Conferencia de resultados del 3T de 2026 de Apyx Medical (APYX): AYON impulsa un crecimiento del 17% en estética quirúrgica

Puntos clave

• Los ingresos del tercer trimestre de 2026 aumentaron un 9% interanual hasta los 14,0 millones de dólares, impulsados por las ventas de AYON en Estados Unidos y el crecimiento de Renuvion a escala internacional.
• Los ingresos de Surgical Aesthetics aumentaron un 17% hasta los 13,0 millones de dólares, mientras que los ingresos de OEM cayeron un 41,5% hasta los 1,1 millones de dólares. Surgical Aesthetics creció más de un 26% en los primeros nueve meses de 2026.
• El EBITDA ajustado mejoró hasta los 0,4 millones de dólares, frente a una pérdida de EBITDA ajustado de 0,1 millones de dólares. La dirección también señaló que la empresa logró un EBITDA positivo en términos acumulados durante los últimos 12 meses.
• Apyx Medical reafirmó su previsión de ingresos para todo el año 2026 de entre 59 y 60 millones de dólares y redujo su objetivo de gastos operativos a una horquilla de entre 41 y 42,5 millones de dólares, frente a los menos de 45 millones de dólares anteriores.
• La dirección describió PowerLipo como un catalizador importante para la adopción de AYON. Aproximadamente el 75% de las ventas de AYON correspondieron a clientes actuales de Renuvion y el 25% a clientes nuevos para Apyx.
• El efectivo y equivalentes de efectivo sumaron 25,8 millones de dólares al 30 de septiembre de 2026. El uso trimestral de efectivo operativo se redujo a 1,6 millones de dólares frente a los 3,5 millones del año anterior.

Datos financieros clave

Rendimiento comercial y operativo

AYON y Renuvion se mantuvieron como los principales motores de crecimiento. AYON se benefició del lanzamiento comercial de PowerLipo, que utiliza una cánula reciprocante para facilitar la extracción de grasa al tiempo que reduce el esfuerzo físico de los cirujanos. Apyx estima que aproximadamente el 70% de los cirujanos plásticos utilizan liposucción asistida por potencia.

PowerLipo se integró en el diseño de cada sistema AYON. Su activación requiere una actualización de software y la compra de una pieza de mano y una cánula. La dirección señaló que los pedidos iniciales pendientes se habían completado hacia finales del tercer trimestre, y que los sistemas AYON recién adquiridos ya pueden incluir PowerLipo.

La adopción también se está ampliando en toda la plataforma. La dirección afirmó que algunos cirujanos que anteriormente solo utilizaban liposucción asistida por potencia están incorporando la capacidad de liposucción ultrasónica de AYON. Entre los nuevos clientes de Apyx, las compras de piezas de mano indican la adopción de Renuvion dentro del flujo de trabajo integrado.

Los ingresos internacionales crecieron un 22%, y la dirección destacó el primer año de comercialización de Renuvion en Corea. Actualmente, AYON solo se vende en Estados Unidos. Apyx está gestionando los registros en Europa, Oriente Medio, Brasil, Colombia y México, aunque la dirección no facilitó plazos de aprobación.

La evidencia clínica sigue formando parte de la estrategia comercial. Un estudio prospectivo de Renuvion contó con siete pacientes sometidos a estiramiento facial, de los cuales seis completaron el seguimiento a seis meses. El tejido tratado mostró una densidad de fibras de elastina un 30% mayor y un 34% menos de inflamación que las áreas de control no tratadas, al tiempo que los seis pacientes notificaron una mejora en la calidad de la piel y satisfacción.

La dirección también considera que la continua adopción de tratamientos con GLP-1 representa una oportunidad a largo plazo, ya que los pacientes que experimentan una pérdida sustancial de peso pueden buscar tratamiento para la flacidez cutánea y la grasa residual. Esto sigue siendo una evaluación de la dirección y no una previsión financiera oficial.

