In recent years, the most popular alternatives to surgery for cosmetic enhancement have come from the field of medical esthetics.
The United States alone saw almost 6 million Botox treatments last year, and over 2 million laser hair removal procedures.
When compared to surgical options, why do patients prefer noninvasive therapies? Several factors contribute to this.
When it comes to laser hair removal and other cosmetic laser treatments, there is no recovery time or downtime required. It’s an in-and-out procedure that usually wraps up by lunchtime. And because modern technology has improved in efficacy, safety, and speed, people are getting the outcomes they want in a shorter amount of time.
Therefore, many doctors, health and beauty specialists, and estheticians are interested in obtaining medical esthetician certification to provide these services to clients.
When it comes to medical aesthetics, who gets to be certified?
Anyone with a high school certificate or GED can enroll in a medical esthetics program and sit for the certification exam in the vast majority of states. Some states restrict certification as a medical esthetician to licensed medical practitioners alone. In addition, you must complete an approved medical esthetician training program that includes the required number of training hours in your state.
Differentiating between Esthetics and Medical Esthetics Programs
When someone wants to become both an esthetician and a medical esthetician, a common concern is whether or not they should go to an esthetician school first.
Esthetics school is for those interested in helping their clients’ skin in superficial ways, and their education stops at the epidermis. You may expect to learn a variety of beauty techniques, including waxing, tweezing, facials, wraps, exfoliation, aromatherapy, and makeup application. However, medical estheticians receive training in both the epidermis and dermis, with a focus on cosmetic laser therapies such as laser tattoo removal, laser hair reduction, laser acne reduction, laser stretch mark reduction, and more.
Since medical esthetician training can be completed in as little as two weeks, we advise that you pursue this field initially. Esthetics programs might take as long as six months to complete. Also, while studying to become an esthetician, you can put into practice what you learned in medical esthetician school.