Med Spa Confidential - Exposing the Risks, Rewards, and Business of Beauty

Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com

If your med spa is legal, does that mean it’s safe?

Last December, New York City and New York State audited spas and clinics across all five boroughs. The results weren’t pretty. Then, just weeks ago, a man with no U.S. medical license was arrested after a young woman allegedly died following an IV NAD infusion at his Bronx clinic.

Dr. Kate Dee, board-certified physician and founder of the Med Spa Board, sits down with Evan Sampson, a New Jersey...

 Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com

Is this person even legally allowed to do this? And is it safe?

This woman had been to this Midwest med spa more than once and so she trusted it. So when she was offered a liquid BBL, filler injected straight into the buttocks, she booked it. But something kept nagging at her, and she sent those two questions to the MedSpa Board before she went through with it.

Host Dr. Kate Dee, board-certified MD, founder of Glow Medi Spa, and author of...

Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com

Are you spending a fortune on your face but still feeling swollen everywhere else? The problem might be under your skin, not on it.

Dr. Kate Dee, a board-certified physician and founder of the Medspa Board, sits down with Shannon Davenport, founder and CEO of Esker Beauty. Shannon spent 12 years as a trend forecaster before ancient Greek bathing rituals inspired her to reinvent a tool bathers once carried to the baths. Dr. Dee has been using it at home, and she’s got a few...

Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com

Would you know if the Ozempic pen in your fridge was fake?  

On September 29, the Justice Department announced charges against two men accused of smuggling counterfeit Ozempic from China and selling it to U.S. drug distributors at a discount. Prosecutors say one delivery alone, about 11,000 units, went to a single warehouse in Ohio. 

The fakes came with counterfeit cartons, labels, inserts, and even needles. Both men are presumed innocent, and an indictment is only an allegation. But one detail stopped Dr. Kate...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Before your next laser treatment, do you know what your provider was told when they bought the machine?

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Jason Peters who sold aesthetic lasers for 13 years. He tells us why he was "the bad guy," the sales rep in your medspa’s office. Now he runs Aesthetic Negotiators, and he's laying out the tactics he used. One of his customers bought a facial device for about $50,000. Over a five-year loan, she paid $92,000.

Here's why that matters. Wh...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Why is the beauty industry suddenly begging you to stop saying the word "filler"?

Filler sales in America are sliding fast. The Wall Street Journal has a name for it: the Great Deflate. Juvederm just lost its billion-dollar status, while spending on facelifts and nose jobs keeps climbing. So what's really happening behind the syringe?

Dr. Kate Dee has been warning about overstuffed faces for years. Now the numbers are backing her up. She breaks down three forces colliding at once, including...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

He flew to Seattle for a stem cell treatment that promised hope where medicine had few answers. He died after the procedure, and his family later won $24 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Host Dr. Kate Dee, founder of Glo MediSpa, sits down with Dr. Kristin Jacobs, founder of OohLaLa Spa and the newest certified member of the MedSpa Board, to take on some of the most overhyped treatments in aesthetics.

Exosomes come up first. Everyone is selling them, but many people selling them...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

A 27-year-old woman walked into a wellness clinic for a routine infusion. She never walked out. 

Dr. Kate Dee is sharing details of the most disturbing cases she's covered: a fatal NAD infusion administered by a man with no license to practice medicine anywhere in the state. He claimed credentials from two other countries. None of them counted where it mattered. He's now facing charges, but the damage is already done, and this isn't an isolated incident.

Dr. Dee breaks down what N...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

A woman walked into a med spa for a routine Botox appointment and never walked out, and the person who was supposed to be supervising her care wasn't even in the building.

That's not a rare horror story. It's happening across the country right now, and Dr. Kate Dee wants you to understand exactly why before you book your next appointment. 

In this episode, she sits down with Seattle healthcare attorney Brett Elliott to unpack the wave of new med spa laws s...

 Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

She asked one question. "Are you a nurse?" The woman holding the microneedling pen didn't answer.

A consumer took a Groupon deal, got the treatment, and got pitched on Botox while she was still in the chair. The whole thing sat wrong with her. So she went looking for someone who could tell her whether the place was even legal, found the Med Spa Board, and sent an email.