Previsiones de la dirección

Apyx Medical reafirmó las siguientes perspectivas para todo el año 2026:

La dirección espera que las ventas tanto de equipos de capital como de piezas de mano sean sólidas en el cuarto trimestre, señalando que el 4T suele registrar el mayor volumen de procedimientos y es el trimestre más fuerte del año para la empresa en venta de equipos de capital.

Riesgos y factores a vigilar

• Los ingresos de OEM continuaron contrayéndose debido a un menor volumen de ventas a clientes existentes, y la dirección prevé que los ingresos del segmento disminuyan en el conjunto del año.
• Las ventas en el mercado nacional de generadores independientes y las ventas globales de piezas de mano de un solo uso disminuyeron durante el tercer trimestre, lo que compensó parcialmente el crecimiento de AYON y de los generadores a escala internacional.
• El margen bruto disminuyó ligeramente debido a que las ventas internacionales representaron una mayor proporción de los ingresos y a que la combinación de productos cambió dentro de ambos segmentos.
• Las comparaciones en el mercado nacional para el cuarto trimestre se ven afectadas por el calendario de lanzamiento de AYON en 2025. Los sistemas preventados a partir de mayo de 2025 se concentraron en envíos durante los últimos cuatro meses de dicho año.
• La expansión internacional de AYON depende de los registros regulatorios, para los cuales la dirección no facilitó plazos definitivos.

Puntos destacados de la sesión de preguntas y respuestas con analistas

Rentabilidad y gasto: La dirección atribuyó la mejora de la rentabilidad al crecimiento de los ingresos en combinación con la disciplina de gastos. Las inversiones necesarias para el lanzamiento comercial completo de AYON están contempladas en el plan actual, mientras la empresa sigue dando prioridad a alcanzar la rentabilidad.

Recorrido de crecimiento de AYON: La dirección prevé que AYON continúe siendo un motor de crecimiento durante varios años. La plataforma se encuentra todavía en una fase temprana de su despliegue en Estados Unidos, mientras que los futuros registros internacionales podrían ampliar su mercado direccionable.

Composición de clientes y adopción: Alrededor del 75% de las ventas de AYON correspondieron a clientes existentes de Renuvion y el 25% a nuevos clientes para Apyx. La dirección citó los resultados clínicos, la eficiencia de los procedimientos, los flujos de trabajo integrados y la rentabilidad para las clínicas como catalizadores de la adopción.

Oportunidad internacional: La dirección afirmó que el uso de la liposucción asistida por potencia fuera de Estados Unidos es en gran medida similar. En Europa y otros mercados, los procedimientos hospitalarios y los equipos médicos multidisciplinarios podrían beneficiarse de la capacidad de AYON para admitir hasta cuatro funciones simultáneas. La empresa también aprecia potencial en los procedimientos reconstructivos, un mercado al que históricamente no se había dirigido con Renuvion.

Comparaciones para 2027: La dirección señaló que las comparaciones interanuales deberían resultar más favorables en 2027, después de que Apyx supere la concentración de envíos asociada al lanzamiento inicial de AYON en 2025.

Transcripción completa de la llamada de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

[Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Jeremy Feffer from LifeSci Advisors. Please go ahead.

Jeremy Feffer

Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to our third quarter 2026 earnings call. Representing the company on the call are Charlie Goodwin, Chief Executive Officer, and Matt Hill, Chief Financial Officer of Apyx. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that our remarks and responses to your questions today may contain forward-looking statements that are based on the current expectations of management and involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated, including, without limitation, those identified in the Risk Factors section of our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, our most recent 10-Q filing, and the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such factors may be updated from time to time in our filings with the SEC, which are available on our website. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise our forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

This call will also include references to certain financial measures that are not calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. We generally refer to these as non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP are available in the earnings press release on the Investor Relations portion of our website.

I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Charlie Goodwin, Apyx Medical's President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.

