Australian Cosmetic Medicine Conferences 2026: A Clinician's Calendar

If you're practising cosmetic medicine in Australia and trying to plan your CPD, conference travel or educational content for the rest of the year, here's the national calendar of scientific meetings that matter — what's already come and gone, and what's still worth booking.

A few things worth saying up front:

Most of these events are multidisciplinary. You'll see dermatologists, plastic and cosmetic surgeons, cosmetic physicians, nurses and dermal clinicians at nearly all of them. I've weighted this list toward scientific and educational meetings rather than industry-sponsor product launches. And under the current AHPRA framework, CPD hours from these events contribute meaningfully to your annual requirements.

What you've already missed

If you're reading this in April, two of the year's major meetings have wrapped:

COSMEDICON 2026 ran 5–7 March at the InterContinental Double Bay in Sydney. This was the final year under Bella Media's stewardship before the event moves to Prime Creative Media and the Hyatt Regency Sydney for 25–27 February 2027. Around 450 delegates attended. If you normally attend COSMEDICON, worth putting next year's dates in your diary now — the venue change and new operator will likely mean a different character to the event.

ASCPD Symposium 2026 ran 20–22 March at Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne, curated by Professor Greg Goodman AM and Dr Will Cranwell. On-demand registration is typically still available after the live event, and the 2026 program covered advanced botulinum toxin techniques, off-label toxin uses, skin and tissue changes related to GLP-1 weight-loss medications, regenerative filler approaches, and a strong compliance stream. Worth checking ascpd.org.au if you want to catch up.

What's still to come

May — ACD ASM 58

16–18 May · Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre

The Australasian College of Dermatologists' 58th Annual Scientific Meeting. Primarily dermatology-focused, but the cosmetic streams are strong, and if you do derm-adjacent work (pigmentation, acne scarring, rosacea, skin cancer screening in cosmetic patients) this is a useful meeting. The 2026 program features a collaboration with the Japanese Dermatological Association, bringing international faculty including Professor Manabu Fujimoto from Osaka University.

June — Non-Surgical Symposium (NSS)

5–7 June · ICC Sydney

If you only attend one meeting in 2026, make it this one.

NSS is the largest injector-focused conference in Australasia, run by the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, with 17+ hours of CPD across injectables, energy-based devices, skin science, consultation technique, business and regulatory compliance. In a year when the AHPRA cosmetic procedures guidelines continue to bed down, the compliance stream alone is worth the price of entry.

One practical note: the Anatomy for Injectors (AFI) pre-course unlocks a 20% discount on NSS registration. You have to register for AFI first to get the code. If you register for NSS first, the discount is not applied retroactively and no refunds are given — a small but common trap.

August — Cosmetex 26 and the Cadaver Workshop

13–14 August · Paradox Sydney (Conference) 15 August · Sydney Eye Hospital (Cadaver Workshop)

Cosmetex is the Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery & Medicine's flagship conference. It has a more intimate, collegiate feel than NSS — fewer delegates, more opportunity to actually speak with faculty.

The cadaver workshop on the following day is where this event becomes unusually valuable. Participants inject colourised fillers into cadaveric tissue and then dissect to see exactly where their product ended up. There's also a structured session on practising hyalase injection in and around the supraorbital foramen, observing the effect of different dilutions. For any clinician doing mid- or upper-face work, this is as close as you'll get to objective, anatomically verified feedback on your technique — something you simply cannot get in normal clinical practice.

Places are capped at four delegates per specimen and the 2025 workshop was fully subscribed. Email admin@accsm.org.au to register interest now if this is on your list.

September–October — IFSCC Congress Perth

28 September – 1 October · Perth

Worth mentioning but not an injectables event. This is the International Federation of Societies of Cosmetic Chemists Congress — cosmetic formulation, actives, sustainability, and the first IFSCC held in Australia in 30 years. Relevant if you care about skincare science and cosmeceutical formulation. Skip if you don't.

November — ASAPS 2026

12–15 November · Gold Coast, QLD

The Australian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons' annual conference. Surgically oriented but consistently features strong non-surgical and injectable streams. The live cadaver facelift workshops are excellent if you want to deepen your anatomical understanding of the tissue planes you're treating with deep-plane fillers, biostimulators and thread lifts.

What I've deliberately left out

Industry-run masterclasses from Allergan, Galderma, Teoxane, Merz, Fresh Clinics and similar aren't on this list. They're often more practically useful than the scientific meetings — especially for product-specific injection technique — but they run constantly throughout the year and don't publish on a central calendar. Ask your product reps directly; they're generally happy to share the schedule.

I've also left off international meetings (IMCAS, AMWC, Aesthetic & Anti-Aging World Congress Monaco, etc.) that many Australian injectors attend. Happy to do a separate post on those if there's interest.

How I'd prioritise if you had to choose

1. NSS (5–7 June) — non-negotiable for practising injectors. Book your AFI and NSS registration now.
2. Cosmetex Cadaver Workshop (15 August) — unusual, honest feedback on technique. Email to register interest this week.
3. Cosmetex Conference (13–14 August) — if you enjoy smaller, collegiate meetings with the cadaver workshop as the capstone.
4. ACD ASM (16–18 May) — if you do derm-adjacent work or want a refresh on skin conditions outside cosmetic presentations.
5. ASAPS (12–15 November) — if you're surgically curious, want to round out the year, or enjoy a Gold Coast trip.

Early registration is worth the effort. NSS and the Cosmetex cadaver workshop are both capacity-constrained, and the AFI/NSS bundle discount requires you to book in the right order.

One closing thought

Conferences are not a substitute for deliberate practice, structured mentorship, or honest post-treatment review. They're good for exposure to ideas, peer calibration, and the kind of hallway conversations that surface what the published literature hasn't caught up with yet. Pick the ones that match where you are in your practice and what you're trying to get better at — and treat the rest as optional.

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Dr Rob is a cosmetic physician practising in Sydney. He co-hosts a fortnightly evidence-based cosmetic injectables podcast with Dr Scott. This post is educational in nature and does not constitute advertising of any therapeutic good or procedure under the AHPRA Guidelines for registered medical practitioners who perform cosmetic medical and surgical procedures.