Dr. Kate Dee opened it and started digging.

You get the i...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What if up to half of all dementia cases could be prevented, and the two things that matter most in midlife are things almost nobody checks?

Host Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Stephanie Rogers, a board-certified internist and geriatrician who teaches medicine at UCSF, to talk about what the research actually says about protecting your brain.

If you've assumed dementia is all genetics, or that prevention starts at 70, this changes the timeline. The window is open right now, in your 30...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Who is really asking for that laser treatment, the teenager sitting in the chair or the parent standing behind her?

Dr. Kate Dee says the answer changes everything. And it is often not the answer the family walks in expecting.

Dr. Dee opens up her own consult room and walks you through one of the most uncomfortable conversations in aesthetics: when a minor is brought in for permanent hair removal. 

She has treated teens. She has also turned families away a...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Why does overdone always look normal to the person it happened to?

Host Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Scott Miller, a board-certified plastic surgeon in San Diego who has spent his career fighting for one thing: results that look natural instead of overdone. 

The two of them get honest about how your sense of normal quietly drifts until you cannot see it anymore, why one of the newest filler trends is leaving people with strange bulges they never asked for, a...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What if the body-tightening treatment being sold to you produces results so subtle that you barely notice them?

In part four of her Why I Say No series, Dr. Dee takes on one of her biggest industry pet peeves: body skin tightening.

Body skin tightening is often marketed as a nonsurgical way to create a tighter stomach, firmer arms, or smoother thighs. But before you spend money on a treatment package, Dr. Kate Dee wants you to understand what these devices can...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Ever look at a famous face and think, "What happened?" 

It's usually not aging. It's the wrong treatment, done in the wrong spot, for the wrong reason.

In this episode, Dr. Kate Dee does something she's never done before. A live, unrehearsed consult with her girlfriend Deb, 51 and completely cold. 

You'll find out the three big things that quietly start changing your skin, some as early as your 20s, and why most people don't notice until it's st...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What if the person who approved your injection never actually saw your face?

The truth is, they may have never been in the room with you at all. All it takes is a few minutes on a video call, a quick signature, and suddenly there's a needle full of something you can't see going into your body. 

This is happening right now in med spas across the country, and most people have no idea it's the only exam standing between them and s...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What if the treatment you have been asking for is the one your injector should be talking you out of?

Dr. Kate Dee believes filler can produce excellent results when it is used for the right patient, in the right area, for the right reason. But she has also seen it used to treat problems it was never designed to fix.

In the second installment of her “Why I Say No” series, Dr. Dee explains where she still uses dermal filler, where she...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What if the injectable everyone's raving about is not what's actually in the bottle?

From BPC-157 for healing, growth hormone secretagogues for muscle, bone, sleep, and skin, to tanning peptides that can turn pale skin dark in a matter of weeks. 

Host Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Flora Waples, a Colorado physician who's studied peptides more closely than almost anyone willing to talk about them plainly. Together they walk through the most popular ones: what the science actually shows, what's s...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Why would a doctor stop offering a treatment that is FDA approved, supported by studies, and still available at some med spas?

Host Dr. Kate Dee starts a new series on treatments she says no to, beginning with Kybella, the fat-dissolving injectable used for under-chin fat. She explains why she offered it early on, how deoxycholic acid is supposed to break down fat cells, and why her real-world experience changed her mind.

You’ll learn:

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

What does it actually take for the nursing board to show up at your med spa with a hidden camera and a badge?

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Shonra Weiss, a nurse practitioner, med spa co-owner, and consultant who reviews cases for the California nursing board. Shonra has seen what these investigations look like from the inside: the complaints, the undercover visits, the social media evidence, the patient records, and the mistakes that can put a license at risk.

This episode...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Is sticking a needle in your arm better medicine than drinking a glass of water?

IV hydration therapy has become a multibillion-dollar wellness business, built on the promise that a drip can do what your body supposedly cannot. Host Dr. Kate Dee breaks down what actually happens when your body absorbs water, vitamins, and electrolytes, and why many healthy people paying for IV drips may be buying very expensive urine.