Charles Goodwin

Thank you, Jeremy, and thank you all for joining us today. Per our usual format on these quarterly calls, I will begin with a review of our performance over the past several months, and then turn the call over to Matt for a review of our third quarter 2026 financial results, along with our guidance for the full year 2026. We will then open the call for your questions. Let me begin with a review of a few key highlights from our third quarter 2026 performance. We delivered another quarter of strong year-over-year growth with total revenue of $14 million, an increase of 9% compared with the third quarter of 2025. Growth was driven primarily by sales of AYON in the United States and Renuvion outside the United States, reflecting continued demand for our body contouring technologies. For the 3 and 9 months ended September 30, 2026, our Surgical Aesthetics segment grew over 17% and 26%, respectively, as compared to the same periods last year.

We are pleased by the progress we have made with AYON in the 1 year since its full commercial launch. During this time, we have continued to build awareness of the platform and demonstrate the value of bringing fat removal, closed-loop contouring, Renuvion tissue contraction, and electrosurgical capabilities together in 1 integrated system. We are building on a foundation with the broader commercial rollout of AYON's power liposuction capability consistent with the plans we outlined last quarter. Power liposuction uses a reciprocating cannula to support more efficient fat removal while reducing the physical effort required of the surgeon. We estimate approximately 70% of plastic surgeons use power liposuction, making this an important addition that broadens AYON's appeal. Therefore, the recent clearance and commercial launch of power liposuction was a pivotal catalyst in driving AYON's adoption. While the rollout remains in the early stages, feedback from surgeons has been very positive.

PowerLipo was designed directly into every AYON, and activation requires only a simple software update and the purchase of the handpiece and cannula. Clinicians can seamlessly deploy the full clinical AYON solution with no downtime. The legacy liposuction products on the market haven't moved the needle on safety and efficacy in 2 decades. The AYON system was designed by surgeons to specifically close these clinical gaps. By embedding next-generation safety and workflow optimization into a single, elegant system, we believe AYON establishes a new benchmark for surgical performance. It is uniquely positioned to be the global standard of care for plastic surgeons. Renuvion remains central to our strategy, both as a standalone system and as an integrated part of AYON. Its tissue contraction capability complements fat removal, helping surgeons address skin laxity that remains after liposuction or significant weight loss.

Continued demand for AYON and Renuvion reflects the value surgeons see in having these complementary technologies available for their patients. Our commercial strategy is supported by our continued commitment to building clinical evidence. Last quarter, we discussed studies reporting higher patient satisfaction and lower rates of abdominoplasty and surgical revision with Renuvion plus liposuction compared with liposuction alone, as well as improvements in cellulite appearance and skin laxity following combined Avéli and Renuvion treatment. In September, we added to this evidence with a prospective study evaluating Renuvion's effect on biological markers associated with skin quality published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery – Global Open. The study enrolled 7 patients undergoing facelift surgery with 6 completing the 6-month follow-up. Tissue analysis at the visit showed 30% greater elastin fiber density and 34% less inflammation in treated tissue compared to untreated control areas. All 6 patients reported improvements in skin quality and satisfaction with their outcomes.

These findings add direct human tissue evidence supporting the improvements surgeons and patients have observed with Renuvion and reinforce the value of evaluating tissue quality alongside tissue contraction. We believe this is an important consideration in body contouring where achieving the desired results depends not only on removing the fat, but also addressing the quality and laxity of the skin that remains. Looking ahead, the continued adoption of GLP-1 medications is reshaping the body contouring patient population and creating what we believe is a meaningful long-term opportunity for our business. While these therapies are helping a growing number of patients achieve substantial weight loss, many are left with loose or lax skin and residual areas of fat that they want to address. As these patients reach or approach their target weight, we believe many will seek procedures that address these concerns more comprehensively. By combining advanced fat removal with Renuvion's tissue contraction capabilities, Apyx positions us to help surgeons meet these needs. Our focus remains on transitioning this opportunity into broader adoption through continued commercial execution.

Before I turn the call over to Matt, I want to recognize the Apyx team. We have successfully achieved our product development, regulatory, and sales goals, all while maintaining strict cost discipline. To that end, I am pleased to report that on a cumulative trailing 12-month basis, the company has achieved positive EBITDA. Now I will turn the call over to Matt for a review of our third quarter 2026 financial results in more detail along with our financial guidance for 2026.

