This 'Groupon' Med Spa Won't Name Its Medical Director

You've probably booked something because the price was right and told yourself it was fine. I do the same thing with restaurants. The difference is nobody puts a needle in your face at a restaurant.

A woman emailed the Med Spa Board this month with a question that should have been easy to answer. She'd bought a Groupon for microneedling. During the appointment, the provider started talking up Botox, which the patient genuinely wanted.

So she asked whether the woman working on her was a nurse. She didn't get a yes. She didn't get a no. She got a change of subject, and it bothered her enough that she went looking for someone who could tell her whether the place was even legal.

That someone turned out to be me. Here's what I found.

Two Names, Zero Credentials

"It's not clear to me that there's any doctor there, even whether this person's a nurse." — Dr. Kate Dee, Med Spa Confidential

The website listed medical services top to bottom. Injectables. Energy devices. Weight loss medications. The About page had two women's names on it and no credentials next to either one.

Then there were the reviews. Around thirty of them, every single one has five stars. That sounds like a great sign. It isn't. Even people who love you leave a four sometimes. When a page is perfect, someone is managing it, and I'd rather see a 4.9 than a flawless record.

Public license lookups are free in every state, mine took about four minutes.

The Medical Director Who Wasn't

"I've had nothing to do with that place for over four years." — The nurse practitioner listed on the spa's website, Med Spa Confidential

One name came back as a licensed esthetician, credentialed through the cosmetology board. She can't perform those procedures on her own, full stop. The other was a nurse practitioner with independent practice and full prescribing authority in that state, which meant this whole operation could have been legal, as long as she was seeing patients, writing the orders, and delegating properly.

So I tracked her down. She works somewhere else entirely, in primary care. She'd walked away years ago and had no idea her name was still up.

Here's what concerns me more. Allergan won't ship you Botox without a medical director on file. I asked whether she'd ever opened accounts back when the two of them were talking. She didn't know. That's a problem worth checking if you've ever agreed to be a medical director and then left.

What 'Cheap' Actually Costs

"I think what's happening a lot is people don't know they're taking a risk." — Dr. Kate Dee, Med Spa Confidential

I called the med spa myself, as a customer, and asked two plain questions. What license do you hold, and who's your medical director. In the episode I read you the reply word for word.

I gave this patient the name of a doctor I trust in her state, and she told me she couldn't afford it. She's not wrong. Botox costs what it costs. Groupon keeps half of what you pay. Something legally required gets dropped to make that math work, and you're the one absorbing it without being told.

You're allowed to take a risk. You're not supposed to take one nobody disclosed.

Before Your Next Appointment

If you're an owner or an injector reading this with a knot in your stomach, I'm not here to embarrass you. The Med Spa Board exists to help people be compliant. The legal compliance course is four credits and it doesn't cost much.

Listen to the full episode of Med Spa Confidential to hear exactly what that spa texted me back.