I won't quote a policy from memory. These pages change, so I quote them from the platform at the time I build.

I won't tell you a procedure's results, or what a patient should expect. That's a clinical claim, and it belongs to the surgeon.

And I won't promise an ad will never be rejected. Nobody who reads these policies honestly can.

What I will put in writing is a number: fifteen paying surgical patients in ninety days through the plastic surgery program. If you miss it, you get the entire fee back and I keep working at no fee until you have fifteen, while the agreed ad budget is funded.

Cosmetic surgery advertising questions

Can plastic surgeons use before-and-after photos in Facebook ads?

Meta's health and wellness policy allows ads for cosmetic procedures and surgeries depicting before and after transformation, as long as the ad is targeted to people 18 and over. Ads still can't contain statements that attack someone's appearance or body parts.

Can I retarget website visitors with cosmetic surgery ads on Google?

No. Google lists cosmetic surgery as personal health content, a sensitive interest category, so remarketing lists, customer match and lookalike segments aren't supported. Predefined Google audiences and location targeting are still available.

Why was my breast augmentation ad limited on Google?

Google's sexual content policy classifies ads by what the image shows. Images that expose intimate body parts or focus on the breasts without context are restricted, and restricted sexual content can't run on the Display Network, YouTube or as image ads.

What copy gets cosmetic surgery ads rejected on Meta?

Copy that describes the reader instead of the procedure. Meta prohibits statements that attack someone's appearance and ads that assert or imply personal attributes like age. Describe the procedure and the surgeon, not what the reader supposedly dislikes about themselves.