Matthew Hill

Thanks, Charlie. Before I get started, please note that all references to our third quarter financial results will be on a GAAP and a year-over-year basis unless noted otherwise. As Charlie mentioned, total revenue for the third quarter of '26 increased 9% to $14 million compared to $12.9 million in the prior year period. Revenue for the Surgical Aesthetics segment increased 17% or $1.9 million, to $13 million, compared to $11.1 million for the prior year period. This growth was driven by sales of AYON as we commenced our commercial launch in the third quarter of '25 and increased sales of generators internationally. These increases were partially offset by decreases in domestic sales of standalone generators and sales of single-use handpieces globally. Turning to the OEM segment, sales decreased 41.5% or approximately $0.7 million, to $1.1 million, for the third quarter of '26 compared to $1.8 million for the third quarter of '25. The decrease in OEM sales was due to a decrease in sales volume to existing customers.

With the increased focus on Surgical Aesthetics, we expect OEM segment revenue will decrease for the year. Domestic revenue increased 4% year-over-year to $9.7 million, and international revenue increased 22% year-over-year to $4.3 million for the third quarter of 2026. Gross profit for the third quarter of '26 increased 9% to $9 million, compared with $8.3 million in the prior year period. Gross profit margin for the third quarter of '26 decreased to 64.2% compared to 64.4% in the prior year period. The decrease is primarily attributable to geographic mix with international sales comprising a higher percentage of total sales and product mix within both the Surgical Aesthetics and OEM segments. These decreases were partially offset by an increase due to mix between our segments with Surgical Aesthetics comprising a higher percentage of total sales.

Operating expenses increased to $9.6 million for the third quarter of '26 compared to $9.1 million for the prior year period. The increase was mostly driven by a $0.4 million increase in salaries and related costs and a $0.2 million increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses, which was partially offset by a $0.2 million decrease in professional services.

Loss from operations was $0.6 million, compared with a loss from operations of $0.8 million for the third quarter of 2025. Net loss attributable to shareholders was $1.8 million, or $0.04 per share, for the third quarter of '26, compared with $2 million or $0.05 per share in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA was $0.4 million for the third quarter of '26, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $0.1 million for the third quarter of '25. As a reminder, we provided detailed reconciliation from net loss attributable to stockholders to non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA in our earnings press release.

For the 3 months ended September 30, 2026, net cash used in operating activities was $1.6 million compared to $3.5 million used in the prior year period. The decrease was primarily due to changes in working capital, combined with a reduction in net loss. As of September 30, 2026, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $25.8 million.

We have maintained a solid cash position, managing to an average cash burn of approximately $2 million a quarter this year, providing substantial flexibility to support our ongoing operations and execute our strategic plan. As you can see from our financial performance, we're very focused on growing the top line while prudently holding the line on operating expenses. Our continued focus on operating discipline, cash management, and financial performance positions us to navigate our upcoming obligations while maintaining our commitment to long-term value creation.

Turning to our 2026 guidance, we're reaffirming our full-year revenue guidance in the range of $59 million to $60 million compared with $52.8 million reported for the year ended December 31, 2025. Our guidance continues to assume Surgical Aesthetics segment revenue in the range of $54 million to $55 million, compared with approximately $45.3 million for 2025, and OEM revenue of approximately $5 million, compared with approximately $7.5 million for 2025. In addition, we now expect gross margins in the range of 63% to 64% and updated our total operating expense targets in the range of $41 million to $42.5 million for the full year. Previously, we stated operating expenses would be less than $45 million.

This completes our prepared remarks. Charlie and I will now open the call for questions. Operator.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Alex Fuhrman with Loop Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Preguntas y respuestas

Alex Fuhrman

Can you talk a little bit more about the lower operating expense target for the year and what's driving the improved profitability here? Obviously, it sounds like very strong demand here, especially with the addition of power lipo here, but would love to get a better understanding of the improved profitability here as well.

