Medical Spas Have Medical Oversight

Who is in a supervisory role at a spa? If you ask this question to a day spa or salon employee, the answer may include a licensed esthetician, cosmetologist, or general beauty industry manager/owner. But if you ask this question at a medical spa, the answer should include an M.D. The spa supervisor could include a dermatologist, cosmetic surgeon, or a similar type of physician.

The specific type of doctor necessary to supervise the medi spa services depends on each state’s regulatory laws, according to the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa). This includes more than just general oversight. Different states have different guidelines that spell out who can delegate services, supervise services, and provide services — depending on the specific type of treatment. Some treatments require the supervising physician to remain on-site, while others may not.

To learn more about who supervises treatments and which procedures require medical supervision, ask the medi spa for more information on your state’s guidelines and how they comply with licensing laws.

Medical Spas Employ Medical Practitioners

The M.D. should supervise services in a medi spa. But this doesn’t always mean that the doctor will provide the treatment. Some medical spas rely on specialized nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and physician assistants to treat clients. Like the supervisor or practitioner in charge, the specific non-physician licensed medical practitioners who can provide medi spa services depends on the procedure and the state’s regulatory laws.

Why Medical Spas Have More Rules

Even though many of the services medi spas offer may seem like simple cosmetic treatments, these are complex medical procedures. Failure to provide these services correctly could result in burns, scars, infections, excessive bruising, swelling, or skin color changes. Low-quality injectable treatments can also cause unnatural or frozen types of facial looks.

Licensed medical providers (such as doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants) have the knowledge, training, and experience to fully understand the skin and muscles. This includes normal/abnormal physiology, anatomy, and how different treatments or procedures will affect the human body.

Unlike medi spa practitioners, day spa and salon providers usually always have medical licenses or degrees. Instead, these beauty practitioners have esthetician or cosmetology training and credentials. While day spa employees are professionals, they should not offer medical-related services such as injectables or deep chemical peels.

Medical Spas Offer Different Services

More specifically, medical spas offer a different variety of services in comparison to what you might find at a day spa or salon. Day spas and salons focus on purely esthetic treatments. These may include makeup application, hair cutting/coloring, styling, waxing, tweezing, and facials. But you shouldn’t find laser hair removal, laser skin resurfacing, chemical peels, botulinum toxin therapy, or dermal filler application in these settings.

If you are looking for one of these minimally invasive types of cosmetic procedures, you will need to visit a medi spa. While medi spas do usually offer peels, laser procedures, and injectables, they don’t provide invasive surgical services. Patients will need to find a qualified, licensed cosmetic surgeon for brow lifts, full-face lifts, rhinoplasty, and other procedures that require an operating room.

Are you ready to schedule a medical spa treatment? Do you want to know more about the procedures and providers? Contact Time 4 U Med Spa for more information and to book an appointment right now.