Can family doctors exclusively practice cosmetic procedures?

[DoYouConcur]

I am a first year medical student seriously considering family medicine. Not because I am very interested in it but more so because I am uninterested in other specialties. I do like the idea of dermatology but I am no where near the top of my class so not going to happen. What options does a family doctor have with cosmetic procedures such as botox? Is it possible to only do procedures? Why would someone chose to see a family doc that does this as opposed to a dermatologist?

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[Redpancreas]

I am a first year medical student seriously considering family medicine. Not because I am very interested in it but more so because I am uninterested in other specialties. I do like the idea of dermatology but I am no where near the top of my class so not going to happen. What options does a family doctor have with cosmetic procedures such as botox? Is it possible to only do procedures? Why would someone chose to see a family doc that does this as opposed to a dermatologist?

Off the top of my head, FM can do Botox. Look up what procedures FM can do an AAFP and research programs that will train you to do that now. One thing I love about FM is the diversity and initiative you can take which you’re showing. To answer your “why FM vs Dermatologist” there’s no reason but you can develop your patient base. All it will take is strong marketing as you practice. As long as you’re not doing making rap videos using sedated patients as props and offering Brazilian Butt Lifts without a surgical residency, you should be fine.

 

[ndafife]

1. Yes you can do cosmetic/derm procedures - botox, mole removals

2. Its hard to only do procedures/only do 1 thing in FM - you generally get your patient base then deal with their derm issues as they arise. You could advertise yourself as the derm/cosmetic person as part of whatever FM group you catch on with and try to get colleagues to refer procedures they don't do to you in order to keep it in house. In theory you could set up your own practice and exclusively see derm/cosmetic issues but its going to be tougher to establish a patient base because once a person is at the point where they need to refer out, they would probably refer to Derm>FM.

3. For the FM vs Derm debate, people who will get things done by FM do for 2 reasons that I've seen 1) Personal comfort with their FM physician - this is their doctor who manages all of their other issues so why not stick with them 2) They are in an area where seeing a dermatologist requires a decent amount of travel so they would rather get it done by their FM doc to save a trip

 

[doyouhaveaflag]

I am a first year medical student seriously considering family medicine. Not because I am very interested in it but more so because I am uninterested in other specialties.

Was this something you determined before or after you applied to med school?

You never know what will happen in third year. You may end up falling in love with something you didn’t expect to. It happened to so many people in my class. It’s difficult to know what a specialty is really like during preclinical years.

 

[Jaxey]

You absolutely can. I shadowed a FM physician in a large metro area where dermatologists are also abundant, and she did primarily cosmetic procedures (botox, fillers, etc).

 

[W19]

Only if they are practicing in Miami...

 

[Groy]

You never know what will happen in third year. You may end up falling in love with something you didn’t expect to.

Totally agree with this. I think it's much better only to rule things out after you've done rotations and seen them first-hand. You may stumble across a passion you never knew you had. The "I wanted to do FM but fell in love with surgery during M3" stories (and vice versa) are plentiful.

 

[MSTPlease]

If Botched has taught me anything, it's that you don't even need an MD to do minor cosmetic procedures (e.g. botox, fillers) if you can find enough willing customers.

 

[operaman]

Yeah in many states you have a lot of leeway in terms of what you can do with your medical license. There are some threads going around about a dermatologist in Atlanta who was doing all kinds of surgical procedures.

Where you’re limited is by how you can advertise yourself and where you can get credentialed to operate. If you’re doing things in your own office you can often do whatever you want. Your limiting factor will be whether patients are willing to pay you to do it.

People have noted above how you would have a hard time having both an active FM primary care practice alongside a cash pay cosmetic practice. Affluent patients paying cash may not want to sit in a waiting room with a bunch of screaming sick kids and whatnot. That said, in the right area and with the right marketing you could probably find a profitable niche doing things like Botox and fillers and skin treatments. Those are pretty easy actually and you could even have a separate location where your nurse did all the actual injecting. Many cosmetics practices have nurses that just do the injectables.