Charles Goodwin

Yes. No, I appreciate the question. Look, we've stated that we want to get this business to profitability as quickly as we can, and we're very proud of the effort that the team has put forward. For the last trailing 4 quarters, we're actually EBITDA positive. And so we've done a very good job of growing the top line, but also managing the bottom line. And you're seeing the growth go straight to the bottom line, and that's why you get the improvement. We had always stated at the beginning of the year that we weren't going to spend more than $45 million, and obviously through the first 3 quarters, we're way under that. And so now we just tightened that range of what we will spend between now and the end of the year.

Alex Fuhrman

Okay, that's really helpful. And then, obviously, not trying to get you to give us formal guidance for next year or anything, but just can you give us a little bit of understanding of just how to frame up where you are in the rollout of the new all-in-one system? Is that expected to be a continued tailwind into the first half of next year?

Charles Goodwin

Well, I would say that the tailwind for all-in-one is for multiple years. Remember, we're just getting started in the United States. We actually just got PowerLipo out to everybody that had bought it. And so we think that AYON will have growth for a lot of years to come. And the other side of that is right now we are only selling it in the United States. And obviously we're working on registration in a lot of the key markets outside the United States and would expect to have those at some point to be able to start selling AYON on a worldwide basis. Doctors all over the world are seeing AYON at the show. They're talking about it. They're hearing about it. And, you know, we're just excited to get it registered and to get it out there.

Alex Fuhrman

Yes, that'll be really exciting to see that. Thank you, Charlie, and congratulations again on the strong results.

Charles Goodwin

Thanks, Alex.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Sam Eiber with BTIG. Please go ahead.

Sam Eiber

Maybe just following up on that last question, are there any key markets we should be looking out for in terms of timelines when AYON might get the necessary regulatory approvals? I know Renuvion has been doing well in certain markets, but curious if you're able to give us any timelines on AYON and some of the larger OUS markets you play in today.

Charles Goodwin

Yes, timelines. The answer to that is no. Obviously, when we get registration in some of these key areas, we'll obviously let the market know if it's important. But obviously the markets that we were really after and really want right away are obviously Europe, the Middle East, and then key countries in Latin America. And those key countries in Latin America are namely Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico.

Sam Eiber

Okay, very good. Fair enough. And then maybe I can just use a follow-up question here on what's resonating maybe more with some of the doctors that have adopted AYON at this point. Is it more so the clinical benefits that they're seeing? Is it the economics on the faster procedures and greater patient throughput? Or maybe it's a combination of the two, but curious what you're hearing from the field.

Charles Goodwin

Yes, it's all of the above. Doctors are really noticing the technological advances in the liposuction, and the doctors that see it and have it are talking a lot about it. They are seeing that their patients actually recover faster because they have less bruising and less downtime from traditional lipo that they were using before. And so there's definitely that clinical aspect of it, and having the integrated system for fat transfer and everything else is key to them. And there are doctors that are using it to actually bring in new patients and talk to patients that they've got the latest and greatest technology and are able to either convert more patients into having procedures with them or even in some cases charging more for those procedures because they're using the latest and greatest technology. And then there's the whole efficiency piece for the doctors and their teams where they're able to save time and do that. And so Apyx has a lot of drivers for the doctors, their patients, and their practices.

It's now our job on the commercial side to make sure that everybody understands that—the doctors themselves, their staff, and the patients also. So we've still got work to do from a worldwide basis, but we are even more excited as we sit here today that we think that AYON will be the standard of care for body contouring all over the world. It really is being received that well in the field.

Sam Eiber

Okay, very good. Thanks for taking the questions, guys.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Tollef Kohrman with Craig-Hallum. Please go ahead.

Tollef Kohrman

So for AYON growth, how much of that was competitive conversions? And then for my second question, could you speak to the pipeline of PowerLipo? Thank you very much.

