Three Things California Med Spas Need to Know


By: Alex Thiersch

The state of California is a trendsetter for the medical esthetics industry, from a legal standpoint. Because of the huge number of practices in the state, the California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology is on the leading edge of regulatory progress, and its policies are highly influential throughout the country. Here are a few legal issues that med spa owners in California might not be aware of, but definitely need to know.

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 8

By: Aly Boeckh

Med Spa Owner, Maegen Kennedy, PA-C shares her advice on how to choose the right treatment rooms, how she created her marketing plan, and how to design a profitable retail space. Windermere Dental and Medical Spa is just a few weeks from opening, so stay tuned for quick updates! If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up, and be sure to check back next week to learn how AmSpa's Medical Spa Boot Camp helped Maegen plan ahead for this journey!

Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional dates.

AmSpa's 2017 Medical Spa State of the Industry Report Available For Purchase

By: Aly Boeckh

More and more medical spas are popping up across the country and competition is increasing in this fast-growing industry. The AmSpa 2017 Medical Spa State of the Industry Report, sponsored by Modern Aesthetics, is the first study of its kind, shining a light on the booming medical spa industry as an entity of its own—not as a subset of plastic surgery or dermatology practices. The 80+ page report is a result of an industry-wide survey conducted by AmSpa in early 2017 with statistical and market analysis provided in concert with Marketdata Enterprises. 

The report answers questions like...

What are the top revenue generating treatments in a medical spa? 

What is the average salary for medical spa aestheticians and nurses? 

What are the average medical spa revenue and profit margin? 

How often do medical spas have a doctor on-site?
You can purchase the full report today for only $995.

AmSpa members can request a complimentary copy of the report’s executive summary by contacting Eric Atienza at eric@americanmedspa.org.

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional dates.

Win Big at The Medical Spa Show


It wouldn't be a true Vegas party without winning BIG! That's why we're selecting one lucky registrant of The Medical Spa Show to win a stay in one of the Aria's luxurious Sky Suites for the duration of the show! 

There are many reasons why you should attend but only one lucky winner will spend Friday, February 9 - Sunday February 11 enjoying the best pampering the Aria has to offer.

Hurry! To enter you have to register before the early-bird deadline on September 1st. 

How to Wow Your Medical Spa Patients with an Esthetician Experience

By: Aly Boeckh

Aesthetician services are one of the greatest return on investments that you could offer in your med spa. According to AmSpa's State of the Industry Online Survey, one of the most common treatments provided by medical spas is aesthetician services at 82.9%. With plenty of services that they can perform, estheticians are crucial to your success. 

As long as they are in compliance with the regulations affecting your state, here's just a few ideas on how your estheticians can WOW your patients!

What Makes a Medical Spa Successful?

By: Alex Thiersch

When a medical spa succeeds, it’s likely because its owners and operators pay attention to every detail that impacts the business. Here are 10 reasons medical spas thrive.

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 7

By: Aly Boeckh

The flooring has arrived! Med Spa Owner, Maegen Kennedy, PA-C is super eager to share with you the final finishes. Windermere Dental and Medical Spa is roughly 2-3 weeks from opening, just waiting on marble for the countertops and the flooring to be installed. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up, and be sure to check back next week to see the final touches!

Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional dates.

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 6

By: Aly Boeckh

Every day is super busy for Med Spa Owner, Maegen Kennedy, PA-C. All of the cabinets have been put in, along with light fixtures, tinting of the windows and blinds, and final finishes at Windermere Dental and Medical Spa. Unfortunately, the flooring has been held up in Atlanta, so you'll have to check back next week to see it placed inside. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up, and be sure to check back next week to see everything start coming together!

Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional dates.

How to Set Up Your Med Spa for Retail Success

When your skincare line claims to be anti-aging, but has sat on your shelf and collected dust for longer than your willing to admit...it's time for a new retail strategy. Medical Spa Consultant Bryan Durocher of Durocher Enterprises, recently spoke to owners, physicians, and other medical spa professionals at AmSpa's Next Level event in New York. His talk, "The Key Infrastructure and Revenue Producing Strategies" gave attendees the tools to set their med spa up for retail success. 💸 

In less than 5 steps, we're going to provide you with Bryan's quick retail solution for your medical spa. Let's get to it...

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 5


By: Aly Boeckh

In Maegen Kennedy, PA-C's latest update of her newly built med spa, Windermere Dental and Medical Spa, she shares a few tips on how to hire the right staff with help from Medical Spa Consultant, Bryan Durocher. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up, and be sure to check back next week to see the new flooring and for more business planning strategies!

Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional dates.

Are you Carrying the Right Retail Products?



By: Carol and Rob Trow, Owners of Dermaconcepts

Your practice or med-spa can be beautiful and the personnel wonderful, but if your products are not what your clientele want or don’t produce results that they see, your homecare sales will be poor, client retention will be dismal, and your aesthetic practice will falter.

5 Reasons Why You Should Attend The Medical Spa Show

By: Aly Boeckh

For anyone who has claimed that med spas don't make you any money, AmSpa's Online State of the Industry Survey release is here to prove the haters wrong. Today, medical spas are a $4 billion industry consisting of approximately 4,200 facilities that currently generate, on average, $945,000 in total annual revenues, though of course some generate much less and some much more. The future looks bright, and if you want a piece of the pie, here are just 5 reasons why you should attend AmSpa's Medical Spa Show on February 9-11, 2018 at The Aria Hotel in Las Vegas, NV.   

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 4


By: Aly Boeckh

Maegen Kennedy, PA-C's Medical Spa is just one month shy from opening! Windermere Dental and Medical Spa now has the first coat of paint on the walls, wiring through Maegen's office, and grids for the ceiling...light fixtures and flooring will be put in in the next few weeks. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up, and be sure to check back next week to hear Maegen's advice on how to hire the right staff!

Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 3

By: Aly Boeckh

The interior building of Windermere Dental and Medical Spa is almost complete with new walls! Join Maegen Kennedy, PA-C as she gives you a quick update and tour of her very own medical spa. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up.


Subscribe for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!

5 Medical Spa Beauty Trends for 2017

By: Aly Boeckh

In the Med Spa industry, where social media influencers lead the way of beauty trends...you can never be quite sure what treatments will start to gain popularity. Just in this past year, lip trends have shifted from lip enhancements to lip reductions. Not only are trends reversing, but they are re-emerging from the past, like the rise in chemical peels and eyebrow tattooing. Let's take a closer look at what new trends you can add to your practice...

5 Steps to Prevent Legal Trouble in Your Med Spa

By: Alex Thiersch

A medical spa will likely encounter a number of unforeseen stumbling blocks during its existence. Although the business is complicated, understanding the following five pieces of advice can help tremendously.

How to Draw New Patients with an Experience

By: Aly Boeckh

Is your medical spa transforming patients? OR, transcending them into a state of mere bliss? Creating a WOW experience for each and every patient, is what you need to do to differentiate your med spa. “Our entire purpose working in this industry is to ‘wow’ our clients,” says Dori Soukup, founder of InSPAration Management. She continues, “We’re not just a medical spa—we deliver experiences.”

Here are just a few ideas on how you can achieve that unique experience: 

Eyebrows from Freak to Fleek | Know Who Can Legally Perform Microblading

By: Aly Boeckh

What is it?

Microblading is a semi-permanent cosmetic tattooing treatment that fills in sparse eyebrows. The technique uses a hand-held tool with needles to apply pigments that simulate additional hairs. The color fades over time, and yearly touch-ups are recommended to maintain optimal results.

Microblading is a tattoo technique: The training, tools, and technique are different than what you'd see at a traditional tattoo parlor, but you are still embedding ink underneath the top layers of the skin. A pen-like tool is used to "feather" fine, hair-like lines into the brows.

Retain More Medical Spa Patients with Estheticians

By: Aly Boeckh

With all of the recent regulations affecting estheticians in the medical spa space, you're probably left wondering, "Well what exactly can an esthetician do anymore?" In most states, an esthetician’s scope of practice is limited to skin treatments that are not medical in nature. Which is why microneedling has become completely out of question, as it impacts the living tissue underneath the epidermis. 

However, there are still plenty of services estheticians can perform in a medical spa safely and compliantly that are crucial to your success. Here are just a few ideas on how you can get your estheticians more involved:

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Update 2

By: Aly Boeckh

Progress is being made at the construction site! Join Maegen Kennedy, PA-C as she gives you a quick updated tour of her very own medical spa. If you just joined us for the journey, make sure you check out Maegen's part one video to get caught up.

