ORLANDO For those who are thinking about going into the medical spa business, Dr. Mitchel P. Goldman, a dermatologist in private practice in La Jolla, Calif., named the essential services to offer:
▸ Intense pulsed light. "If you can only buy one machine, intense pulsed light is the machine that you need to purchase because it can do so much," Dr. Goldman said.
Intense pulsed light (IPL) devices can be used for hair removal, dyspigmentation, and photodamage. The device can also be used in conjunction with levulinic acid to treat patients with actinic keratoses. He estimated that IPL machines cost between $40,000 and $100,000.
▸ Laser hair removal. The next procedure to consider adding to a medical spa practice is laser hair removal. "Laser hair removal is also a huge potential business," Dr. Goldman said.
He noted that there are good opportunities to save money on used laser hair removal equipment. New hair removal laser systems range between $60,000 and $150,000.
▸ Long- and short-pulse lasers. "If you want to go to the next level, we still use our erbium: yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) laserboth long and short pulseto do full face resurfacing," said Dr. Goldman.
This is a procedure that must be done by a physician and not a nurse or nurse-practitioner, he cautioned. Expect to pay about $60,000 for a long- or short-pulse Er:YAG laser.
▸ Laser cellulite treatment. This procedure is becoming more popular. There are two lasers available for cellulite treatment: the Cynosure TriActive and the Syneron VelaSmooth. The TriActive system costs about $25,000 and the VelaSmooth system about $60,000. "These are incredibly profitable in our practice," Dr. Goldman said.
▸ Pigmentation. "We also have an alexandrite and a long-pulse YAG laser that we use because I believe that if you're going to treat a pigmented population, especially an African American population, you must have a 1,064-nm long-pulse YAG laser," he said. For any other population, a diode or alexandrite laser should work.
Dr. Goldman has financial relationships with STD Pharmaceutical, BTG plc., and CoolTouch.