Charles Goodwin

Yes, so I'll do the second one first. So PowerLipo, we were able to fill all the orders of PowerLipo just within the end of this last quarter. So everybody that had a PowerLipo system could actually get their handpiece, at least 1 of them. And I think now we've been able to get everybody all of theirs since then. And now is the first time that if you actually bought an AYON today, you could actually get PowerLipo with it. Okay. So that's the first one. As far as new customers, if you look at where we've done so far, about 75% of our AYON sales have been to existing Renuvion customers and about 25% to brand-new customers that have never been part of Apyx.

Tollef Kohrman

Great. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Danny Stauder with Citizens JMP. Please go ahead.

Daniel Stauder

I wanted to ask on fourth quarter, how should we be thinking about capital versus handpiece mix in terms of what's implied for fourth quarter sales? And as we think out to 2027, what's a good way to frame that, just considering some of the puts and takes we saw in 2026? Thank you.

Charles Goodwin

Yes, so if you look at handpieces in particular, it's always tough to look at it on a quarter-by-quarter basis. We obviously look at it on a year-by-year basis because it depends on whether some large customers when they place their order to where it is. And so for the first 3 quarters from a handpiece perspective, we're right where we thought we were going to be, and we would expect Q4 obviously to be a very good handpiece quarter because that's where the greatest number of procedures are done in Q4 as opposed to Q3. So we think that Q4 will be a good handpiece quarter as well as a good capital quarter. It's always our best capital quarter. And so we're looking for both of those things to happen.

As far as the comparison in Q4, remember that last year we started pre-selling AYON in May when we got approval. And so we were selling AYONs basically for over half of a year, and we didn't actually ship those AYONs until Q3 and Q4. So from a comparison basis, there were 6 months of sales that were put into the last quarter, basically. So from a comparison, it's not an apple-to-an-apple comparison on a regular quarter, but that's the last quarter of this. And then as we move into '27, obviously the comparisons will be a lot easier to go after.

Daniel Stauder

That's really helpful. Thank you. And then just 1 follow-up on some of the terms of the international opportunity. Just in terms of AYON, could you talk about those markets? I mean, is that 70% of plastic surgeons using power lipo, is that consistent abroad? And is there any reason that AYON might be more or less attractive in some of these international markets, just depending on the different trends and idiosyncratic characteristics there? Thank you.

Charles Goodwin

Yes, no, it's a good question because there are some differences there. Power lipo is about the same. That is not different. But what is different in Europe especially and in various other countries is a lot of the liposuctions are done in the hospital setting and done by teams of doctors. And that makes Apyx even that much more of a value to the doctors and their teams because of the simultaneous activation. Remember, you can do up to 4 things at the same time with AYON. So that simultaneous activation is a huge benefit in places like Europe where doctors and their teams do that. The other side of it, too, is because they're done in the hospital, a lot of the reconstructive doctors can be using AYON also. And that is an area that, quite honestly, they weren't really using Renuvion before. Now they're going to get exposure to Renuvion, too, on the reconstructive market. And so the reconstructive market is obviously an upside for us all over the world because it's really not a market that we have called on before. So there are some differences outside the United States because of where the body contouring procedures are done.

Daniel Stauder

Great. Thanks so much for the question. Thank you.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Yi Chen with H.C. Wainwright. Please go ahead.

Yi Chen

Good morning, this is Katie on for Yi. Thinking about AYON, for the systems that were installed earlier in the launch, do you find that customers are adopting the full workflow or selectively using different pieces of it, using Renuvion tissue contraction in a greater proportion of their cases? And what kind of gives you a clue that one of these customers is going to be a broader utilizer versus more selective?

Charles Goodwin

Yes, so the answer to that is yes, more doctors are using the full suite of AYON, where we're seeing that especially is on the 2 different liposuctions. There's a lot of doctors that only used power liposuction and didn't have ultrasonic liposuction, and now we're seeing them use the ultrasonic liposuction also because it is a great tool for them to use in these procedures. So we are seeing that. As far as the Renuvion usage, as I stated earlier, about 75% of the AYONs that we've sold have been to Renuvion customers, and obviously they were using Renuvion before, and so that utilization is basically the same that it was. But where we are obviously seeing an uptick in Renuvion and them using the whole system is into the 25% of those that are new customers, new to Apyx. And we know that they're using Renuvion obviously because they're buying handpieces.

