With the demand to stay looking young through minimally invasive cosmetic procedures medical spas (or med spas) are a great alternative to a plastic surgeon. These establishments may provide both medical and non-medical treatments to their clients and can be very lucrative to own. Med spas are expected to provide the most innovative technology to their patients and may offer services such as non-invasive fat reduction, laser hair removal, dermabrasion, laser tattoo removal, and even vaginal rejuvenation. Most of these types of cosmetic procedures are performed with medical devices. As a result, medical device manufacturers pursue med spas to sell their machines and systems to them, promising a huge return on their investment.

Yet, the purchase of a medical device comes with an inherent risk of conflict of interest. First and foremost the owner of the med spa may not necessary be a licensed medical professional. In our experience of representing clients who have been injured while undergoing a cosmetic procedure, most of the clinics were owned by businessmen and women, not licensed doctors, nurse practitioners or physician assistants. This creates a big problem in how the medical services which they provide to their patients are viewed. Business people view the sale of services as money making opportunities. In the case of med spas they just happen to be selling medical services. Therefore, any risk of adverse effects of a cosmetic procedure may be downplayed or simply not disclosed to the patients to ensure that the patient buys the services.

Secondly, regardless of who owns the med spa, medical devices are an expensive investment, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Med spas are pressured to sell enough services to get a return on their investment.  Therefore, any information regarding the risk of a procedure could discourage a patient from undergoing it, thereby leaving the med spa an unable to cover the cost of the device and profit therefrom.

We have represented clients who were  pressured into undergoing a cosmetic procedure after going into a med spa for a simple consultation. The staff selling these medical services are usually not medical professionals but trained sales people. They are trained to highlight and focus on the potential benefits of the procedure and downplay the procedure’s risks of injury.

Unfortunately, in some cases, the risk of suffering a permanent and serious injury is not worth the relatively small potential benefits of the cosmetic procedures.  But only the medical professionals administering these procedures know the truth.

If you have been injured as the result of undergoing a cosmetic procedure with a medical device such as Scarlet SRF, MAGMA, FormaTK, Agnes RF, NeoGen PSR, Viveve, ADVATx, vFit PLUS, CoolSculpting, you may be entitled to compensation for your injury. Call our attorney today at 407-622-1885 to discuss your case for free.