Medical Devices & Estheticians

It's true, medical devices are used by Estheticians.

In most clinics in the US, esteticians are often used to perform treatments... but outside the US not so much. Here's an email I received from Susanne Warfield, Executive Director of NCEA, taking us to task for 'misinformation'.

Susanne Warfield - Executive Director NCEA

I received a call from one of our members regarding your website and the statement about estheticians using medical devices.

Estheticians are using medical devices every day...- even an electric tooth brush is a medical device as defined by the FDA. It is very important that we understand that any device sold and marketed in the United States must be registered with the FDA and laser and light therapy devices are just another medical device that have "Indications for Use" and "Intended Use".

Please update your misinformation on your website as it it incorrect. Thank you

Anyone have thoughts on what an esthetician in the US (or each state) can or can not perform? Where's the line?

Keeping Your Aesthetic Patients Happy Is Good Business

Keeping patients happy makes sense, both to avoid problems and build your reputation and referral base.

Not all patients that state they had a poor experience from another provider are signaling the proverbial red flag. Most of these patients HAVE had an experience of poor treatment outcome.

And to add salt to their wound,the previous treating provider could care less!

We must keep in mind that for most of our patients, coming in for Medical Aesthetic treatments is an exciting and much anticipated experience.

The number one reason patients state they no longer go to their previous provider is, "He was a jerk!" Oddly enough, the number one complaint I hear regarding a female provider is "I had to wait too long." This is not to say there are no female jerks or that patients don’t have to wait too long to see a male provider. These statements are simply the most common that I hear from (from) my patients.

No one is perfect. I don’t care how good you are at fillers, Botox, lasers, and surgery. We’re human, and we have bad days too. Bottom line: If you did achieve a less than desirable outcome, fix it for heaven's sake! With a smile on your face. If you're running more than 15 minutes behind, be prepared to apologize profusely and don't let it happen again. At both our clinics over 50% of our new patients are by referral. The most common reason for these referrals: “They're so nice!” Patients in general have a sense of helplessness when it comes to being treated by a provider. Do not tell a patient what they have to do. This is not life or death nor a dictatorship. Our patients know that we truly love what we do and we care. You don’t have to be all hugs and kisses, but, you'd better have a smile and a few jokes up your sleeve. You must keep in mind that this is the grown up version of a trip to Disneyland. It’s an E ticket ride with a high price tag. This is not an area of medicine of need.

This is completely a "WANT" this treatment situation. We encourage our patients to tell us what they are looking to have done and then offer safe, sane treatment options for them. This gives the patient a greater sense of control, and a decreased sense of possibly being pressured. If they can't afford all of the treatments at one time, what ever you do, never pressure a patient! If they like the one treatment you do and you personally, they’ll be back. And that’s how you keep your patients.

Time Is Running Out: Section 179 Tax Deduction For New Equipment Purchases Installed This Year

Just a reminder for our Members, you have a chance this year to deduct the full purchase price of a new laser or pulsed light platform — saving up to 35% of the purchase cost.

The 2011 Section 179 federal tax deduction for new equipment purchases provides you an opportunity to writed off a new IPL or laser purchase. (Systems installed before December 31, 2011 may qualify for the 2011 deduction.)

*Please contact your own advisors for specific guidance regarding the impact of Section 179 for your practice.

New Medical Spa Regulations for Arizona & Texas

Arizona Medical Spa Regulation Update: Esthetician & IPL Laser Technicians

Arizona requires all training providers be registered with the state to provide training to comply with their requirements. The program shall provide a provisional certificate to the applicant verifying the successful completion of the didactic training.

An esthetician who has been using laser and IPL devices before the effective date of this amendment to this section may continue to do so if the esthetician applies for and receives a certificate pursuant to this section before October 1, 2010. Arizona state legislature requires a laser technician who wishes to perform cosmetic laser procedures and procedures using IPL devices to successfully complete 40 hours of didactic training as required by agency rules at a certified training program.
More Information From State Website

Texas IPL & Cosmetic Laser Regulations Update

The Texas Legislature has passed legislation in House Bill 449that establishes a regulatory program for laser hair removal. The Department of State Health Services is charged with implementing that program. The legislation requires every laser hair removal facility to be licensed by the department. It also requires that each individual who performs laser hair removal procedures, except physicians, be certified by the department. By September 1, 2010, every laser hair removal facility must be licensed and each individual who performs laser hair removal must be certified.

