Trends in Medical Aesthetics

As one of the fastest growing industries in the nation, the field of medical aesthetics has been and will continue to be subject to tremendous change. As the world of advanced skin care and anti-aging services develops and matures, new methods, technologies, and business concepts will emerge.

Roughly fifteen years ago the early medical aesthetic pioneers began to work with energy based devices such as lasers in an effort to hone these technologies into useful tool that could be utilized to create changes in human tissue. The first accomplishment in this area of research came in the form of the closure of vascular lesions. These include spider veins, or telangiectasia, vascular birthmarks and angiomas.

A laser was used to create heat in order to photo-cauterize the broken or dilated capillaries, thus triggering the bodys natural healing process of a damages structure. This process had been performed for several years prior to this time in ophthalmic surgical procedures, but never previously for a cosmetic benefit.

This breakthrough and the subsequent public demand for laser vascular lesion reduction services led to the establishment of the first of what we now commonly refer to as medical spas. Years later the fundamental concepts that provided for this tremendous shift in the cosmetic medical industry produced new applications and new laser and energy based technologies that account for the basis of the more than 3000 medical spas that stretch across the country today.

Present day cosmetic medical laser technicians can use a specific form of energy to tighten skin, stimulate the production of collagen to eliminate wrinkles and fine line, remove tattoos or unwanted hair, or a myriad of other highly sought after services.

One of the important factors that all of these services have in common is that they can be performed without the use of anesthesia, without the pitfalls of surgery, and with no down time or recovery period. These are known as non-invasive procedures.

As a result, we will find in the coming years that these services are no longer exclusive to the physicians office. The medical aesthetics industry is in the midst of a significant shift. This shift can be seen in the increasing prevalence of non-physician owned medical spas in more retail oriented locations. These businesses are now common place in shopping malls or retail centers. This is truly only the beginning.

The next phase of growth for this industry is going to be found in our traditional spas and salons. There is a large influx of inquiries about medical aesthetic services coming from spa and salon professionals. These individuals are beginning to view the procedures as simply more advanced versions of the skin care and aesthetic services they have been providing for decade, but now with much better tools.

The likelihood is high that as more and more non-medical businesses get involved with these services, more of their peers will have to strongly consider whether they want or need to keep up with the competition. This will breed additional growth until it simply becomes common place and almost expected of these businesses to have these resources available for their clients.