How to Add Aesthetic Medicine to Your Practice

Aesthetics is a growing, profitable and rewarding part of the medical field. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the specialist career to grow 17% from 2021 to 2031. As the industry grows, many medical practices that adopt aesthetic procedures will thrive.

Whether you’re planning to open a new medical spa business or expand your existing practice with medical aesthetics, the American Association of Aesthetic Medicine & Surgery (AAAMS) can help you out with the information below.

Should You Offer Aesthetic Services? Do Your Research

First, you’ll need to figure out if adding specific aesthetic services to your practice will be beneficial. This requires a lot of research. Below are the most important questions you’ll need to think about before adding aesthetic services to your practice.

Does Aesthetic Medicine Make Sense for Your Practice?

Consider the nature of your practice before choosing to branch out from traditional medical services. If you work in dentistry or dermatology — or any specialty with a cosmetic focus — your patients are already consulting you for appearance-related concerns, so incorporating medical aesthetics can be an excellent business move.

Do You Have the Physical Resources to Take on Additional Aesthetic Business?

With an effective marketing strategy, introducing medical aesthetics could potentially attract a crowd of new patients. However, it’s important to have the resources necessary to handle this growing demand, including trained personnel, proper equipment and a large enough space to perform these procedures.

Establish a solid business plan before making major changes to your practice and services. You might consider introducing medical aesthetics to your practice gradually rather than all at once — starting small with one or two products is a good way to test the waters and determine whether the business can scale successfully.

Can You Get the Required Insurance?

You’ll also want to work very closely with your chosen provider to make sure you fully and accurately represent the totality of the services and procedures you will be offering. Compare a few insurance policies to ensure you’re covered. They’ll want training certificates, so be sure to complete your education before adding any services. And don’t forget that you don’t just need malpractice insurance, you’re also going to need to make sure the clinic itself is insured.

Can You Afford It?

Do thorough market research beforehand. Keep in mind there are likely competing medical aesthetics practices in your area. You’ll have to put in the time and effort needed to build buzz around your services, providing compelling incentives for customers to choose your medical spa over others.

Be sure to research the going rates for the services you’ll be offering. While customers enjoy a discount, setting your prices too low may devalue your expertise or hurt you in the long run. Additionally, look into your market and similar practices in the area, which will be your competition.

Botox is generally priced at $10-$15 per unit and a single treatment session usually requires 30-50 units. Before investing up to $750 in Botox, you need to ensure you can generate patient demand for it.

How to Expand Your Existing Practice With Aesthetic Services

If you’ve answered all of these questions, confident that a medspa or offering aesthetics at your current practice is a good next step, then get started! If you’re ready to offer aesthetic services to new and existing patients, check out our key tips to help you roll out your new offerings.

Consult With Your Patients

Your current patients will be the first to hear about your aesthetic procedures, so consulting with them regarding what procedures interest them the most is a good start. Let their wants and needs guide your decisions for what to offer since they’ll eventually be using the services.

If you can’t decide which procedures you would like to expand your practice with, Botox injections may be a good starting point considering the popularity. Botulinum Toxin (Botox) Injections made up 49.5% of nonsurgical procedures performed in the USA in 2019. Botox can also be used in many different applications — such as pain management — not just for cosmetics.

Your patients may be interested in other procedures, and upon consulting with them, you may decide on a different route. Brow lifts, arm lifts, liposuction and abdominoplasty — also known as tummy tuck surgery — are all popular procedures that may interest your patients. Couple the results with your current goals, and you can brainstorm procedure options to research.

Fulfill Procedure Requirements

Most aesthetic procedures require equipment and technology, while others are more minimalistic in their requirements. Liposuction, for example, requires machines with cannulas, canisters and pumps. On the other hand, dermal fillers require a syringe and the filler itself. The few requirements for dermal fillers may appeal to you more than liposuction, at least at first.

It’s also a good idea to recruit nurses, or other practitioners, to assist with your new aesthetic procedures, as many nurses specialize in the field. Nurses with aesthetics training can consult with patients, perform pre-and post-operative care, assist physicians in surgery and administer many injections and fillers themselves. They are an enormous asset to growing practices, so take your time to recruit and review potential candidates as you expand your practice. You can even complete your aesthetic training together.

Get Certified

Once you have an idea of what procedures to pursue, it’s time to earn your certification. The most important step to becoming a medical aesthetician is to ensure you’re qualified. Yes, you already practice medicine, but that doesn’t qualify you for aesthetic medicine. You’ll first need to take the proper educational and certification courses to be eligible.

The AAAMS has helped more than 5,000 medical practitioners become aesthetic professionals. We designed our programs to help you fast-track your aesthetics training. By following the below path, you can start offering services in as little as three months:

1. Enroll in Facial Aesthetics 101 (FA 101)

This series of courses is completely virtual and is a prerequisite for certification. Once you complete this introductory course, you’re ready for a certification course.

2. Enroll in a Hands-On Certification Course: Aesthetics 101 Hybrid or Virtual

Choose between an in-person course (Hybrid) with our physician educators in Beverly Hills or the online-only course (Virtual) completed from any location.

Start Your Aesthetic Medical Practice Journey Today

By earning certifications for aesthetic procedures, you learn the essential skills and techniques for successful procedures, as well as how to treat complications, which will fully prepare you for offering these services on your own. These certifications, along with peer advice through the AAAMS Network and the initial market research you complete will help your practice succeed.

If you’re ready to take the first step in offering aesthetic services at your practice, get started today by registering for our Facial Aesthetics 101 introductory course.