However, the adoption of the laser hair removal rules and implementation of the laser hair removal program has been delayed for a number of reasons, including the request from state leadership for each state agency to submit a plan to reduce budgets by 5%, as well as implementing an agency hiring freeze to help address the state's budget situation. Work on implementation, however, does continue forward.
More Information From State Website

Information adapted from Aesthetic Trends & Technologies

Guest post by Paula D. Young RN, author of Advanced IPL & Laser Training and the Medical Esthetician Training Manual & Study Guide and head of operations at Young Medical Spa.

Submit a guest post and be heard.

Is The Recession A Boon For Laser Tatoo Removal?

The recession may actually be a benefit for medical spas and laser clinics that offer laser tatoo removal.

Playing it safe is not usually associated with great success. It’s that whole, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and the risk is worth the reward sort of thing. And in this business, you’re surrounded by risk-takers. Of course by the time they get to us, the risk resulted in regret.

In the midst of a recession, we launched a laser tattoo removal business in Houston, Texas. There were already over 100,000 people unemployed in our little part of the world, so needless to say entrepreneurial ventures were looking particularly intimidating.

In spite of the clear obstacles to starting a business, we had a strong sense that there would be a market for our services. And while some people feel it’s better to cast a wide net, we kind of took the opposite approach. We decided to bypass several other popular kinds of laser treatments and to focus specifically on laser tattoo removal. We knew that it was a risk, but it felt right to stick to one service that we were passionate about, and good at. I feel like a lot of people fail because they spread themselves too thin and lose sight of their true passion.

Dominos Falling

It wasn’t long before we realized that, our gut feeling was dead on. Despite providing a scary backdrop for our new company, the recession also provided the perfect landscape for our services. Remember that astronomical unemployment rate? It turned out, oddly enough, that it actually worked in our favor.

See, it was a matter of dominos falling in a way. The recession impacts businesses of all sizes and kinds, forcing them to lay people off. We saw first hand that when business downsize, it creates a massive pool of job seekers all vying for the same limited number of positions. The competition for work had people doing everything in their power to even the job-search playing field. And that’s where we came in

The Waning Job Market

In the increasingly competitive job environment, with larger pools of candidates to choose from, employers could be as selective as they wanted to be. Suddenly, little things like visible tattoos became deal breakers. W began to see the impact of that reality on our phones and in our lobby. While women have commonly gotten tattoos removed after becoming moms, the main reason a man comes to us, is because his tattoo is limiting his job prospects. In fact, we found that almost a quarter of our new appointments listed employment opportunities as their reason for wanting a tattoo removed. At that point our hunch, felt a lot more like ESP.

Sure, in some industries tats have always been an issue, but it’s actually amazing how many jobs have a “no visible tattoo policy”, it’s really not just bankers anymore. Companies from Toys R Us to Calvin Klein have prohibited visible tattoos. Even the local police forces in Houston and Dallas have a “no ink showing” rule. I mean, these are cops. These are tough guys, guys who are supposed to be able to brave the needle and use bad ass tattoos to strike fear in the hearts of criminals.  Now even they need to wear long sleeves, patches or makeup. Speaking of weapon-yielding folks that have to “cover it”; tattoos are also an issue in the military. And for many people in the throes of unemployment, military ink policies pose an issue.  We’ve heard plenty of stories from people whose slim prospects for work, have them looking to the military as a “Plan B”. Of course by the time they come to us, Plan A is often a distant memory.

When someone has to come in to remove a tattoo, whether it’s to improve their chances of finding work, or to meet military enlistment standards it is always bittersweet. Sure, the focus is on the future, but it’s hard to say good bye to something meaningful. So while the laser treatment may be painless, the parting is not. In some cases parting with payment is difficult too. In a tough economic climate, having to spend over $1000 for several sessions is a brutal investment in the future. I guess the old saying, you have to spend money to make money, applies here.  Especially if you have neck tattoos from your teen years.