You're Invited! AmSpa's Medical Spa Business Summit

By: Aly Boeckh

Join us for AmSpa's Medical Spa Business Summit an entire day of medical spa training and education from the top educators in the medical spa industry, at Skin Inc.'s Face & Body Spa Conference & Expo in San Jose, CA on August 26. AmSpa will present an overview of the steps you need to take if you're thinking of jumping into the competitive medical spa industry. You will also learn the legal basics of medical spas, find out how to hire, motivate, and properly pay staff, and discover ways to use skin care programs to keep your patients coming back for more. Topics will also include:

3 Ways Skincare Can Make You Money

By: Aly Boeckh

Have you considered adding retail to your practice, but have yet to make it happen? Well don't worry, you're not alone. In fact, "The average retail spend per customer in a Medi Spa is $3.50. Department store brands like Lancome and Estee Lauder are eating your breakfast, lunch, and dinner!" as told by Dori Soukup with InSPAration Management at the Medical Spa Boot Camp in Chicago. 

Yikes!

Shocking, we know. Nealy Skeldon with Environ Skincare has outlined how to effectively incorporate skincare into your practice. Let's explore these 3 steps to boosting your ROI!

Chicago Medical Spa Boot Camp Recap

By: Aly Boeckh

Enthusiastic Medical Spa Professionals converged at the AmSpa's Medical Spa Boot Camp in Chicago, IL to learn legal compliance, business tools, and successful strategies for opening and/or improving their medical spa practice!

AmSpa's Definitive Guide to Vaginal Rejuvenation


By: Aly Boeckh

A laser devices' best kept secret- vaginal rejuvenation treatments are on the rise and show no signs of stopping! Curious about how exactly this procedure works?
Here is AmSpa's definitive guide...

Skincare Supporting Medical Spa Services

By: Aly Boeckh

The Skincare market is exploding; worldwide cosmetic industry sales have reached a value of $170 billion dollars a year. If you're not capitalizing on this booming industry, then you're missing the boat on one of the most lucrative ways to generate significant revenue in your medical spa. 

Skincare products are a great value to add to your medical spa or medical aesthetics practice for three reasons: profit, patient satisfaction, and retention. Terri Wojak outlined the value of skin care programs in a medical spa at the Medical Spa Summit at the Face & Body Spa Conference and Expo in January. Let's explore how you can achieve these goals in three easy steps...

Opening a Med Spa Step-by-Step: Maegen Kennedy's Journey


By: Aly Boeckh

Meet Maegen Kennedy, PA-C longtime AmSpa supporter and good friend, who has recently took the plunge in opening her very own medical spa! She is very excited about the journey and is just in the beginning phases of building her practice in Orlando, FL. Here on the blog, Maegen will be sharing her journey with us, starting with the construction site tour all the way until her doors are open for business. If you thought opening a medical spa would be easy, follow Maegen's journey- you might be in for a real surprise!

Stay tuned for live updates every few weeks here on the blog or AmSpa's YouTube channel!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!

AmSpa Predicts the Future of Your Business

By: Aly Boeckh

You can't predict the weather in Chicago, but with AmSpa's help you can predict your business' future. AmSpa's Medical Spa Boot Camp at the Grant Thornton Center in Chicago, IL March 20th-21st will be stacked with top medical spa companies in the industry offering medical spa equipment, skin care, expert advice and your ticket to success!

Off-label Botox Treatments to Expand your Menu

By: Aly Boeckh

Although we all know Botox is primarily used for smoothing wrinkles, today, more and more physicians are expanding their menus by providing off-label uses for Botox that actually have nothing to do with age prevention. According to Time magazine, "More than half of Botox's revenue comes from its therapeutic uses for conditions as varied as chronic migraines and back pain to excessive sweating and twitching eyelids." If done right, offering these treatments could be a real differentiator for your medical spa. Following are just a few treatments that you can add to expand your menu:

Take a Brotox Journey with AmSpa Director, Alex Thiersch | Part 2

"One...Two...Three...Ouch!" 

AmSpa Director, Alex Thiersch's, Brotox journey with Dr. Sheila Nazarian was a success! Although a bit scared of needles, Alex said it was hardly painful at all and would highly recommend for men to try. By the looks of his happy face in the office, we'd say it went pretty well too! 😄

Thanks again Dr. Sheila Nazarian for an exceptional first-time brotox experience and for being a continuous AmSpa supporter!  

Click here to view Alex's Brotox Journey - Part 1 video.  

Subscribe to AmSpa's Youtube channel for more videos, including Alex's first Hydrafacial treatment!

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!

Take a Brotox Journey with AmSpa Director, Alex Thiersch


By: Aly Boeckh

AmSpa Founder and Director, Alex Thiersch, never thought the words, "I've decided to get some Brotox," would ever leave his mouth. BUT, after long consideration and desire to relate more closely to the members of AmSpa, Alex finally decided to go under the needle.

