Medical Spa is one of the fast growing segments in Spa industry. In simple terms a Medical Spa or Medi-Spa is combination of a doctor’s office and a Spa. A medi-spa focuses on beauty treatments. Generally doctors offer aggressive and invasive treatments and Spa just basic ones. A medi-spa blurs this line and offers basic beauty treatments and less invasive procedures. Thus a medi-spa offers comfort of a spa and medical treatments of a doctor’s office.
Regulations and Procedures
In USA, regulation of medi-spa is not clear-cut. But as more and more medical Spas come in existence, it is likely to get clear. The choice of who will perform medical treatments in a medi-spa depends a lot on the type of procedure and state laws. While some procedures need a licensed doctor others a nurse practitioner and many require services of a aesthetician.
Common medical spa offerings
Some of the most common offerings of medi-spa include:
- Laser treatments
- Hair removal treatments
- Botox treatments
- Cellulite sessions
- Microdermabrasion
- Restylane injections
- Photorejuvenation
- Skin products
- Acne products
Benefits and issues related with medi-spas
Benefits:
- Get beauty treatments done in a relaxed environment of a Spa
- More medical treatments available as compared to a usual Spa
- Reliability of an experienced medical practitioner during treatments
Issues related with medi-spa
- The regulation related to medi-spas is still a gray area which is an area of concern
- Presently, the treatments at medi-spas are not covered by insurance firms as they are considered cosmetic procedures
Medi-spa : business opportunity and challenges
Medi-spa is a fast growing category and thus provides good business opportunities. Various models can be explored, some of them are:
- Existing Spas can extend their offerings by partnering with relevant medical practitioners
- Medical practitioners can diversify their offerings and open Spa to provide complete offerings
Medi-spa business can be profitable as it combines two important offerings for a customer but economic downturn has taken some sheen off the spa industry and thus challenges remain in terms of executing it as a business.