Learning Our Place

All of those combining social and economic forces happened to be a sort of perfect storm for a little laser tattoo removal venture. It would be nice to say we predicted how all this would play out from the very beginning. But I don’t think we could have. We only knew that this technology would become more important to society, and that it was already important to us. It was early on though that we recognized how our country’s circumstances would impact our future. When we identified that niche of people who needed our services, not simply out of regret but out of necessity; it helped us feel like we were really changing lives for the better.

If there were 2 pieces of advice anyone should take from our story it would be; focus on doing one thing to the best of your ability and always try to look past the surface of your deliverables. Find what you are really giving people. In our case, it made all the difference in the world when we began to think ourselves as a piece of a much larger puzzle, and we considered the role we really wanted to play.  I mean, on the surface, yeah, we remove tattoos. But when we looked deeper, we discovered that what we’re really doing is giving people a new beginning.

This guest post is written by Janet Peterson, a writer for “New Look” a Houston laser tattoo removal business. Janet has extensive experience writing about tattoos and tattoo culture.

Submit a guest post and be heard.

Laser Clinic Tatoo Removal

One of Medical Spa MDs eaders sent me this story on job hunters going to tatoo removal laser clinics in an effort to make them more employable.

The multi-billion dollar business of tattoo removal is enjoying some recession-proof growth — with one LA-based clinic even planning on going public next year to help fund a national expansion plan.

“More than 40 million people have tattoos and about seven million, or 17 percent, are in the process of figuring out how to get rid of them,” said John Keefe, the CEO of Dr. Tatoff, a California tattoo removal clinic, who hopes to use the proceeds from a 2010 initial public offering to grow to a 10-location chain.

“More than 66 percent of those tattooed are between the ages of 25 and 45 and what was cool to them at 18 is an eyesore now that they are a mother with kids,” says Keefe. The executive said revenue per client is about $1,600 — which comes out to $40 per square inch, per laser treatment  with an average of 10 treatments required. The average tattoo is four square inches, he said.

“It costs 10 times more to remove a tattoo than to put one on and it takes one year for safe and effective removal,” says Keefe.

The national market is currently fragmented, with dermatologists operating on a one-off basis and usually not dedicating their entire practice to tattoos removal.

The growing unemployment rate is also helping the company ink new business as job hunters feel the need to be competitive. Of course, many look to get rid of their tattoos because of personal taste — they may have simply fallen out of love with their tattoos or out of love with the name of the person indelibly inked on their arm.

I personaly never saw the attraction of getting into laser tatoo removal, but our patient population wasn't really inked-up either.

Is anyome meeting with real success with their tatoo laser removal services? Is tatoo removal cost effective? Is it dependant upon a certain inked demographic? What cosmetic lasers are being used to remove tatoos?

Cynosure hair removal lasers + service

Buying used cosmetic lasers can be tricky.

For those of you that have had problems with Cynosure there is help, for those that do not or have not had problems you are lucky.  Not all of Cynosure service department is bad, there are a few good technicians and some that are just there for a job. 

Cynosure hair removal lasers are very good if maintained properly.  There are few things that you must be aware of:

1. Flash lamp pulses on the Cynosure: Do not go over 1 million on the yag and 750,000 on the alex.
2. Keep track of your voltage: Do not run the laser over 820v, this could lead to pump chamber failures and blown power supplies.  These will be very expensive repairs.
3. Inspect your hand pieces every time you use them, making sure that there are not large pits and / or burn spots inside.  Keep your windows clean and change frequently.  If your hand piece is getting hot during use, then you have problems with it, and the hand piece needs to be checked.

If you are thinking of having your Cynosure laser service by a third party company, just remember not everyone can work on them, even some of the manufacture’s technician have problems working on them. There are many after market parts available as well but you get what you pay for. Would you take your Mercedes to Bob’s Auto for service?  I know of only a couple technician outside of Cynosure who can repair them.  We make sure that you get what you would expect from the manufacture.   

