If you have decided that you want a career as an esthetician, you may have chosen the field with plans to work in a spa, in a salon, or you may plan to open your own business. While all of these are great options to have, you may also want to consider plying your services in a medical setting. This is because there is a growing demand in the field of medical esthetics. The best part is, most of the additional training that you may need outside of your certification and licensure, is on the job training.
What Is A Medical Esthetician?
As a medical esthetician, you will work hand and hand with other medical providers to supply skin and hair treatments to people who may be receiving other types medical treatments. The services needed will often be dependent on the type of medical practice you become a part of.
As a part of the medical team, you will not only perform treatments that will help your clients look and feel better, you will become a teacher. You will help in educating them on changes that they will experience in their appearance as a result of the other treatments that they are going through, and then teach them how to deal with these changes.
What Duties Will You Do?
Many of the duties you will do as a part of the medical team may be very similar to those that you will be trained in to conduct in a spa. On any given day as a medical esthetician, you may still engage in some of the more popular services such as:
Microdermabrasion - or the sanding of the top layer of a client's skin. This type of exfoliation treatment is used to improve, tone, or clear the skin, while used in the spa to remove fine lines and wrinkles, it may be used in the doctor's office to improve the look of skin that have been affected by scarring, or acne. In addition to the microderabrasion, you may help to teach a patient make-up techniques that will further help to camouflage their scars.
Chemical peels - are used to remove the top affected layer of skin through the use of chemical treatments. These are most commonly used to counteract the uneven pigmentation of the skin, or to address acne, scarring, fine lines, or wrinkles. Once the top layer of skin is blistered, and peeled off, it will often reveal a new layer of skin that is much softer, smoother, and not affected by the uneven pigmentation.
While these treatments can be performed in a spa, the chemicals used there are not as powerful as the chemicals that will be used in a physician's office. In the physician's office you may assist with applying the chemical, as well as educating the client on various types of skin care that they will be expected to perform before, during, and after the peel process has been completed.
Laser Hair Removal - As technology has improved the quality of the lasers performing this treatment, this procedure is quickly growing in popularity. Designed to quickly, and painlessly remove unwanted hair permanently from any area, services are regulated state by state. While these can be performed in some states at spas, or other facilities, other states require treatment to be administered under the supervision of a physician, and other licensed personnel.
Depending on the number, or types of lasers, or other types of machines that are being used in the medical practice, you may be required to be certified independently on each of them. This training is often conducted by the manufacturer of these devices, and takes place on the job.
These are only three of the many duties you will be trained to perform as a medical esthetician, there are many more. As previously stated, these will often be determined by the type of medical provider that you work with.
Never turn down the opportunity to learn more info, or new skills, or work in different locations of the medical practice. As your skills and experience grow, so will your ability to demand higher pay.