 

[raiderette]

I once went to an ob/gyn office that also did a ton of business in Botox, Restylane, weight loss pills, etc. They marketed it as a one-stop shop for a woman's needs. I did not go back, but they did great business.

 

[LoGo]

I once went to an ob/gyn office that also did a ton of business in Botox, Restylane, weight loss pills, etc. They marketed it as a one-stop shop for a woman's needs. I did not go back, but they did great business.

I once saw an ob/gyn offer these procedures to MEN. Marketed themself as a “Dr who knows what women want.” What a joke.

 

[trobinsonmd]

I am a first year medical student seriously considering family medicine. Not because I am very interested in it but more so because I am uninterested in other specialties. I do like the idea of dermatology but I am no where near the top of my class so not going to happen. What options does a family doctor have with cosmetic procedures such as botox? Is it possible to only do procedures? Why would someone chose to see a family doc that does this as opposed to a dermatologist?

I just matched into derm this past match, and I was pretty surprised to learn that a few of the botox clinics in my city are owned and operated by FM doctors... in short, yes, but there are limitations. You can do Botox, Juvederm, etc... but there are a ton of things that are not covered in FM residency. If you only offer a few services, it's almost impossible to stay in business unless you offer extremely competitive pricing and market the hell out of your business. You can also choose to independently take courses and get certified in other procedures to expand your offerings. While you can start a business and do all of these procedures, you obviously can't claim that you're a board-certified dermatologist... there was an MD in LA who did his residency in I think ENT or something many years ago and he had a derm practice and claimed he was a dermatologist.. got shut down really fast. A surprisingly large number of patients are actually weary of the difference between cosmetic practices that are operated by board certified dermatologists versus doctors who are in other specialties, and some patients will not go to a doctor if they are not a board certified dermatologist. People that go to FM docs for Botox either go because it is cheaper or because they are not aware of the difference. I think from a business perspective, if you are operating a cosmetics practice and you are not certified in derm, this translates to not being able to charge as much/having a clientele that is significantly more cost conscious.

I wouldn't do family medicine with the eventual goal of opening a cosmetics office... there is a serious shortage of FM doctors, and that'd just be a waste of a FM spot honestly... I think as you get more clinical exposure, you will find something you're interested in. If you are interested in a lifestyle specialty (sounds like you are), I'd look into anesthesia or rads... Hours are super flexible and you can mold your practice how you want and still make a pretty buck. Anesthesia is not super hard to match into, and I think rads is getting less and less competitive. not entirely sure on that though.

 

[lagbydesign]

Anesthesia is not super hard to match into, and I think rads is getting less and less competitive. not entirely sure on that though.

Rads is getting more competitive because of IR people using it as a backup. Heard this year's match wasn't so good for DR.

 

[trobinsonmd]

Rads is getting more competitive because of IR people using it as a backup. Heard this year's match wasn't so good for DR.

yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually. I know that IR residency positions are increasing year-by-year, it'll be interesting to see how that affects the competitiveness for DR.

 

[DoYouConcur]

yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually. I know that IR residency positions are increasing year-by-year, it'll be interesting to see how that affects the competitiveness for DR.

Its something I just thought about recently. I totally agree that things could change based on what I get exposed to and take a liking to

 

[DoYouConcur]

I just matched into derm this past match, and I was pretty surprised to learn that a few of the botox clinics in my city are owned and operated by FM doctors... in short, yes, but there are limitations. You can do Botox, Juvederm, etc... but there are a ton of things that are not covered in FM residency. If you only offer a few services, it's almost impossible to stay in business unless you offer extremely competitive pricing and market the hell out of your business. You can also choose to independently take courses and get certified in other procedures to expand your offerings. While you can start a business and do all of these procedures, you obviously can't claim that you're a board-certified dermatologist... there was an MD in LA who did his residency in I think ENT or something many years ago and he had a derm practice and claimed he was a dermatologist.. got shut down really fast. A surprisingly large number of patients are actually weary of the difference between cosmetic practices that are operated by board certified dermatologists versus doctors who are in other specialties, and some patients will not go to a doctor if they are not a board certified dermatologist. People that go to FM docs for Botox either go because it is cheaper or because they are not aware of the difference. I think from a business perspective, if you are operating a cosmetics practice and you are not certified in derm, this translates to not being able to charge as much/having a clientele that is significantly more cost conscious.

