Botox, fillers, HydraFacials five years ago these were things celebrities did and the rest of us pretended not to think about. Now your coworker’s getting her forehead done on a lunch break and nobody blinks. The market has exploded and clinics are everywhere, which is great for access but terrible for figuring out what you should actually be paying.
Pricing across med spas is chaos. Two clinics on the same street charge completely different amounts for identical treatments. Compare across countries and it gets worse. If you’ve been researching treatments in the UK or looking at a medspa in Austin, TX, the numbers below should clear things up. These are from real clinics with published pricing, not estimates or averages we pulled from thin air.
UK and Austin don’t even price the same way
This trips people up before they even compare numbers.
UK clinics almost always charge Botox by area. One area £200, two areas £280, three areas £350 — something along those lines. How many units of Botox go into each area is up to the injector based on your face, your muscle strength, what you want. But your bill stays predictable because you’re paying per zone, not per unit.
Austin med spas do the opposite. They charge per unit. You’ll see $11/unit or $14/unit on a website, and the total depends entirely on how many units your injector decides you need. Forehead alone might take 10 to 20 units. Crow’s feet add another 12 to 24. Frown lines could be 20 to 25 more. So your receipt reflects exactly what went into the treatment, which is transparent — but it also means you won’t have a firm number until someone’s looked at your face in person.
Neither approach is better or worse. Per-unit gives you granular visibility. Per-area gives you a number you can budget around before the appointment. Just know which system your clinic uses before booking so the bill doesn’t catch you off guard.
Botox numbers
UK first. A single area costs between £150 and £350. London is predictably expensive — £200 to £350 per area is normal for Central London clinics. Manchester is easier on the wallet at £150 to £280. Head up to Scotland or Wales and single-area treatments can dip to £120. Broken down by unit, UK clinics work out to about £10 to £15 per unit. Dr Chike Clinics publishes straightforward pricing: £180 for one area, £250 for two, £300 for three, with a two-week review included.
Austin has more spread. Per-unit pricing ranges from $9 to $16 across the city. Specific clinics: Viva Day Spa + Med Spa is $13.50/unit, with typical sessions running $350 to $650 total. milk + honey charges $14/unit in Austin. Maui MedSpa sits at $11/unit, $10 if you’ve got a membership . Skin Envy Austin does $10.99/unit. The Injection Room runs certain neurotoxins as low as $9/unit on their Toxin Thursday specials.
So what does a first-timer actually pay? Say you’re treating forehead, frown lines, and crow’s feet — three areas, probably 40 to 60 units total. In Austin, that’s roughly $400 to $750 depending on where you go and how many units your injector uses. In London, the same three areas would be about £300 to £450 at a reputable clinic. Outside London, more like £250 to £350.
Currency conversion makes them roughly comparable. Austin stretches wider at both ends though — you can find cheaper per-unit deals than anything in the UK, but you can also rack up a bigger bill if you need more units than average.
Fillers cost more in Austin
This is the one area where the UK, especially outside London, is meaningfully cheaper.
UK lip filler for 1ml of hyaluronic acid starts around £200 in Northern England (Newcastle, Leeds area) and climbs to £350 to £500+ at London premium clinics. Central England Birmingham, Manchester sits in the middle at roughly £250 to £450 . For broader dermal fillers (cheeks, jawline, tear troughs), UK pricing runs £200 to £600 per syringe depending on the product and how complex the area is.
Austin? Lip filler at Viva Day Spa + Med Spa is $700. Most Austin clinics charge $500 to $800+ per syringe for dermal fillers. Juvederm and Restylane dominate the market, and pricing varies by product line and treatment area.
A woman getting lip filler in Manchester for £280 is paying substantially less than someone getting the same 1ml treatment in Austin for $700 — even after you account for the exchange rate. London’s top-end clinics narrow that gap, but mid-range UK providers have a clear advantage on filler pricing.
Obviously, cost shouldn’t be the deciding factor when someone’s putting a needle near your mouth. A botched filler correction costs more — financially and otherwise — than paying extra for a skilled injector upfront.
HydraFacials are priced similarly everywhere
This one surprised us. Unlike injectables where geography creates real price gaps, HydraFacials land in roughly the same range whether you’re in Birmingham or downtown Austin.
In the UK, sk:n clinics starts HydraFacials at £135 for a single session, dropping to around £108 each if you buy a course. London clinics with premium add-ons LED therapy, custom serums, lymphatic drainage — push up to £200 to £300.
Austin’s Viva Day Spa + Med Spa sells series: three Glow & Go HydraFacials for $500 (roughly $167 each), three Deluxe for $625, three Platinum for $900. Single sessions at most Austin med spas run $150 to $300 depending on what tier you pick and what extras get added.
Entry-level pricing is a touch cheaper in the UK. Premium tiers are basically identical across both markets.
Peels and microneedling
UK chemical peels start from about £60 for a light glycolic and go up to £300+ for deeper medical-grade peels. Microneedling runs £100 to £350 per session, varying by device and whether PRP gets included.
Austin peels are $100 to $350. Microneedling is $200 to $400. Morpheus8 — the RF microneedling treatment that’s been all over social media — pushes significantly higher at Austin clinics, sometimes $800 to $1,200 per session for the premium version.
All the numbers in one place
| Treatment | UK | Austin, TX |
|---|---|---|
| Botox (per unit) | £10–£15 | $9–$16 |
| Botox (1 area) | £150–£350 | $250–$500 |
| Botox (3 areas) | £250–£450 | $400–$750 |
| Lip filler (1ml) | £200–£500 | $500–$700+ |
| Dermal filler (per syringe) | £200–£600 | $500–$800+ |
| HydraFacial | £108–£300 | $150–$300 |
| Chemical peel | £60–£300 | $100–$350 |
| Microneedling | £100–£350 | $200–$400 |
Numbers are from published 2025 clinic pricing. What you actually pay depends on the clinic, your provider, the product brand, and how much product your treatment needs.
Who’s holding the needle matters more than what they charge
Something most people in the UK don’t know: Botox has to be prescribed by a qualified medical professional, but there is literally no legal restriction on who can inject it. Anyone — qualified or not, registered or not — can legally stick a needle in your face. That’s not an exaggeration. Cosmedics Skin Clinics flags this directly on their own website. Some unqualified providers operate entirely through Instagram with no clinic at all.
Texas med spas work under medical director oversight. Injections are done by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or physicians. A solid medspa in Austin, TX will have licensed medical professionals on every treatment, clinical protocols in writing, and proper emergency procedures if something goes sideways.
A few things that separate decent clinics from dodgy ones, regardless of country: they include a follow-up appointment in the price (Botox needs checking at two weeks), they’ll tell you no if a treatment won’t suit your face, they use genuine products from manufacturers you’ve heard of (Allergan, Galderma — not unmarked vials), and they don’t push you to book a procedure the same day you walked in for a consultation.
Most reputable med spas offer free consultations in both markets. Thirty minutes of someone’s time to get a personalised quote and meet the person who’d be treating you. There’s no reason not to use that before committing to anything.