If you are thinking of purchasing a used Cynosure laser or other cosmetic laser, please have a technician that knows the laser look at it for you before you put any money down.  Would you buy a used car from a fly by night dealer without having your mechanic look at it? I have seen and heard every nightmare you could think of, I have also seen some very good deals.  I had a lady call me that purchased a laser that had blown the power supply on it 2 weeks after purchasing the laser.  That same laser was about to be sold to a customer of mine that wanted me to help him find a laser.  I told him that this laser in poor shape and that it would need very costly repairs.  I was not surprised when the lady called me and gave me the serial number of the laser.  It does not cost to get a second opinion on something that could save you in the long run. 

When it comes to Cynosure, Candela and Deka lasers if you are having problems or need support please feel free to contact us at Integrity Laser Inc.

Note: The above is a guest post from Integrity Laser. If you would like to write for Medical Spa MD please contact Medical Spa MD here.

Do it yourself laser hair removal... Unhappy medical spas?

The're are a growing number of 'home laser hair removal' devices appearing on the market. This article on do it yourself laser hair removal supposes that medical spas and laser clinics are feeling the heat.

Want to get rid of some unsightly hair, but don’t want to spend the big bucks for electrolysis or a laser clinic? Now, you can buy your own laser and do it yourself.

And people are.

The growth of the at-home cosmetic-device market, which includes personal lasers, has some professionals buzzing. At an annual conference hosted by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Barry DiBernardo, a New Jersey surgeon, delivered a talk in Seattle about the pros and cons of the DIY market on the ASPS’s “Hot Topics” panel.

“We have to make sure that the patients are getting good, safe treatments. If they are getting good, safe treatments, then whether they are doing it at home or not, I’m not as worried,” DiBernardo told Wired.com by phone. “What I’m worried about is that they are seeing things in the Skymall on the airplane and spending hundreds of dollars, thousands of dollars on something that is not going to work or is unproven.”

New cosmetic medical devices including DIY lasers are expected to explode into a $1.3 billion market 2013, up from just $296 million in 2008, according to the analyst group Medical Insights. The growth in the market appears to be coming from light-based products that claim to either remove or grow hair on the human body. The Silk’n Hair was the first at-home laser device to be approved by the FDA, in 2006, although it didn’t come on the market until early 2008.

The laser hair removers damage the hair follicles that are in their growth phase, generally leading to some permanent reductions of body hair. DiBernardo questioned whether the lasers used in the home devices were powerful enough to get the kind of results that clinics achieve.

“In general, these devices are low-powered versions of the doctor versions. We’ve been doing hair removal since 1998, so we know that they work and how well they do,” he said. “I think these home devices have some effect, but they legally can’t have the power of what we fire at people.”

From nother nice post from Wired:

My own experience is that people looking to do it yourself home laser hair removal (or skin tightening or complexion light-based photo-therapies) are really looking to save money and are buying a device in the hope that it will work. Patients who are actually interested in laser hair removal or skin tightening are put off by these types of home remedies. I've never heard that a laser clinc or medical spa is suffering from this, but I may be wrong.

Does anyone running a medical spa or laser hair removal clinc feel differently? Is laser hair removal at a medspa moving to home laser hair remvoal that a do it yourself laser treatment?

Medical Spa Lesson: The least recommend way for handling your medical spa PR problems.

Note: The identities that were in this post have been changed but the events are all as described.

A Medical Spa chain is not happy with what someone else has posted about them in the community forums of this site.

The negative comments are directed at one of the management team. I became aware of this medical spas concerns a few days ago after I received a string of emails from the medspa chain's 'CS Manager'. (Im guessing that CS is short for customer service.)

I can certainly understand why this medical spa is unhappy. Evidently the individual named in the comments was previously part of a failed franchise called Skin Nuvo and was one of three Skin Suvo operating officers who was sued by the SEC for 'Swindling investors of $11 million'. However, charges against the individual in question were dropped.

Here's an excerpt on the Skin Nuvo suit from the San Francisco Chronicle article:

Three men, including a Concord resident, were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday on charges that they swindled more than $11 million from investors in a skin-care business that later filed for bankruptcy.

..."Skin Nuvo was projecting a glamorous image with their stores in very flashy and high-end malls, but beneath the surface, the company was in deep financial trouble," said Michael Dicke, an SEC supervising attorney.

