Aesthetic nurse titles

Acareer in aesthetic medicine can be approached from several professions. A multidisciplinary or team approach is often necessary to adequately address an aesthetic need. To perform certain procedures, one may need a dermatologist, plastic surgeon, Ear Nose and Throat surgeon, oculoplastic surgeon, maxillofacial surgeon or cosmetic dentist. However, many procedures are routinely performed by trained medical aestheticians or facial aesthetic-nurse aestheticians. It is said that, ‘the medical aesthetician can perform progressive chemical peels. Medical aesthetics requires specialised training and certification beyond a nurse license/aesthetic license.’

So what exactly is a medical aesthetician and moreover, who and what is the nurse aesthetician? How do we portray ourselves and more importantly how does the public identify with a nurse practising in aesthetics versus other providers? Here the water becomes muddy.

Let’s start by exploring the title ‘nurse’. If you look at the dictionary definitions of a nurse, most state that a nurse is a person who has been formally educated and trained to care for the sick or infirm. I would say that this definition needs to be modernised. Now, to become a nurse it requires completing a recognised university training programme, demonstrating graduate skills necessary to engage in a range of therapeutic approaches together with an underpinning knowledge of the evidence-base of nursing and healthcare.