Introduction. Cosmetology is one of the fastest growing branches of medicine. Despite the rapid growth of the beauty industry, there are still conflicting scientific data on how to distinguish cosmetic services related to medical from cosmetic. It seems appropriate to additionally conduct a critical analysis of the literature data, the opinions of scientists in order to study the strengths and weaknesses of the organization of cosmetology care in the Russian Federation. Purpose: to study the formation and development of the cosmetology industry by reviewing the literature on the subject for a better understanding of current trends in cosmetology in Russia. Materials and methods. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research are scientific works, theoretical and methodological developments and current publications of domestic and foreign scientists. A review of the scientific literature has been carried out, which includes publications, qualitative research, questionnaire surveys. A comprehensive analysis of the selected publications was carried out using the analytical method and the content analysis method. Results and discussion. The analysis made it possible to distribute the literature data obtained in three key areas: historical background; the formation of cosmetology as a medical industry; medical and organizational aspects of improving medical care for the population with diseases and age-related skin changes. Cosmetology became a separate medical specialty at the beginning of the XXI century, its formation over the previous thirty years actively took place on the basis of dermatovenerology, and its separation into a separate specialty, in fact, only completed a long-term stage of development. Conclusions. In a short period of time cosmetology has formed into an independent branch of medical science, and today it is a large, promising, dynamic and very versatile discipline that actively integrates with other medical specialties and incorporates the latest achievements of science. However, to date, unified approaches to the organization of the activities of cosmetology medical organizations have not been developed, taking into account international experience and domestic practice; they require solving the problem of personnel training; many problems of ensuring the quality and safety of medical interventions in this area of activity remain unresolved.