Skin Nuvo, based in Henderson, has since filed for bankruptcy. During the alleged fraud from 2002 to 2004, the company's Bay Area stores -- which sold skin care and hair removal products -- were located in shopping malls in San Francisco, San Jose, Richmond, Concord, Corte Madera and Walnut Creek.

The SEC suit seeks to bar the men against any future violations of securities laws, a civil monetary penalty and the recovery of any ill-gotten gains.

So here's some of the emails that I received, and my response, over the course of the next three or four days. They start with an email from S.H. the CS (Customer Service?) Manager.

First email: S.H. of Nu U

Subject: Slanderous blog agiainst N.V./___ Medspa
Message: I need to speak with someone ASAP re: several slanderous remarks that have been made on your forum against N.V., owner of _____ Medspa.
Please contact me at 702-xxx-xxxx to discuss.

Thank you,
S.H.
CS Manager

My same-day response to S.H.:

Hello S,
What can I do for you?

S.H. want's to talk immediately. He's entirely too irate to just communicate that a comment may have gone over the line and violated Medical Spa MD's own terms. No, S.H. want's to talk. Now. Here's the next two emails:

Is it possible to call you?  Too much to put in an email.

S.H.

Jeff – there is a blog on your website re: N.V., owner of _____ Medspa.  The blog is dated 3/4/09 and is authored by “_____ Isn’t For You”.

The blog states Mr. V. only hires attractive females and then tries to date them / makes sexual advances towards them.  It goes on from there.

This is slanderous and libelous and a complete and total lie!  I am formally requesting this particular blog entry be removed immediately.  If you are unwilling to remove said blog then I will forward onto my legal department for further handling.  Please reply at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

S.H
CS Manager
_____ Medspa

I got another email amost immediately. Evidently my inability to grasp just how urgent this issue is and my lack of action in removing an anonymous post is getting under S.H's' skin. He dicides to forgo any more niceities and threaten me with his 'legal department'. Ouch. Here's S.H's next email.

This is slanderous and libelous and a complete and total lie! I am formally requesting this particular blog entry be removed immediately. If you are unwilling to remove said blog then I will forward onto my legal department for further handling. Please reply at your earliest convenience.

Have to give it to S, he's a silver-tongued devil. I mean, having an entire 'legal department' set on my like wild dogs? Terrifying.

So now I'm dealing with the 'legal department'. Here's what they sent.

Our firm, Kamensky Rubinstein Hochman & Delott, LLP, represents ___ medical spas.

Our client has informed us of various outrageous and defamatory blog postings/comments made on your website http://www.medicalspamd.com/ that impugn the character of Mr. N.V. of ___, specifically postings from "___ Isn't For You!" dated 3/4/09 and 4/10/09 and "former skin medique employee" dated 3/25/09.

In the March 4, 2009 posting, "__ _ Isn't For You!" falsely states that Mr. V only hires attractive females and then tries to date them or makes sexual advances towards them. In addition, "__ _ Isn't For You!" falsely states that if such sexual advances are not accepted, the employee does not get paid. In addition, in "__ _ Isn't For You"'s April 10, 2009 posting it falsely accuses __ _ of "multiple violations of state and federal labor laws, multiple instances of unwanted sexual advances and harassment." Similarly, "former skin medique employee" falsely states that Mr. V is "crooked," a "con artist," and "shady" and further falsely states that "if N.V. is involved . . . It is a scam from the word go."

This is not the type of content expected from a thoughtful website regarding medspas. Accordingly, we request that you immediately remove the postings posted by "__ _ Isn't For You!" dated 3/4/09 and 4/10/09 and "former skin medique employee" dated 3/25/09. We also request that you provide us with the names and all information in your possession relating to "__ _ Isn't For You" and "former skin medique employee."

Now isn't that nice? Within something like 72 hours we've progressed from a simple email request to this Medical Spas' demand that I turn over information on individuals who've made negative comments about them. This medical spa went from trying to get a single comment removed, to making the front page of Medical Spa MD. (Medical spas usually have to pay for that privledge.)

