AHPRA’s 7-Day Cooling Off Period for Cosmetic Procedures: What It Means

From 2 September 2025, registered health practitioners in Australia have been required to observe a mandatory 7-day cooling off period between an initial consultation and any cosmetic injectable procedure for clients under the age of 18. This is one of several significant changes introduced by AHPRA’s new guidelines for nonsurgical cosmetic procedures.

This article explains what the cooling off period is, who it applies to and why it was introduced, from the perspective of Corey Anderson at Core Aesthetics in Oakleigh.

What the Cooling Off Period Means in Practice

The cooling off period is a mandatory minimum waiting time. Even where a consultation has been completed, suitability has been assessed and the client wishes to proceed, no cosmetic injectable procedure can be performed within 7 days of that initial consultation for clients under 18 years of age. This is a hard rule under the new guidelines, not a recommendation or clinical suggestion.

For practitioners, this means booking systems and appointment scheduling must account for the waiting period as a minimum interval between a first consultation and any treatment appointment for younger clients. For clients under 18 and their families, it means understanding that the process has two distinct stages with a meaningful time gap between them.

Why the Cooling Off Period Was Introduced

The cooling off period reflects broader concerns within the AHPRA guidelines about the vulnerability of younger clients seeking cosmetic procedures. Adolescence involves a particularly complex relationship with body image and self perception. AHPRA’s guidelines note the importance of assessing a patient’s motivations and psychological circumstances as part of any cosmetic procedure consultation, and this is especially relevant for younger clients.

The cooling off period is designed to ensure that younger clients have genuine time and space between receiving clinical advice and committing to a procedure. It creates a structural pause rather than relying entirely on the consultation alone to assess whether a decision is well considered. During this period, clients can reflect, discuss the recommendation with trusted people, ask further questions of their practitioner and confirm that proceeding is the right choice for their individual situation.

Advertising to Under-18s Is Now Prohibited

Related to the cooling off period, the September 2025 guidelines also introduced a prohibition on advertising cosmetic procedures to individuals under 18. Higher risk cosmetic procedure advertising must now be designated as adult content on social media platforms. This is a direct regulatory response to the well documented reach of aesthetic content across social media to younger audiences and the influence this has had on expectations and demand for cosmetic procedures among adolescents.

For context on how the full advertising changes affect clinical practice, see our overview of the new AHPRA cosmetic guidelines for 2025.

The Consultation Requirement That Applies to All Clients

While the 7-day cooling off period applies specifically to under-18 clients, the broader consultation requirement introduced in the September 2025 guidelines applies to all clients regardless of age. Every cosmetic injectable prescription must now be based on a real time consultation conducted in person or via video. Asynchronous prescribing without a direct clinical assessment is no longer acceptable practice.

This means the quality of the consultation process matters for every client. At Core Aesthetics, the consultation is the foundation of every treatment decision and has always preceded any recommendation or prescription. Our overview of what happens at an injectables consultation explains how this process works at Core Aesthetics in detail.

Patient Safety as the Foundation

The cooling off period and the broader suite of changes in the September 2025 guidelines share a single underlying principle: patient safety must come before commercial interest. Core Aesthetics operates on exactly this basis. No treatment is recommended or administered without an honest individual assessment that prioritises what is clinically appropriate for each client, and where treatment is not appropriate that is exactly what a client is told.

Read more about how we approach safety and consent in our patient safety page and our guide to choosing a cosmetic clinic in Melbourne.

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General Information Only. This article is general in nature and does not replace a consultation with a qualified health practitioner. Treatment outcomes, suitability and risks vary by individual. Any medical or prescription treatment options can only be discussed and provided where clinically appropriate following an individual assessment.