She explains when IVs are legitimate medicine, who is legally allowed to...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

If something goes wrong on the operating table, do you know who's actually responsible? 

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Alexander Zuriarrain, a Miami-based plastic surgeon with four board certifications and years of experience as a medical-legal expert witness.

He has reviewed the cases where cosmetic procedures went very, very wrong. And he is here to explain what patients rarely see before they book.

You’ll learn why “awake facelifts” are one of the most marketed and misunderstood procedures in cosm...

Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/

Would you take a weight loss drug that outperforms bariatric surgery if your doctor told you it wasn't legal yet?

There's a new drug making waves in weight loss medicine. The clinical trial results are unlike anything we've seen before. And some clinics are already injecting it into patients, even though it's not legal to do so.

It's called Retatrutide. 

And Dr. Kate Dee wants you to know exactly what it is before someone tries to s...

What if the skin-tightening device your med spa is pushing on you has zero human safety data?

Not outdated data. Not limited data. Zero.

That's the reality behind one of the most hyped devices in aesthetics right now, and Dr. Kate Dee isn't staying quiet about it.

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Corrine Erickson, a board-certified dermatologist and owner of Georgia Skin Specialists in Atlanta, to cut through the noise on non-invasive skin tightening. These treatments are everywhere right now, and so is the misinformation.

They name...

The Safer Way to Choose a Medspa → MedspaBoard.com

What if the "FDA-approved" weight loss shot you just got… wasn't?

The headlines reduced this story to a clinic shutdown and a few thousand dollars in penalties. But Dr. Kate Dee exposes what may have actually happened behind the scenes: roughly 100 patients allegedly injected with research-grade peptides never intended for human use.

This could be happening right now in your state, possibly at a clinic down the street, and most patients would never know until something goes wrong.

Dr...

Get Your Medspa Certified → https://medspaboard.com/

What if the facelift you're planning could leave you looking worse than before you started?

Facelifts are more popular than ever, but not all of them are created equal. The deep plane technique is being marketed heavily right now and it sounds impressive on paper. Book the wrong surgeon and you could end up with a pulled, windswept result that requires another surgery to fix.

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon Dr. William Harris to talk about wh...

What if the person who gave you your last IV drip had zero medical training?

It happened and Jennifer Cleveland never made it home.

This week, the story that shook the entire med spa industry just got a major update and it's one you cannot afford to ignore.

Dr. Kate Dee and med spa attorney Courtney Walker are exposing the dirty secret hiding inside thousands of "medical" spas right now. Unlicensed operators running the show. Doctors are renting out their licenses with ZERO oversight and people are dying.

This...

What if the injection your provider is offering you has never been tested on a single human being?

You are hearing a lot of people claiming they've healed their chronic pain, boosted their performance, and turned back the clock. 

But some of the most popular peptides on the market today are technically illegal to prescribe, sourced from unknown suppliers, and have zero completed human trials behind them.

The FDA just made a major announcement that could change all of that. And you need to know what it means before anyone injects a...

How do you REALLY know if that's Botox? 

Hear what the FDA uncovered when they investigated Pure Indulgence Aesthetics, a med spa with a clean website, a doctor's name on the homepage, and a Groupon running for less than $8 a unit. 

Patients were lining up and reviews were good, but when investigators checked the dumpster, the unmarked vials were a substance that had to be sent to a lab just to identify.

Dr. Kate Dee was sitting in a room in Las Vegas when an FDA official described details of this ca...

Does more access to hormone therapy mean better care?

Hormone therapy is everywhere right now. Med spas are offering it, telehealth platforms are advertising it during the Super Bowl, and plenty of providers are happy to prescribe whatever you ask for. 

In this episode, Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Radhika Sharma, an obstetrician-gynecologist from Wisconsin and co-host of the podcast The Double Scrub. Together, they break down what's really happening inside the hormone therapy boom and why some of the most popular options could actually be doing you real harm.

Have you ever watched a celebrity on screen and thought, "Something looks off  but I can't figure out what"?

Dr. Kate Dee and her colleague Margaret Sherman were watching the hit Netflix series Scarpetta when they noticed something about Nicole Kidman's face that stopped them cold. 