Of course this may not be the kind of publicity that __ _, S.H, and N.V wanted. I can't think that this medspa would really want the fact that one of their corporate officers was once sued by the SEC. But with the nasty-grams that S and his legal department are sending me it made me wonder what all the hubbub's about.

__ _ Medspa: Lessons for S.

Let me take a moment here and discuss what I think S could have done that would have better fit his medical spas business needs.

First: Don't take it personally. Every medical spa is going to have unhappy patients and ex-employees. You can't shut them up. Don't try. Perhaps they're unhappy for a reason. Your best bet is to engage in civil conversation. If you're making decisions on behalf of your medical spa or laser clinic, you need to keep your emotions out of the way. You're going to have dissagreements and sometimes they'll get personal. Don't let it affect your 'actions'. Medical Spa MD doesn't have any interest in harming this medical spa and no Medspa MD author wrote those comments.

But I wasn't responding fast enought to S and he took that as a slight. It wasn't. I don't know S and my first response, 'how can I help you', was an invitation for him to lay out his case. He didn't take advantage of that. Instead he lost focus on what he was trying to accomplish.

Second: Focus on your goal. Sean's goal was simply to get me to remove a comment. It's not unreasonable. I've done it before. I've removed any number of comments that attacked individuals in a way that had nothing to do with their business and was just an attempt to hurt them personally. I don't like those attacks and when I find them, I often remove them and at times, block an IP address so they can't make more.

S lost sight of the goal which was to get a comment removed. Instead, he switched his goal to getting to me. If he'd not been so agressive he'd probably have gotten the offending comment edited or removed. Instead, S pulled a gun by threatening me with his 'legal department'.

Third: Never pull a gun unless you intend to use it. S went nuclear when he had his 'legal department' fire off a demand. If S was smarter, he would have done his homework and seen that Medical Spa MD has been threatened many times by medical spa francises and their lawyers and knows well how to handel cyber-slap lawsuits. Read this Medical Spa MD post on cyberslap lawsuits, legal rights and anonymous comments on the web.

S went 'legal team' way, way too fast. I wasn't being unreasonable. I didn't tell him to 'go to hell'. It just wasn't at the top of my list of things to do. Medial Spa MD can get twenty or thirty contacts a day. I could care less that S demands to talk to me on the phone right away. Get in line. A single anonymous comment doesn't rise to the need of emergency care. S would have done much better with a simple, "I know you're busy" and a written explianation of his need to get a medspa comment removed.

__ _ Medspas legal team doesn't have a leg to stand on demanding information about people who comment on Medical Spa MD either. Anyone has a perfectly legal right to post anonymously on the web. Comments on Medical Spa MD are most commonly anonymous for exactly that reason. Physicians don't want to be held liable for the advice they give to other doctors, and laser technicians working at some laser clinic franchise don't want to lose their job.

Last: Never pull a gun on the person holding the mic. If you don't know what that means... From the begnning, S is making demands and acting pretty agressive, but he's only got one weak pair of twos (his 'legal team') and he plays them right away. Now he's got nothing left. If he's emailing some ex-employee that kind of intimidation might work, but not in this case.

By threatening Medical Spa MD and myself directly he's chosen to make an adversarial relationship when he needed a helpful one. While I don't have any axe to grind against S or __ _ Medical Spas, I don't really appreciate this kind of interaction. Any new threatening communications S or his 'legal department' they'll be posted right here on Medical Spa MD's front page where our 50,000 monthly visitors can decide for themseleves. (I can't think that any named Medspa's physicians will welcome questions about it.)

So where does that leave Medical Spa MD and __ _ medical spas?

For my part I'll put a quick notice up on the Medical Spa comments and take a look at them sometime in the next few days. If there's something that violates our terms, I'll edit or delete it.

I can't think that S has solved his Medical Spas business needs though.

Medical Spa MD Training Courses

Finally available! The Medical Spa  MD Training Courses for Laser Clinics, Medical Spas, Plastic Surgery Centers and Cosmetic Dermatology Practices.

Your medical spa staff's knowledge and expertise is a critical componant to your medical spa or cosmetic clinic's success.

