Patients Are Asking for Retatrutide. That Doesn't Mean Your Med Spa Should Be Selling It.
The real GLP-1 opportunity for aesthetic practices may not be selling the drug at all.
If you own an aesthetic practice, there is a good chance someone has already asked you about retatrutide in your med spa: Maybe it was a patient, maybe it was an employee who saw it on TikTok, or likely it was a pharmacy rep, peptide company or wellness vendor telling you they have access to the “next big thing” in medical weight loss.
And because patients are asking for it, there is an understandable temptation to think:
Should we be offering this?
Before you start building the landing page, pricing the program or asking your medical director to write an order, there is a much more important question:
Can you legally and appropriately offer it in the first place?
Right now, when it comes to retatrutide, the answer should make practice owners stop and pay attention.
Retatrutide Isn't Just the Newest Version of Semaglutide
Retatrutide has generated enormous excitement because of promising clinical trial results and its potential as another major advancement in obesity treatment.
But there is a very important distinction between an exciting investigational drug and an FDA-approved medication available for routine patient treatment.
As of August 2026, retatrutide is still investigational and is not FDA approved.
Even more importantly for medical spas and wellness practices, the FDA currently states that retatrutide cannot be used in compounding under federal law. The agency also notes that retatrutide is not a component of an FDA-approved drug and has not been found safe and effective for any condition.
That should be a fairly significant speed bump before a practice decides to add it to the menu.
Yet demand has created a market anyway.
On August 12, Eli Lilly filed six lawsuits against U.S. businesses it alleges were selling unauthorized versions of retatrutide. Those defendants included a compounding pharmacy, peptide sellers and a medical spa. Lilly says it has also referred hundreds of entities to regulators and law enforcement regarding allegedly illegal retatrutide sales.
This is no longer a hypothetical compliance conversation.
An aesthetic practice is now literally part of the retatrutide litigation story.
“But My Pharmacy Says They Can Get It” Is Not Due Diligence
This is where I think practice owners have to become much more sophisticated. The aesthetic industry moves incredibly fast.
A new peptide trends - A new medication appears - A rep says everybody is offering it- Patients start requesting it - Someone sends you a price sheet.
Suddenly the conversation becomes, “What should we charge?” before anyone has stopped to ask, “What exactly are we buying?”
That sequence is backwards.
One of the most dangerous assumptions an owner can make is that because a product is available for purchase, someone else must have already established that it is appropriate for your practice to use.
THEY HAVEN'T!!!
Just because a pharmacy is telling you it can supply something does not replace your own due diligence. Neither does a vendor telling you other practices are using something make it compliant.
Seeing other med spas advertise something on Instagram does not create a legal precedent.
And having a medical director sign an order does not automatically erase every regulatory issue associated with that medication.
Availability is not the same thing as legality. Popularity is not the same thing as approval. And patient demand is not a clinical or regulatory standard.
That applies well beyond retatrutide.
Stop Treating Every Patient Request Like a New Revenue Stream
This is the bigger business problem I see. Aesthetic practice owners have become conditioned to react to trends.
A patient asks for something.
A competitor adds something.
A vendor launches something.
And immediately the question becomes:
“How do we sell it too?”
That isn't strategy. That's chasing. A that certainly doesn't provide the differentiation strategy that I always preach to my clients (or that I just recently spent 2 hours discussing on this webinar: https://vimeo.com/1221663965)
There will always be another peptide, injectable, device, skin treatment, weight-loss medication or regenerative buzzword coming down the pipeline.
Your job as the owner is not to become the fastest practice in town to put every trending treatment on your menu.
Your job is to determine whether the treatment is clinically appropriate, legally defensible, operationally executable, financially viable and strategically aligned with the practice you are trying to build.
Sometimes the smartest business decision is not adding the thing everyone is asking for.
And the GLP-1 market is actually a perfect example. Because I think many aesthetic practices are looking at the smallest piece of the opportunity.
The Real GLP-1 Opportunity for Med Spas Isn't Selling the Drug
Everyone has been fighting over who gets to prescribe the GLP-1. Meanwhile, there is an entire aesthetic patient journey developing after the weight comes off.
And that is where aesthetic practices should be paying very close attention.
Medical weight loss is changing what patients want from aesthetic medicine. Data released by Allergan Aesthetics earlier this year found that 67% of medical-weight-loss patients said their goals had shifted toward improving their appearance rather than focusing exclusively on weight loss.
40% were considering professionally administered aesthetic treatments. Clinicians identified facial volume loss as a significant concern, with nearly half reporting that medical-weight-loss patients could benefit most from hyaluronic acid fillers and biostimulators to address lost volume. We are also seeing increased consumer interest in skin tightening, collagen induction, energy-based treatments and post-weight-loss body contouring.
And just this week, Reuters reported on another emerging piece of the market: more men who have experienced substantial GLP-1-assisted weight loss are now seeking cosmetic procedures to address concerns such as loose skin, facial changes and hair loss.
Think about what that means from a practice strategy perspective. The GLP-1 patient may come through your doors concerned about weight.
