The Best Skin Care is at a Plastic Surgeon or Dermatologist’s Office

To look your best, see a plastic surgeon.

The Surgeons at Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery have combined efforts and created a medically based program for patients to look their best. Although many dermatologist are trained in ways to keep your skin looking the best it can, Plastic Surgeons have the unique ability to know the limitations of skin care and offer aesthetic surgical correction as needed to complement the improved texture, tone and color blending that skin care affords.

Medical Skin Care

At Pacific Center for Plastic Surgery, we have developed a medical skin care program called BioSpa. BioSpa has the highest trained and experienced plastic surgeons, nurses, and medical aestheticians. Doctors Larry S. Nichter, MD, FACS and Jed H. Horowitz, MD, FACS are the medical directors of this program. Strict guidelines for care using physician approved protocols are crucial to providing efficacious and safe treatment outcomes. Our goal is to provide medical grade skin care in a spa setting in a safe manner with results not obtainable by non-medical aestheticians.

We are committed to becoming the gold standard exceeding patients’ expectations whenever possible. Our care and treatments are to be contrasted with the multitude of skin care programs that are not directly supervised by a Plastic Surgeon or Dermatologist and cannot use the prescription-strength products, injections, or lasers that we utilize. We work in concert with these centers rather than compete with them, and often refer our clients back to them for routine maintenance care such as facials or microdermabrasion.

When should an Aesthetician refer to a Medical Aesthetician working with Plastic Surgeons and Aesthetic Nurses?

Aestheticians and Medical Aestheticians need to work hand-in-hand to develop a successful skin care program. Each offers different levels of services. Identification of those conditions requiring advanced services or medical products are key to the success of this program.

Clients with the following conditions should be referred to a medical aesthetician:

  1. Hyperpigmentation and irregular pigmentation, age spots
  2. Acne and its complications – e.g. scarring, hyperpigmentation, and large pores
  3. Rosacea
  4. Rhytides (Wrinkles) treatment
  5. Patients with medical conditions such as Diabetes, Exzema, history of cold sore, shingles, psoriasis, rosacea, or steroid use
  6. Scar Management
  7. Previous chemical peel or laser treatment
  8. Severe sun damage (actinic changes of the skin)
  9. Plateau of results by conventional spa services requiring more aggressive medical based protocols
  10. Patients with a history of Skin Cancer or pre-cancers ( e.g. Actinic Keratosis, pigmented sores, or scaling lesions)

The following constitutes some of the treatment tools restricted to Medical Aestheticians:

All products consisting of skin care lotions, ointments, liquids, substances, creams, powders, preparations, tonics, antiseptics, and other skin care items and products which the manufacturers or distributors will make available only to a physician or to persons who are working under the guidance of a physician as to their proper use. For example these include all products within the Obagi and / or Biomedic lines, as well as retinoids (e.g. RetinA), antiviral agents, 4% or greater hydroquinones, TCA, etc.

Medical procedures and use of medical equipment which must take place by physician protocol and/or oversight:

  1. Depth of Treatment as solo procedure with a non medical machine based on a more thorough treatment determined by number of passes or time per area; any procedure which requires recovery time because of redness (erythema).
  2. Medical Grade Machine, e.g., limited distribution to medical professionals, options for increased power settings, or medication delivery systems.
  3. Treatment of Patients with Medical Problems Acne, Roseacea, scars, stretch marks, non-uniform pigmentation (dyschromias), history of skin cancer, herpes, diabetes, hepatitis, HIV, previous laser or chemical peel prescription, etc.
  4. Non-medical grade microdermabrasion coupled with other treatments, e.g., glycolic, TCA, lactic acid or Jessner Peel, 4% hydroquinone, Oxymist, Dermaplaning, Micro Peel, Cryotherapy, etc.
  5. Chemical exfoliation (peels) within the scope of a cosmetologist’s license and affecting non-living tissue only, including Blue Peel, TCA peels and medical grade glycolic peels.
  6. Dermaplaning living tissue only per protocol.
  7. Laser treatments such Permanent Laser Hair reduction, IPL (photofacial) laser, vascular lasers (for broken capillaries or veins and red spots), color and scar improvement, and lasers for facial resurfacing.
  8. All injectibles such as Jeuvederm, Restylane, Sculptra, Radiesse, Voluma, Botox, lipoinjection (fat transfer). Surgical procedures.

Larry S. Nichter, MD, MS, FACS