How To Become A Medical Aesthetician In South Africa

A medical aesthetician specializes in skin care, particularly facial skincare.

Aestheticians provide a variety of services, procedures, products, and consultations to help improve and maintain the appearance and health of the client’s or patient’s skin.

Below is How To Become A Medical Aesthetician In South Africa

What Would I Do as a Medical Aesthetician?

Medical aestheticians are licensed, professional skincare specialists who perform their duties under the supervision of physicians, dermatologists and plastic surgeons. It would be your job to improve and beautify facial skin, through non-surgical means, for patients that have had facial surgery or suffered injuries to their faces.

You’d likely work with burn patients and with those who have cancer and lost their eyebrows and lashes as a result of chemotherapy treatments. It would be your responsibility to show clients how to use foundation, make-up, and powder to minimize the appearance of skin traumas.

Step 1: Research Job Duties

Your day-to-day tasks would involve closely examining skin with magnifying lamps, choosing make-up colors that flatter clients’ skin tones, providing facial massage treatments before and after plastic surgeries, removing blackheads, and performing skin exfoliation treatments. You’ll choose which cleansers, creams, peels, and lotions you believe to be the best for your client’s skin. You’d also ensure that the equipment is sterilized regularly and that detailed patient records are well-maintained.

Step 2: Pursue the Requisite Education

You’ll need formal training to become a medical aesthetician. You could start by enrolling in a skincare program at a general cosmetology school that has been approved by the board of cosmetology in your state. Training times may vary, but cosmetology school programs can last up to nine months.

Community colleges and vocational schools also have certificate and associate’s degree programs in general aesthetics. After completing a general aesthetics program, you might have to undergo additional, advanced training to specialize in medical aesthetics. This can be done on the job, or through a supplemental training program. Certificate and associate’s degree programs in aesthetics with a medical aesthetics emphasis are also available, but they’re much less common than programs in general aesthetics.

Typical curricula include classes on salon management, physiology, aesthetician laboratory, disorders and diseases of the skin, advanced topics in aromatherapy and aesthetics, and cosmetic chemistry. Also, if your aesthetics program doesn’t offer them, consider taking additional college science courses on anatomy and biology to prepare for the medical aspects of your career.

Step 3: Obtain a License

Medical aestheticians must be licensed before providing care to clients on a professional basis. Licensing requirements may vary depending on the state you live in. Many states simply require general aesthetician’s licenses, and your work as a medical aesthetician would be under the license of the physician or hospital hiring you. To earn a general aesthetics license, you’ll need to be at least 16 years old and a graduate of a state-approved aesthetics program. You must successfully pass a state-administered licensing examination that may consist of oral, written, and practical sections. You may need to renew your license within a specified time frame.

Step 4: Acquire a Medical Aesthetician Credential

Medical aesthetics certifications are available to you once you graduate from a licensed school of cosmetology. Independent training providers and organizations, rather than schools or colleges, generally offer these programs. You’ll gain knowledge of such subjects as advanced skincare practices, skin nutrition, clinical skincare applications, Botox, rosacea, and medical resurfacing techniques. You’ll have the opportunity to work with actual clients under supervised conditions. Upon completion of such a program, you’ll need to pass a certification examination to earn certification.

Step 5: Consider Further Career Options

As a medical aesthetician, you may have opportunities to advance your career by specializing further. You could work exclusively with specific groups of patients, like those with cancer or those who’ve suffered burns or other traumatic facial injuries. With additional training, you might even teach aesthetics and cosmetology courses at a community college or technical school.

What Are Some Related Alternative Careers?

Medical aestheticians use some of the same treatment methods as skincare specialists in cosmetology establishments. However, their clientele is likely to differ in terms of urgency and severity. Cosmetology skin care specialists may also develop other beauty techniques such as hairdressing and manicure/pedicure treatments.

What does a medical Aesthetician do?

Medical estheticians bring their skills and expertise around skincare to a medical setting.

Their main job requirement is to help patients learn how to take care of the skin as they undergo medical treatment for a variety of diseases and conditions that can have an effect on the appearance of skin.