Yi Chen

Quick follow-up, you had at 1 point mentioned a mechanism paper that will be published for Renuvion. Do you guys have any update on that?

Charles Goodwin

Yes, that paper was—I don't think it was a mechanism paper. I think it was the paper that we highlighted in the prepared remarks. It was for skin quality. And if you look at Renuvion, we have done a very good job of publishing and talking about Renuvion for skin retraction, okay, and that is obviously very important, skin tightening. It's used after liposuction, it's used in body contouring, and that will remain obviously important. But we've done 2 other studies that show versatility of Renuvion itself, and 1 is the pretreatment of areas before fat transfer. And if you pre-treat the area with Renuvion before fat transfer, we have papers that show up to 40% higher retention of the fat graft. And so that is incredibly important when you're doing fat transfer.

And then the last part of that was the study that just came out in September that talked about skin quality. And that skin quality is incredibly important and we think is going to be a driver for Renuvion and new users for Renuvion because the skin is your largest organ. And as you're doing the skin tightening, what actually helps is if the quality of your skin can get better. And in this study, we had over a 30% improvement of elastin and about the same improvement in inflammation, and that improves the quality of the skin. And there hasn't been anything that has shown an improvement in elastin out there. So we think that that is going to be a very important paper for us and to keep talking about how Renuvion will keep being a driver of this business for many years to come also.

Yi Chen

Thank you very much.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jeremy Pearlman with Maxim Group. Please go ahead.

Unknown Speaker

Just firstly, are there any remaining investments that are either planned or required to support AYON now that you've moved into the full commercial launch?

Charles Goodwin

Yes. Now that we've made full commercial launch, now we've made all the investments that we're going to make for that. The only thing that we have ever mentioned before is, as I alluded to on 1 of the other questions, there is an opportunity in the reconstructive space, in the hospitals, in the United States, and we need to figure out how we're going to actually do that—more on that when it comes. But as far as investments come for this year, that is all baked into what we're doing. And then we've stated that getting to profitability for this company is incredibly important for us, and we're going to do it as fast as we can.

Unknown Speaker

Okay, understood. And then just another question relating, maybe you can help us understand some of the divergence between domestic revenue grew this year only 4% and then international was 22% this quarter. So is that just because of the way that, you know, the winding down of the OEM business and then the transition from the limited to the full commercial launch, which is a timing issue and due? Should we expect that gap to be covered up by the domestic revenue going forward? Thanks.

Charles Goodwin

Yes. So if you remember from our guidance, we've given guidance for the year that we will grow the Surgical Aesthetics business 20%, and we're at 26%, I think, after 3 quarters. And so what you're seeing in the U.S. business is, as I stated last year when we launched AYON, we got approval in May, and we started to sell AYON units that we could not ship until September, October, November, and December. So when you're looking at a comparison, all of the months that we've had before September, there was no AYON in that number. And now you're getting AYON in that number for September, October, November, and December. And that's why the growth rate appears to be going down. It is from a mathematical point of view, but we were selling AYONs all last year and shipped them all just in 4 months. So that's really the difference and why you're seeing that now in the third quarter.

And then obviously in the fourth quarter, you'll see that the growth rate in the United States won't be as high either because of those comparisons of AYON that were shipped in October, November, and December. As far as outside the United States, that still remains to—especially Korea has been having a very good year, their first year, obviously, launching Renuvion. And that's where a lot of the growth is from outside the United States.

Unknown Speaker

Okay. Thank you for answering my question. I'll hop back in the queue.

Operator

I am showing no further questions at this time. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I will now hand the conference back to Charlie Goodwin for his closing comments.

Charles Goodwin

Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. We are pleased with the momentum in the business this quarter and look forward to executing on the expanded commercial strategy we discussed as we continue to build market share for the AYON platform. I appreciate the continued support of our shareholders, our staff, and thank you all for joining the call today. Thank you.

Operator

Today's conference call for Apyx Medical has now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

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