While attending the Advanced Aesthetics and Cosmetics Dermatology conference in Marina del Rey, CA, he set up an appointment with Beverly Hills Plastic Surgeon, Dr. Sheila Nazarian.  

It's only one day prior to the treatment and Alex already has lots of questions and concerns. You don't want to miss the final reveal!

Stay tuned for the rest of his journey by subscribing to AmSpa's YouTube channel

Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!

How to Advertise Your Medical Spa Compliantly


By: Aly Boeckh

Regulators are paying closer attention than ever before to how medical spas are advertising their products and services. Whether you're promoting discounted botox on your website, or claiming to be the BEST Laser Center in your area, or posting live snapchat stories of your patient's treatments, you must be mindful of how your state's regulatory body is interpreting these marketing techniques.

As Alex Thiersch wrote in the December issue of Modern Aesthetics' The Rise of the Regulators article, "Some medical boards, are not at all happy about the way this is trending. They see this new wave of digital marketing as having an adverse affect on the industry, as it commodifies health care and risks patient privacy. Traditionally, health care has been something people need, not something they want, so traditional thinking has suggested that it is unseemly for medical practices to advertise."

We all must ask ourselves:


How can we utilize digital marketing in our practice, without the risk of losing our license or undergoing an investigation?

The Medical Spa Industry Needs Data | Take AmSpa's Statistical Survey

By: Aly Boeckh

The Medical spa space is growing fast, but unlike other booming industries medical spas lack solid data to power our business decisions. AmSpa has launched the 2017 Medical Spa State of the Industry Report, administered by MarketData Enterprises and sponsored by Modern Aesthetics® magazine, to gather the most up-to-date and accurate snapshot of the industry, and allow YOU to make better business decisions for your aesthetics practice.

Become part of the medical spa data revolution!


Shady at Best, Dangerous to Patients at Worst | Parallel Importation

By: Alex Thiersch

As you no doubt are well aware, botulinum toxin treatments—primarily Botox, but also including competitors such as Dysport and Xeomin—are among the most popular procedures in the medical aesthetic industry. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), more than 4.25 million of these treatments were administered in the United States in 2015, for a total expenditure of more than $1.35 billion—the most of any cosmetic procedure, surgical or otherwise. At an average of $317 per treatment, botulinum toxin is affordable for patients, yet still quite profitable for practices. But some want more, and they are beginning to put themselves in danger in the pursuit of larger profits.

Regulators Who? | The Rise in Medical Spa Regulation


By: Alex Thiersch

In recent years, the medical aesthetics industry has experienced explosive growth. According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), consumers spent more than $13.87 billion on aesthetic procedures in 2015—an all-time high. 😳

These numbers are certainly good news for you; however, such robust growth and visible success has caused regulators on both the state and federal levels to begin taking a closer look at the industry. What these regulators are finding are areas in which legalities are poorly defined, enforcement is lax, and punishment is viewed as insufficient. State regulatory agencies have traditionally been underfunded and undermanned, but they are beginning to take action to rectify these perceived oversights. 

This increased scrutiny could potentially be very bad news for owners and operators of your medical aesthetics practice, if you are non-compliant. Laws are changing, enforcement is increasing, and punishments are becoming more severe. Take the time to review this guide to learn about the areas in which regulators are beginning to crack down and correct any shortcomings your practice may have as soon as possible!

Make Legal Compliance Your New Year's Resolution!

By: Alyson Boeckh

Don't miss your chance to start the New Year on the right side of the law


On January 21st, AmSpa will present a one-day Medical Spa Summit to provide an overview of professional success in the medical spa industry. Exclusive to Skin Inc.’s Face & Body Spa Conference & Expo events, the one-day summit will give YOU the opportunity to learn more about what it takes to own and operate a medical spa or take your business to the next level. Now, you can even earn up to 7 Illinois Aesthetic CEs!

Register Now!

Skin Inc.’s Face and Body Medical Spa Summit will be offered exclusively during Skin Inc.’s Face & Body Advanced Education Conference Program the Saturday prior to each Face & Body expo in Rosemont, IL, San Jose, CA, and Atlanta, GA.

Admission to the summit is $345. You will also receive admission to the Face & Body expo hall, featuring exhibitors and representatives from all sectors of the spa, skin care and wellness industry.

Click here to see full agenda! 


Don't Miss AmSpa's Upcoming Events for 2017!


Click here for additional bootcamp dates.