But their journey may eventually include:
Facial volume changes
Skin laxity
Changes in skin quality
Collagen loss
Body laxity after significant weight reduction
Changes in facial proportions
Muscle loss or changes in body composition
Hair concerns
Long-term skin health
Maintenance treatments as their weight stabilizes
That is not a single transaction. That is a treatment journey.
And aesthetic practices are exceptionally well positioned to manage it.
The Practice That Wins the GLP-1 Boom May Not Be the One Selling the Most GLP-1
Imagine two practices.
Practice A sees GLP-1 patients primarily as a monthly medication revenue stream.
Get the patient in - Prescribe - Collect the monthly fee - Repeat.
Practice B understands the same patient very differently. Their team starts with a comprehensive consultation. They understand the patient's weight-loss goals and where they are in that process. They document baseline concerns. They educate the patient about how significant weight changes may affect facial volume, skin laxity, body composition and overall aesthetic goals.
Then they develop a long-term plan.
That plan might eventually incorporate, when clinically appropriate:
Collagen-stimulating treatments
RF microneedling
Radiofrequency skin tightening
Laser or energy-based skin rejuvenation
Resurfacing procedures
Biostimulatory or volumizing injectables
Medical-grade skincare
Body skin-tightening technologies
Muscle-stimulation treatments
Hair-restoration strategies
Surgical referral when nonsurgical treatment is no longer the appropriate answer
Now we aren't talking about selling someone a vial. We're talking about lifetime patient value. We're talking about comprehensive aesthetic treatment planning. We're talking about multiple providers within the practice appropriately participating in the patient's care.
We're talking about retention instead of constantly paying Meta and Google to acquire the next stranger.
We're talking about an actual business strategy.
Your Consultation Needs to Change Before Your Menu Does
If you want to take advantage of the GLP-1 transformation occurring in aesthetics, I would start somewhere very different than adding another medication.
Start with your consultation.
Does your injector only talk about injectables?
Does your laser provider only discuss lasers?
Does your weight-loss provider ever talk about what happens aesthetically as someone's body changes?
Does your front desk understand how one treatment category connects to another?
Can your team identify a patient who would benefit from a comprehensive treatment plan rather than simply selling the procedure that brought them through the door?
If the answer is no, adding another service isn't going to fix the problem.
It may just give you one more service your practice doesn't cross-sell effectively. A strong aesthetic practice should be able to look at the entire patient—not just today's appointment.
That does not mean turning every consultation into an aggressive sales pitch.
It means understanding where the patient is today, where they are trying to go and which combination of treatments may appropriately help them get there over time. There is an enormous difference.
Build the Infrastructure Before You Chase the Retatrutide Trend in Your Med Spa
If you currently provide medical weight loss—or you are considering entering the category—there are several questions I would want answered before focusing on the next medication everyone is talking about.
Do you understand exactly where your medications are coming from?
Have you independently verified the pharmacy and medication rather than relying solely on a salesperson's explanation?
Do you understand the difference between FDA-approved medications and compounded medications?
Does your medical director understand and actively oversee the program?
Have you evaluated your own state's prescribing, compounding and scope-of-practice requirements?
Are your consent forms, patient education, documentation and follow-up protocols appropriate?
Does your team understand when a patient's needs exceed the scope of your practice?
And strategically:
What happens to this patient after they lose the weight?
If you can't answer that question, you haven't built a medical-weight-loss strategy. You've built a medication program. Those are not the same thing.
The Retatrutide Story Should Be a Warning to Practice Owners
I don't think the lesson here is simply:
Don't sell retatrutide.
The bigger lesson is:
Stop allowing trends to make business decisions for you.
Retatrutide in a med spa will eventually either receive regulatory approval or it won't. New medications will follow it. New peptides will trend. New devices will launch. Patients will continue walking through your doors asking for things they discovered online.
That isn't going away.
What separates a sophisticated aesthetic business from one constantly chasing the next shiny object is the ability to stop and ask:
Is this appropriate for our patients?
Is this compliant?
Does this align with our practice?
Can we execute it well?
And is this actually where the opportunity is?
Because while everyone else is racing to advertise the newest drug, the most valuable GLP-1 opportunity for your aesthetic practice may already be sitting in your treatment room.
It's the patient who lost 50 pounds and suddenly doesn't recognize her face.
It's the patient who achieved his weight-loss goal but now wants to address loose skin.
It's the patient who doesn't need another fragmented treatment recommendation.
They need someone who understands the entire transformation.
The future of the GLP-1 patient in aesthetics isn't one prescription.
It's a comprehensive treatment journey.
And that is where aesthetic practices should be exceptionally good.
Ready to stop chasing individual services and start building a comprehensive practice strategy? Book a consultation with Apex Aesthetic Consulting HERE!
Rebecca Landriault CEO, Apex Aesthetic Consulting
Apex Aesthetic Consulting helps aesthetic practice owners build the operational systems, treatment strategies, team training and business infrastructure required to turn individual services into sustainable practice growth.
This article is intended for general business and educational purposes and is not legal or medical advice. Regulations involving prescribing, compounding and medical practice vary by jurisdiction. Practice owners should consult qualified health care counsel and their applicable licensing boards regarding their individual circumstances.
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