From IPL training to skin typing, Botox, Restylane, and Juvederm filler injections, the Medical Esthetician Training Manual & Study Guide, and the Advanced IPL & Laser Training for Non-physicians is required material for smart medial spas, plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists.

Now it's easy to train every new hire on what non-surgical cosmetic proceedures you offer, how they work, and what alternatives there are. Ensure that your front desk, estheticians and laser technicians have the information that they need to answer patient questions with confidence.

For the first time, your laser clinic or medspa staff has the latest information on the newest nonsurgical medical treatments. From Botox, Restylane, and the newest filler injections, to fractional CO2 laser resurfacing, skin tightening and IPL treatments, now you have a uniform and tested training system. This is a must have for any serious cosmetic clinic.

Download Advanced IPL & Laser Training TOC
Download Medical Spa Aesthetics Training Course TOC

Advanced IPL & Laser Training Manual

The Advanced IPL & Laser Training Manual for Non-Physicians is required training material for every new hire working in a medical spa.

From IPL to fractional laser treatments, this manual covers the non-surgical IPL & Laser treatments your staff should know. Give your staff the information that will make you successful.

Advanced IPL & Laser Training - $227

Medical Estheticain Training Manual & Study Guide

 
The Advanced Medical Spa Esthetics Training Course & Study Guide is a two part learning cirriculum for non-physicians.

With 165 pages of quality content, this course is delivered in two parts that include a text book and a study guide. Already being used by leading medical spas and esthetician schools.

Medical Spa Aesthetics Training Manual & Study Guide - $247

Get all three and save: The Medical Spa Aesthetics Training Manual & Study Guide AND The Advanced IPL & Laser Training Manual

Buy the Medical Spa Aesthetics Training Course & Study Guide AND the IPL & Laser Training course and save almost $200!

 
Medical Spa Aesthetics Training, Study Guide, and Advanced IPL & Laser Training - $297

These training manuals are a critical component to the success of any Laser Center, Med Spa, Plastic Surgery or Cosmetic Dermatology practice. Use them to train every new medical spa staff member on what cosmetic proceedures are available, how they work, and what alternatives there are.

Written for non-physicians, both of these advanced training courses are already being used in leading medical spas and laser clinics to provide every new medical estheticians, laser techs, and front desk staff with current information about cosmetic information, and test their knowledge before they're hired.

Written by Paula D. Young, RN, these training manuals are designed to meet the real-world needs of cosmetic practices by those who know how to run a succesful cosmetic practice and how important it is that your staff is trained and has the information they need to become trusted avisors to your patients.

Everyone who has owned or run a med spa or cosmetic practice knows how long it takes to train new staff, and how much damage can be done with the wrong information. These new manuals and study course from Medical Spa MD make it easy to provide consistant, quality information to staff and ensure that everyone is on the same page from day one. Your entire staff now knows what your education expectations are and have the materials to meet them.

From Thermage to IPL to fillers and chemical peels, how they work, who they're for and when to use them. These courses give your laser techs, medical estheticians and front desk staff a deep understanding of the landscape of nonsurgical cosmetic medicine and save you endless hours of repetitive individual trainging. It's the single best investment you'll make in your medspa.

Give your staff the benefits of insider knowledge and make sure they're making the right decisions.

IPL Burns

The Independent newspaper in the UK has an article today in their Health & Wellbeing section from a reporter who was badly burned by an IPL treatment at a 'Top London Med Spa'.

The photos show the reporter with large uneven red welts on her chest and areas of redness on her face also. According to the story the correspondent was seduced by the promise of a `fast and effective way of removing the visible ravages of time without surgery’.

This is the second high profile newspaper report in recent times (see also News anchor gets burned by photo facial). I wish this were even less common than it is, but I've seen a number of IPL & laser burns before. These are often the result of rogue operations (Mesotherapy Lipodisolve Horror Stories) poorly trained staff AND physicians who intimidate their staff.

If your a plastic surgeon or dermatologist running a skin clinic, med spa, or laser clinic and your staffs first reaction is not to tell you somethings going wrong or they're not sure about an IPL or laser setting, you're just setting yourself up to have problems.

