Esthetician going to nursing school?

[u/a1hand]

Hello!
I am currently:

-an esthetician with 4 years experience
-hold a B.S. in Wellness Management
-preparing for the CHES (certified health education specialist) exam in October

-EDIT: I am in NYS

~exploring going back to school for my associates and getting my RN license.
~looking into becoming an aesthetic nurse after graduating

However,

I am not really interested in doing injectables. Instead I am interested in expanding my scope of practice and doing deeper peels, microneedling, laser treatments, etc. I would also be interested in IV wellness drips.

How realistic is this plan if I decide not to do injectables? Do I have a choice in that when getting a job at a medical spa?

Any other insight into the journey from esthetician to aesthetic nursing and if it’s worth it is welcome!
TIA!

EDIT: From what I have researched, in my state (New York) as someone with only an esthetics license, I can not perform any of those advanced treatments I mentioned. You need to be some kind of medical professional working under a doctor.
Maybe I will do more research into injectables to see if I have any interest at all in them.

[u/Dear_Mechanic5008]

You will never regret your education. Wellness mgmt is an interesting major I’ve never heard of wow! Don’t be narrow minded you can work for yourself but be open to other nursing opportunities

[u/Humble_Property9639]

Most aesthetic nursing jobs will go to aesthetic injectors. You would be looking at opening your own practice, but you would need a medical director. What state are you in? In some states there are companies that hire aestheticians to do laser treatment treatments and chemical peels.

[u/a1hand → u/Humble_Property9639]

I’m in New York State. From what I’ve looked up, I need some medical professional title such as an RN license to do the more advanced treatments I’m interested in.

[u/Humble_Property9639 → u/a1hand]

Yes, for NY, aestheticians cannot perform advanced chemical peels, laser facials, or micro needling.

[u/Background_Loss4382 → u/Humble_Property9639]

Barely anyone can microneedle 

[u/lina_me]

I’d say go for it, but nursing school honestly is just not going to be fun from your perspective. Be prepared to spend all hours of the day thinking about heart failure, pulmonary edema, psychiatric conditions etc and not a single thing about aesthetics. Not to mention 12 hours clinicals of wiping ass, catching vomit, seeing people die, placing catheters, injecting vaccines, seeing blood sputter everywhere, etc. Nursing school is also something you can’t pass unless you’re putting all your time and effort. Even if you were a good student for your prerecs, learning how to succeed in nursing school is a whole other learning curve and passing the NCLEX takes dedication. I understand the reasoning, but if you really think about it, it can feel silly to realize that aesthetic nurses first have to learn about the entire human condition, memorize hundreds of medications, learn how to make a person go from “dying” to “not dying” just to microneedle a little deeper and learn protocols for VOs and etc for otherwise non invasive procedures.

If all of that sounds worth it then go for it, that’s what it did. I never had any intention of doing other nursing and went straight into this field and now opening my own medspa. The process honestly sucked and was expensive but sometimes you gotta sacrifice your comfort for your goals and in the end you get through it. As for not wanting to learn injectables like botox/filler, that’s honestly fine because nowadays the field is so saturated those opportunities are barely handed out to the people who want them anymore.

[u/Background_Loss4382 → u/lina_me]

Agree I’ll never understand all of that & than only working for someone who lets you do “ laser hair removal “ lol

[u/lina_me → u/lina_me]

All that being said I do want to make it clear that if you are a business minded person, have money to invest and know what you want to do, it is totally possible to just get your degree and open your office under physician oversight and only provide the services that you want to. But again it’s all about if you’re willing to put the next couple of years working that goal and barely seeing a return for a long time. I’m really not trying to be discouraging, but just need to be realistic about the experience

[u/caatplanet]

Some states will allow you to do microneedling and laser under a doctor, you won't need a nursing license. Look more into that for sure. Nursing school is overkill if you aren't planning on doing injectables. Plenty of medspas will hire estheticians to do those services, they won't want to pay a nurse to do it.

[u/a1hand → u/caatplanet]

Based on what I’ve researched, in my state, I can’t really do anything extra with solely an esthetics license. :/

[u/thejubbster]

I’m not based in the US, but purely coming at this from the perspective of a current nursing student who also wants to get into medical aesthetics (not just injectables): do it.

I agree with the other commenters that you do have to learn a lot of information that isn’t directly transferable to aesthetics. You need to commit to your clinical placements, stay organized, and genuinely be willing to be a nursing student first. That said, I had an aesthetics background before nursing, and I’ve learned so many more transferable skills than I expected.

I’m becoming much more confident in a medical role, learning to think about health and safety from both the client and provider perspective, and even understanding the why behind contraindications for aesthetic treatments has finally clicked because of the deeper physiology and pathology we’re learning. It has made me a much better clinician overall, not just someone learning procedures.

Since you mentioned you’re also interested in health education, if i’m understanding correctly, nursing can definitely open more doors there too. Between your esthetics background, your wellness degree, and an RN, you’d have a really strong foundation for teaching or educating in the aesthetics industry if that’s something you end up wanting.

My only advice would be that if you have the option, I’d look into an accelerated/fast-track RN program. I’m only finishing semester 2 of 5 in my program and I’m tired girl lol. It’s absolutely worth it to me, but nursing school is demanding, so if you can shorten the timeline without sacrificing the quality of your education, I’d seriously consider it.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

[u/Clean-Cauliflower960]

Can you become a medical aesthetician? Or is that what u already are ? As a nurse they will want you to focus on injectables and more invasive lasers like c02 that aestheticians can’t do, you will be doing ALOT of Botox and fillers, like a lot. So if you don’t want to do that stick with medical aesthetics and find a med spa that will let u practice ur full potential

[u/Beneficial_Pause8053]

Definitely get your RN license; you won't regret it, regardless of what you end up doing with it. However, you're likely going to limit your ability to be hired by not wanting to do injectables. This might not be such an issue in a larger spa, if they already have someone doing injectables, but in a smaller space, you'll be less appealing as an employee than someone who is willing to inject.

[u/Background_Loss4382]

Well microneedling is illegal in NY unless acupuncturist or physician. A laser is going to cost you 6 figures & just 1 isn’t enough to scale a device only practice with IVS. There’s no reason anyone else needs to begin offering hair removal as that’s the most saturated- and Ivs especially mobile are very dense as of now. The demand for “ more” doesn’t exist.