Seems like mostly faux longevity, and “longevity lite”.
Ozone infusions, lasers, plasma: How clinics want to sell you a longer life
The big money, big promises and uncertain evidence behind the booming longevity business.
LAS VEGAS — Just beyond the flashing slot machines and cigarette-saturated casino air, thousands of the health obsessed gathered in a convention hall here to demonstrate their hacks for living longer lives. They infused ozone into their blood streams, stood on vibrating mats, swallowed samples of supplements and took scans of their livers.
The gathering of wellness clinic operators, doctors and antiaging enthusiasts last month offered a vivid snapshot of a booming industry built upon the promise of longer, healthier and more vibrant lives. At the center are customers, fed up with or skeptical of the current health care system, who are willing to take risks with unproven treatments and spend extraordinary sums of money to extend their lives.
“There’s always something new in the longevity business,” Veronica Zarco, a partner at a clinic in Miami Beach, said after testing out a $60,000 light bed. “So we want to be on top of our game.”
Longevity medicine has exploded into the mainstream in recent years, fueled by billions of dollars in private investment, influential allies in the federal government and lobbyists promoting it at both the state and national levels. But the fervor around the industry has also outpaced rigorous scientific evidence and federal regulations that would ensure basic standards throughout the sector.
At its core, antiaging medicine revolves around the reality that the older we are — the weaker our hearts, the more brittle our bones — the more susceptible we become to afflictions like cancer, heart disease and dementia. The average American dies at about 76, with the last decade of life often spent in poor health, according to the World Health Organization. Longevity experts theorize that if humans can slow the natural aging process, then we can avoid debilitating ailments and live longer and healthier.
Human aging is increasingly recognized as a key area of research, with major institutions such as Brown and Harvard universities studying ways to slow or reverse natural declines. Numerous clinical studies are also exploring strategies to extend overall health. At the same time, critics warn that longevity medicine exists in a regulatory gray area where influencers can promote unsafe protocols and clinics exaggerate the benefits of their treatments.
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Cashing in
The boom in consumer demand has inspired as many as 800 longevity clinics to spring up around the country, according to some estimates. These clinics often charge as much as tens of thousands of dollars for a single visit.
Common offerings include infusions of NAD+, a molecule found in all cells that clinics often claim can help with energy, brain function, antiaging or recovery; hyperbaric oxygen chambers, a pressurized chamber where customers breathe pure oxygen; and chelation therapy, a treatment that removes heavy metals from the body. None of those treatments have been proven to slow aging in large-scale human trials.
Many longevity customers say their interest was borne out of frustration with the American health care system, which will prescribe a battery of medications when people are sick but doesn’t do enough to prevent their physical decline in the first place. One of those people is Johnny Adams, a 75-year-old who has ventured into the unproven — and sometimes dubious — edges of longevity medicine in his search for a healthy life as he ages. (Adams said he has attended LongevityFest conventions in the past, but not the most recent one.)
Beyond his strict regimen of healthy eating, supplements and exercise, Adams last year paid thousands of dollars to fly from his home in California to Texas for a young plasma exchange, a therapy that replaced his blood plasma with plasma from a young donor. The FDA warns there is no evidence this procedure prevents aging or provides other health and wellness benefits.
As he experiments with various therapies, Adams said he measures basic metrics with cognitive and physical tests. Along with these objective measures, he said, an important metric is also “How do I feel?”
“Do I feel better? Do I experience a joy of living?” he said. “Even if it is placebo, I’ll take it.”
Inside the vast exhibition hall in Vegas last month, clinic owners from all over the country tested out new products to sell to clients like Adams. There were supplements, lots of them: ones to mitigate stress, others to improve skin elasticity, many to enhance mitochondrial function.
Stephen Dahlin, a chiropractor who runs a clinic in central California, tested out an intravenous laser that beamed light into his blood through an IV. Through his skin, the laser — which can cost $20,000 to $40,000 — glowed red, yellow and blue. Others tried out electromagnetic frequency machines and hyperbaric chambers, while a robot clomped around throughout the weekend with a shirt that said “Got Peptides?”
Goldman, the co-founder of A4M, said the annual conference — which is run by Informa Connect, a company that hosts live events — said the quality of the products and vendors “has increased every year.”
“You don’t see hanging crystals and things like that,” he said. “If someone is going to be an embarrassment, we don’t want them here.”
Still, some of the conference’s biggest vendors and presenters have previously run into issues with state and federal regulators.
Between 2022 and 2025, Olympia Pharmaceuticals, which customizes prescription medications and specializes in longevity and weight-loss products, was repeatedly cited by the FDA for deficiencies. In one complaint, a person who took a peptide provided by the pharmacy “thought they were going into cardiac arrest,” according to an inspection.
Full story: These are the treatments dominating the business of living longer (WaPo)