These types of IPL and laser burns are almost invaraibly the result of a physician who has medical estheticians or laser technicians who are afraid of confronting them with a problem or question. The doctor's defense? They were told what to do... but problems always arise and doctors who don't want to be hassled are the ones putting both their patitent and their laser clinic at risk. It's just a numbers game. If you treat 1000 patients at least some of them will have problems. Your staff should never be repremanded or belittled for ANY question.

The technician told me she would use a strong setting to get better results. As she passed the handpiece across my face the feeling grew hotter and hotter. By the time the device reached my neck, I could barely imagine continuing with the burning sensation. When she started on my chest the pain was intolerable and I had to ask her to stop repeatedly before continuing with what felt like torture. I'd thought of "no pain, no gain" and I soldiered on.

I got dressed, with a burning hot chest and a face that looked as if I'd been pulled out of a forest fire.

I was scheduled to return in two weeks for the next IPL treatment, in a course of six that costs £1,200. I went to a make-up shop and was dusted with a mineral powder, suggested by the spa, to camouflage the redness of my face.

A woman at the same counter asked me what the hell I'd had done. When I proudly informed her I'd had an IPL photo facial – she looked at me with total horror. "I don't mean to worry you, but I've had a course and it never looked like that." I largely shrugged off her words of warning. Why would I question the skill of a technician at the high end of the market? It's not as if I'd taken a chance and visited a high-street beauty parlour.

When I got home and looked in the mirror at my chest for the first time since the treatment - only an hour later – I was horrified. Angry red rectangular burns covered my chest in a random grid. Little did I know when I'd set off that morning that I would return after my first exciting treatment scorched and traumatised. What made no sense to me was that the treatment had not been done uniformly which was more obvious on my chest where I looked like I'd been branded with a hot iron.

The next day, on the advice of a friend, I called a top dermatologist – Dr Nick Lowe – known as the god of dermatology. He is also the man the rich and famous depend on when they need to be fixed, without resorting to the knife.

Dr Lowe saw me as a medical emergency the following morning. He works at the Cranley Clinic, off Harley Street, London, has a private practice in Santa Monica, California, and is clinical professor of dermatology at the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. He has his own skin care range and is the author of many books, including, most recently, The Wrinkle Revolution.

He was horrified by what he saw and concerned that no doctor was present at the IPL treatment – but it didn't surprise him. Along with other doctors, he is lobbying to get these types of treatments regulated in the UK. He believes treatments including Botox, line fillers, laser and light should only be conducted by doctors or administered under a doctor's supervision.

"The UK is one of the few countries in Europe that does not have sound legislation. It is much more regulated in France, Spain and Italy where only trained doctors can administer these treatments. The UK has failed totally to protect the public in this arena," says Dr Lowe.

Laser Clinic & Med Spa Group Visits?

The Doctor will see you,alll, now: Group Appointments Give Patients More Time To Talk

Chang's office began offering such group visits only for patients with diabetes, and then for people with asthma. Instead of spending 10 or 15 minutes each with 10 patients — many of whom need to hear the same thing — she might spend 90 minutes with 18 patients. Each patient learns from others' questions and symptoms, and the doctor covers much more.

Group visits

Studies have found that patients attending group visits had fewer emergency room and specialist visits (and thus lower monthly costs), stayed healthier and were more satisfied with their care. Three models exist.Cooperative health care clinic, created by Dr. John Scott in Wheat Ridge, Colo., in 1991, is an alternative to individual doctor visits. The same group of patients usually sees the doctor together monthly. Specialty group visits, which Scott developed in 1995, are similar, but patients have the same diagnosis, such as pregnancy, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis or fibromyalgia.Drop-in group medical appointments, developed in 1996 by clinical psychologist Edward Noffsinger in San Jose, Calif., typically have different patients at each session.

I wonder if you could do this in a cosmetic setting. Has anyone tried something like this in your med spa or laser clinc?

Medispa Classifieds

The classified section of this site which was free to both sellers and buyers is going to be down for a time as I try to find another resource. Edigo, the resource I have been using has closed it's doors.

We'll see what we can do about getting another vendor. I am aware that during it's current iteration, approximately $500k or so of equipment was moved. 

Medical spa classified listings >