Somebody sends me a screenshot most weeks. It is a competitor advertising a per-unit price, and the question is always some version of the same thing: why is yours more?
The honest answer is that the two numbers are not comparable, and not in a marketing way. They are measuring different things.
What a unit actually is
A unit is not a fixed quantity of anything. Each manufacturer defines its own unit through its own potency assay. So twenty units of one product and twenty units of another are not the same amount of active product, and they will not do the same amount of work on the same forehead.
This is not a controversial point or a matter of opinion. It is how these products are standardised. It just does not survive being turned into a price-per-unit comparison chart.
Why that matters when you are shopping
If one practice quotes per unit and another quotes per area, you cannot line them up. And if two practices both quote per unit but carry different brands, you still cannot line them up. The number looks like it means something because it is a number, and it does not.
There is a second problem underneath it. When the price is per unit, the person deciding how many units you need is also the person whose revenue goes up with the count. I am not saying anyone is doing that deliberately. I am saying I would rather not build my pricing so that it is a question.
So I price by area
Xeomin is one figure for one area of twenty units. Dysport and Daxxify are each their own figure, fixed at your consultation. Two areas is exactly twice one area. The number does not move based on how the day is going.
The two-week follow-up is part of the price of your treatment, not an extra, and any adjustment I decide is needed at that visit is part of it too.
What to ask instead
- Which product is this, and why that one for this area?
- What is the total, today, for what we just agreed?
- What happens if I come back in two weeks and I do not like it?
Those three questions will tell you more about a practice than any per-unit figure.
Questions people ask about this
Is one brand stronger than another?
They behave differently rather than one being stronger. Dysport generally spreads a little more, which I tend to like across a forehead. Daxxify is peptide-stabilised and generally lasts longer. Xeomin is the most stripped-down of the three.
Why do you not carry the brand everyone has heard of?
There is a whole page on that, and the short version is that carrying it would change how the conversation goes.
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