What started as a casual observation turned into a conversation that every woman considering injectables needs to hear. Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis play sisters on screen. One is nine years older, but one looks it, but the other doesn't, and the reason why is more co...

 A daily Ozempic pill instead of a weekly injection, BUT what happens when you stop?

The new oral GLP-1 just launched, and the early numbers on who's actually taking it tell a story. There are real reasons your doctor might steer you away from it, and they go deeper than needle avoidance.

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with GLP-1 prescriber Dr. Randi Lindstrom to get into the details nobody is spelling out clearly. And then there's the question keeping a lot of women up at night: what actually happens when you stop? 

...

You finally lost the weight. So why do you look older?

The emotional side of dramatic weight loss is real and complicated. You spent months, maybe years, working toward a goal. You hit it and then you're blindsided by something you never anticipated. 

Dr. Kate Dee hears this every single week in her consultation room. Patients who worked incredibly hard, who did everything right, and now they're sitting across from her trying to figure out why their face doesn't match how they feel inside. Some of them have cried and not because they're v...

What if the person who hurt you was someone you trusted completely?

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with nurse practitioner Sarah Kabalka, a 13-year veteran of medical aesthetics who knew the questions to ask, knew the red flags to look for, and still walked out of a treatment room with injuries she'll carry for the rest of her life.

Trust overrode instinct. And what happened next is something far too many patients never see coming.

Chapters:
00:03:32 - She Was Listed as Medical Director Without Knowing
00:04:13 - The...

What if the clinic promising to save your life was the most dangerous place you could walk into?

A Colorado man flew to Seattle for a stem cell treatment he believed would save him. A King County jury just awarded his family $24 million. 

Host Dr. Kate Dee breaks down what happened inside that clinic and why this case is bigger than one family's tragedy.

Stem cells are real. The "cures" being sold to desperate patients? That's a very different story. Dr. Kate Dee separates the legitimate science from the dangerous fiction, a...

What if the person about to inject your face isn't licensed to touch you at all?

It's not a worst-case scenario anymore. It's a pattern. Providers are getting arrested across the country, and the patients sitting in those chairs had no idea. The websites looked polished. The staff seemed professional. Nothing felt off until it was.

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Judith Borger, a physician with over a decade in aesthetic medicine, to break down exactly what's driving this wave of arrests. 

They also cut through the hype on t...

What happens when a billion-dollar company decides it's done playing nice with the telehealth giants undercutting its patents?

Novo Nordisk just dropped a lawsuit against Hims & Hers, and the ripple effects could reshape how millions of people access GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy. 

Dr. Kate Dee breaks down what's really behind this legal fight, why the timing matters, and what it means for anyone who's been relying on compounded versions of these drugs to manage their weight and health.

If you've ever used a compounded semaglutide prescription, or you're thinking a...

What if the person injecting you had no license, no training, and no idea what was actually in the syringe?

Dr. Kate Dee breaks down a disturbing Florida arrest that's making headlines. A woman was running a full cosmetic clinic out of her home, charging patients thousands of dollars for injections she claimed were professional-grade treatments. 

What doctors found inside the victim's body tells a very different story. And when the suspect walked out of her bail hearing without expressing any remorse. Dr. Kate Dee brought in the one guest who could speak t...

Med spas are now selling gut healing programs for hundreds of dollars a month. But who's actually qualified to tell you what's wrong with your gut?

Gut health is everywhere right now. Walk into almost any wellness clinic and you'll find supplement stacks, IV drips, and probiotic blends all promising to fix your digestion.  But most of them aren't backed by a gastroenterologist. 

Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Tina Storage, a board-certified gastroenterologist who treats real digestive disorders every day, to find out what gut health actually looks like when the sc...

What happens when an emergency order becomes the foundation of an entire business and then suddenly disappears?

New Jersey has reverted to pre-COVID regulations, ending temporary pandemic-era rules that allowed nurse practitioners to operate independently. As a result, many med spas opened over the last six years are now scrambling to secure collaborating physicians or shut down within 30 days.

Dr. Kate Dee breaks down what happened, why it matters, and what it means if you're getting treatments in states with similar regulations.

Chapters:
01:07 - Why New Jersey changed...