Medical Spa Safety
Medical spas are locations that can offer everything from facials and hair removal to medical procedures. These facilities are proliferating across the country. Medical spas may be located in a physician’s office non-traditional locations such as shopping malls, store fronts and beauty salons. While most people go to a dermatologist office to treat a specific problem or for a yearly skin evaluation, a medical spa’s services are more oriented towards cosmetic dermatology and maintenance of the skin’s appearance.
There are many excellent and convenient medical spas that offer safe, physician-supervised treatments; however, you should know that there are no national standards for medical spas, no recognized definition of what constitutes a medical spa, and no oversight organization that provides the information you need to make an informed.
It is important that you do your homework as you should on anything that can affect not only your appearance but your health and safety as well. Obtain the following information:
About the facility:
Is the medical spa located within a physician’s office?
While problems are infrequent, physician’s offices generally have medical personnel available if a problem develops.
Is the medical spa located outside of a doctor’s office in, for example, a mall or salon?
If so, ask the name of the physician responsible for oversight and when they are available for consultation or questions before having any injectable, deep peel or laser treatment. Also ask about the training of any other medical personnel. This is vital to protect your health and insure an optimal outcome. These are generally safe procedures with minimal recovery, but do have real risks.
About medical supervision and personnel training:
medical spa?
Finally, check the malpractice history. Malpractice suits can be checked through a number of avenues, but may require that you make a trip to the county courthouse. You can check the malpractice status of any medical doctor serving as the medical director. In most states, this information is available through the Internet.