I wouldn't do family medicine with the eventual goal of opening a cosmetics office... there is a serious shortage of FM doctors, and that'd just be a waste of a FM spot honestly... I think as you get more clinical exposure, you will find something you're interested in. If you are interested in a lifestyle specialty (sounds like you are), I'd look into anesthesia or rads... Hours are super flexible and you can mold your practice how you want and still make a pretty buck. Anesthesia is not super hard to match into, and I think rads is getting less and less competitive. not entirely sure on that though.

Congrats on matching! I think it would make sense to do cosmetics on the side and not as a main practice. You're right..it would kind of be a waste of my FM training and education as well. I would be interested in those certification courses.

 

[DoYouConcur]

Totally agree with this. I think it's much better only to rule things out after you've done rotations and seen them first-hand. You may stumble across a passion you never knew you had. The "I wanted to do FM but fell in love with surgery during M3" stories (and vice versa) are plentiful.

I agree that can totally happen for me. Well, maybe not surgery but other options are still on the table.

 

[Lexdiamondz]

Personally I wouldn’t want to risk my license performing procedures that my residency training doesn’t credential me to perform.

A botched cosmetic procedure on someone’s face or hand can open you up for a fxckton of liability

 

[trobinsonmd]

Congrats on matching! I think it would make sense to do cosmetics on the side and not as a main practice. You're right..it would kind of be a waste of my FM training and education as well. I would be interested in those certification courses.

thanks! I think your optimal gig (if you do FM), is to practice FM and on the side, work at a botox clinic under a board certified dermatologist performing certain procedures at their clinic... that way you won't be dealing with the overhead of running a cosmetics business, but you'll still be able to supplement your income and add some variety to your FM practice.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Personally I wouldn’t want to risk my license performing procedures that my residency training doesn’t credential me to perform.

A botched cosmetic procedure on someone’s face or hand can open you up for a fxckton of liability

That's not really how it works.

I've done a number of things I didn't learn in residency, we all do.

 

[operaman]

Personally I wouldn’t want to risk my license performing procedures that my residency training doesn’t credential me to perform.

A botched cosmetic procedure on someone’s face or hand can open you up for a fxckton of liability

The truth is a lot of basic cosmetic office based stuff is really easy to learn and pretty hard to mess up if you follow some very simple rules. They’re also mostly temporary so even if someone has a poor result, it isn’t permanent. I’ve let medical students, other residents, and nurses inject me and never had any issues. Just know your limits and practice what you feel is safe in your hands.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

The truth is a lot of basic cosmetic office based stuff is really easy to learn and pretty hard to mess up if you follow some very simple rules. They’re also mostly temporary so even if someone has a poor result, it isn’t permanent. I’ve let medical students, other residents, and nurses inject me and never had any issues. Just know your limits and practice what you feel is safe in your hands.

It really is impressive what you can learn post-residency. I interviewed for a teaching job and even the sports medicine director was impressed that I do blind carpal tunnel injections.

I taught my internist wife how to do them in literally 5 minutes.

 

[doc05]

Why would someone chose to see a family doc that does this as opposed to a dermatologist?

Exactly.

 

[Moose A Moose]

Yup.

I know a FM resident who’s finishing her residency this year and headed to get specialized training in hair transplant procedures.

$$$$$$

 

[trobinsonmd]

Exactly.

Usually they’re cheaper or patients don’t know the difference... some non-dermatologist doctors who run their own cosmetic clinics are very good with their marketing and know what words to use, people see that there’s a dermatology clinic, but they don’t know that its not a board-certified dermatologist. They just see very good prices that typically undercut local dermatologists, and they go for it.

 

[hamstergang]

I am a first year medical student seriously considering family medicine. Not because I am very interested in it but more so because I am uninterested in other specialties.

If you're an MS-I then you don't yet know what you are and aren't interested in.

 

[Treebeard]

Only if they are practicing in Miami...

Hey that isn't true!

...you forgot about LA and Scottsdale