Croatian entrepreneur Lino Marić talks about the medical devices industry

“The demand for non-surgical body sculpting has increased by 70% in comparison to last year.” 

Lino Marić, CEO and owner of the company Revelo, a regional leader of medical aesthetic devices, discusses his business in Croatia and the region, as well as trends in the beauty industry.

“When I started in 2009, the only capital I had was my enthusiasm and a vision.” Marić begins explaining.

A real breakthrough happened in 2011, when Bagatin Clinic bought the Med2Contour device from us. At the time, it was certainly the most expensive treatment in the domain of non-surgical body sculpting.

“There was no guarantee that our project would succeed when we started. One treatment would cost the end client around 1,800 kuna. It was an enormous financial risk, but we took the leap. We started a revolution thanks to the fact that we achieved results that could justify the price,” continues Marić.

Currently Revelo is expanding to the Serbian market, and in coming years Marić plans to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Kosovo, Albania and Greece.

“As experts in the field of medical aesthetic devices, all of our work is focused on providing our partners with state of the art equipment and know-how, as well as offering them after-sales support. In the long term, our goal is to meet the expectations of our end users,” says Marić, adding that the Croatian market is specific because clients want to see results immediately.

Revelo works exclusively with the private sector, including leading medical clinics, cosmetic surgery, dermatology and gynecology clinics, prestigious wellness centers and first-class cosmetic salons. The equipment is extremely expensive — we have a few devices that cost from 8,000 up to 130,000 euros. Currently, Revelo is waiting for the delivery of a device that stands at 230,000 euros.

“Previously, this market was exclusively medical, however, doctors saw that their reputations were sufficient for treatments to be offered within the private medical sector.” comments Marić.

“The task is not only to sell the devices, but also to have satisfied end users.” The market is changing and the end customers want to gather all the information they can in advance and know what the final result will be, so we regularly introduce new methods: video conferences, detailed treatment previews, and visual representations of patients from their first treatment to the last,” he continues.

The company’s core business is to procure first-rate devices, but due to close cooperation with medical clinics and other medical and aesthetic institutions in Croatia, Marić knows the local trends and what Croatians are asking for. The most common end clients are well-off, but Marić claims that there are more and more middle class clients.

“There are situations when a woman comes in and says she was planning to repaint her apartment, but has decided to invest in herself instead — prepare her body for the summer. The apartment will get repainted next year,” Marić laughs.

Although America seems like the promised land offering all the best aesthetic treatments, Marić claims that Croatia doesn’t lag far behind the aesthetic veil. “Our clients”, he says, “have much higher expectations. Abroad, I’ve found that people will not take out loans for such interventions, but because here clients are prone to doing so, their expectations are often much higher.” Recently, there was a competition for the top 10 dermatology clinics in Europe, and amongst them there were three Croatian medical centers which use 28 devices distributed by Revelo.

“We’re seeing a growth and strengthening of medical tourism. Croatia isn’t just a ‘country somewhere over there’ anymore, where people expect they’ll get inexpensive service. Now it’s clear that visitors can get first-class quality and a surreal price-performance ratio,” comments Marić, and adds, “This is the only industry that wasn’t affected by the recession.” 

Non-surgical body shaping is an absolute hit, and Marić puts a special emphasis on their only non-American device — Med Contour. In the past five years, it has been announced  one of the three most advanced methods at ten European medical clinics, three of which are in Croatia. Non-surgical body shaping grew 70 percent in comparison to last year.

“Younger people prefer to invest in themselves rather than buying material things,” states Marić.

In Croatia, the most popular body shaping treatment is removal of fat deposits, improving areas affected by cellulite, and skin tightening. Med Contour Multipower is the only device that can perform all three procedures.

“That means that if you’re undergoing a non-surgical thigh lift, you’re simultaneously reducing the volume of your legs, destroying cellulite, and tightening your skin,” Marić explains and adds that after the required five-session treatment, you’ll go down one to two confection sizes.

“However, the results do not depend only on the equipment, but also on the dedication of the person working with the equipment, so we put a lot of emphasis on training staff.”

Marić claims that in Croatia, people don’t want to be stigmatized as ‘that person who got plastic surgery done’. Socially, it’s much more acceptable to undergo treatment that doesn’t involve going under the knife.

Aesthetic interventions, whether surgical or non-surgical, are no longer tied to women alone. Marić notes that men are becoming more and more interested in aesthetic treatments. “Men are mostly trying to get rid of extra weight around the waist, but slowly, treating other areas is becoming more and more popular too. In any case, looks are becoming more important to men” Marić concludes.

Typically, those who have money have little time. Most of our end clients wouldn’t like to be absent from work, so non-surgical treatments cater to their desires. For example, non-surgical eyelid lifting done with the Plasmage Brera device takes only 20 minutes — and no recovery time. “Some patients will get a slight swelling,” Marić explains, adding that many Croatians don’t decide on this specific treatment because they’ve already done it surgically. New methods and devices are changing that.

Lino Marić, CEO and owner of Revelo, bringing non-surgical body-shaping devices that restore self-esteem to men and women in Croatia