AI Discovery · Industries · Cosmetic & Med Spa
For cosmetic practices & med spas

AI Discovery, applied to cosmetic practice.

The cosmetic vertical has the most heavy-tailed Index distribution we measure — a small population of celebrated practitioners scoring extraordinarily high while the median lags. We help board-certified plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and premium med-spas appear inside ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity when patients are looking for the right practitioner.

PRACTICES IN THE INDEX UNIVERSEFOUNDING QUARTER, 2026
8,900
AUTHORITY INDEX ADVANTAGE FOR BOARD-CERTIFIED PRACTITIONERSHOLDING MENTION FREQUENCY CONSTANT
+80–140POINTS
WILLINGNESS TO PAY (NORMALISED AGAINST FIRM SIZE)HIGHEST OF ANY VERTICAL WE SERVE
1RANK · ALL TWELVE VERTICALS
MEDIAN BAND-A SCORE (TIER 1 PRACTICES)FOUNDING QUARTER
907/ 1000
Why cosmetic is different

Five things AI Discovery does specifically in cosmetic.

01

The medical-credential premium dominates Authority signal

AI systems substantially up-weight medically-credentialled practitioners (M.D., D.O., D.D.S.) over equivalently-skilled non-medical practitioners. The premium is most pronounced in surgical, injectable, and laser procedures with clinical risk profiles. Board certification, hospital affiliations, and academic appointments all materially increase trust framing.

02

Regulatory boundaries shape what can be claimed

Cosmetic practices operate under medical-board, cosmetology-board, FDA-advertising, and state-attorney-general supervision in varying combinations. Authority infrastructure must respect the boundaries of what each licensure permits. We do not claim medical-procedure authority for non-medically-credentialled practices — and refuse engagements that require us to.

03

Before-and-after content is regulated

Before-and-after photography — the principal authority asset for cosmetic practices — is regulated in nearly every jurisdiction. Content production accommodates the rules through documented patient consent, jurisdiction-specific publication standards, and explicit Standards of Professional Conduct alignment. The Authority Compliance Suite handles the regulatory layer.

04

Influencer dynamics partially substitute for traditional press

Cosmetic is the only vertical we serve in which influencer attention can substantially substitute for traditional editorial citation in driving Authority signal. Our Influencer-Adjacent Strategy treats relevant-influencer engagement as a citation programme element, without entering compensated arrangements that would breach the Code of Ethics.

05

The buyer is, in most cases, the practitioner

Unlike legal or accounting where the buyer is typically a marketing director with delegated authority, the cosmetic buyer is frequently the practitioner whose name and authority is being marketed. The personal stakes are higher; the buyer's emotional engagement is more direct. Our approach is correspondingly more relational and less procedural.

Pricing

Published prices. Scaled by practice tier.

The first ninety days

What a Foundation engagement looks like.

DAY 1–7

Onboarding & Discovery Workshop

Engagement Letter executed. Conflicts check at regional + procedural-specialism intersection. Discovery Workshop includes regulatory-scope conversation: which procedures are in scope, which jurisdictions, which state-AG rules apply.

FIRM-SIDE: ≈ 8 HOURS
DAY 8–28

Authority audit & Procedure-Level audit

Authority Infrastructure audit at three levels plus Procedure-Level Authority audit (Tier 1–2 engagements). Authority Workshops with named practitioners include credential-documentation review.

FIRM-SIDE: ≈ 6 HRS PER PRACTITIONER
DAY 29–60

Substantive deployment

Practice and procedure-level entity records deployed. First-content-cycle production includes documented FDA and state-AG compliance review with each piece. Authority Compliance Suite operative throughout. Day-30 Review.

FIRST MEASURABLE SIGNAL MOVEMENT
DAY 61–90

First measurable improvement

Practitioner-level entity records. First Tier-2 placement live; second in flight. Day-90 Review with regulatory-environment update where state or federal rules have changed in the period.

DAY-90: REGULATORY UPDATE + AUTHORITY/INFLUENCER EXPANSION
What we will not do

Three vertical-specific conduct standards.

I
No fabricated before-and-after content
The Practice Group does not produce, encourage, or accept work that misrepresents patient outcomes through fabricated, manipulated, or inappropriately sourced before-and-after imagery. The discipline is explicit in engagement letters and is grounds for engagement termination.
II
No medical claims by non-medical practitioners
Where a practice operates under cosmetology rather than medical licensure, our content does not reference, imply, or sustain claims to medical authority, regardless of the practice's own marketing posture. The discipline is necessary to preserve our standing with regulators and the broader institutional architecture.
III
No compensated influencer arrangements
We do not arrange compensated influencer placements. The Standards of Professional Conduct prohibit compensated content relationships that misrepresent the entity to AI systems. The Influencer-Adjacent Strategy supports organic relationships only.
Honest answers

Questions cosmetic practitioners ask in the second meeting.

All my patients come from Instagram and referrals. Do I need this?

Two answers. First, AI Discovery and Instagram coexist; the engagement does not displace social-channel work. Second, the prospective patient who is referred or finds the practice on Instagram nearly always cross-references the practice in AI systems before booking. Discovery posture in those AI systems shapes whether the cross-reference confirms or undermines the social-channel impression. The engagement addresses the cross-reference.

Can you guarantee we appear at the top of [specific AI system] for [specific procedure]?

No. Specific position guarantees are inconsistent with the Standards of Professional Conduct. We can guarantee methodology, reporting, and the deployment of work designed to move signal in the prospect's direction. Specific outcome at specific position is not a guarantee any credible vendor can offer.

Our compliance counsel says we can't do public content.

Many practices' compliance posture is more conservative than regulations require. The Authority Compliance Suite is designed to expand the practice's permissible content surface within regulatory boundaries — often substantially. We work with the firm's compliance counsel rather than against them; the Suite is, in many cases, the engagement's most valuable component.

Won't this just attract worse patients?

Targeted authority work, properly scoped, attracts patients whose decision criteria align with the credentials and procedures emphasised. A practice that emphasises board-certification and high-acuity procedures attracts patients seeking those qualifications. Patient-mix change is part of the engagement's intended outcome, not an unintended consequence.

What ROI can you guarantee?

No ROI guarantee. Performance fees are prohibited by the Standards of Professional Conduct. What we offer is documented methodology, quarterly Index reporting, and engagement structured to produce measurable signal movement. Among engaged Foundation cosmetic clients to date, the median Day-180 movement is 64 points on the headline score. Median is not promise.

How do you handle conflicts in our market?

Conflicts in cosmetic are managed at the regional + procedural-specialism intersection. Two practices offering different premium procedure mixes (one surgical, one injectables-only) in the same city are not in conflict by default. Two practices in the same city with identical surgical specialisms are. The position is communicated in writing before the proposal is issued.

Begin in cosmetic

Every engagement begins
with the cosmetic Audit.

Four to six weeks. Fixed scope: $5,500 (standard med spa) to $48,000 (premium / celebrity). Written report against the Standard, banded under the Index, with the three priority signals identified for your practice and a written recommendation on whether retained engagement is appropriate.

Begin the cosmetic Audit