L’Oréal derma chief: Consumer demand for aesthetic procedures drive cosmeceutical growth in APAC

The head of L’Oréal’s dermatological beauty division underscored her confidence that its cosmeceutical brands, such as La Roche Posay, Vichy and Skinceuticals will continue to have “phenomenal” ​growth in Asia Pacific.

“I believe will continue to see that growth. The growth is happening due to structural reasons. We are basically being pushed by big winds,” ​said Myriam Cohen-Welgryn, president of dermatological beauty, L’Oréal Group.

Over the quarter ending March 2023, the division posted a remarkable growth of 29.1% like-for-like, growing faster than the global dermocosmetics market.

Speaking at a press conference during the 25th World Congress of Dermatology (WCD 2023) held in Singapore, she elaborated that one of the key drivers was the progressive rise of medical aesthetic treatments among consumers.

“If you look at the most developed countries – in ​Korea, we know that procedures represent 70% of the total beauty market.”​

The French beauty giant estimated that around 300 million people have embraced the adoption of medical aesthetic procedures.

“You have a boom of consumers that are turning more and more to dermatologists to meet the very high demand of aesthetic performance. We now estimate that the pool of consumers that turn to them for procedures is likely to double and reach 600 million,” ​Cohen​-Welgryn said.​

L’Oréal-owned Skinceuticals, which claims to be the top medical aesthetic skin care brand globally, is pushing out new innovations that are catering to the evolution.

It is doing so by developing pre and post-treatment products that cater to top procedures like fillers, lasers, and microneedling.

“The quest for aesthetic performance that is happening is driven by the performance provided by procedures that more and more people want,” ​said Cohen​-Welgryn.​

Uptick in skin conditions

On the other hand, the cosmeceutical sector will continue to grow as more people experience skin conditions.

According to L’Oréal, more than two billion people are afflicted with skin conditions. Cohen​-Welgryn said this was an unfortunate consequence of a range of factors.​

During WCD 2023, Vichy unveiled new research on the impact of hormones on women’s skin and scalp. The findings from a survey of 20,000 women from 20 countries showed that three out of four women say skin problems are present or worsen during menstrual periods.

“There are many, many reasons. There’s stress, climate change, exposure to UV, urbanisation, and exposure to pollution. And there’s another element – population ageing. When one out of four people has skin conditions in a normal population, it's one out of two when you're above 65 years old.”​

She emphasised that the skin was a crucial barrier that protects us from external threats, including infections and allergens. As such, maintaining healthy skin was even more crucial for the ageing population.

“We know that those two levers will carry on and continue to push the growth,” ​Cohen-Welgryn concluded.