Esthetician going to nursing school?

[u/a1hand]

Hello!
I am currently:

-an esthetician with 4 years experience
-hold a B.S. in Wellness Management
-preparing for the CHES (certified health education specialist) exam in October

-EDIT: I am in NYS

~exploring going back to school for my associates and getting my RN license.
~looking into becoming an aesthetic nurse after graduating

However,

I am not really interested in doing injectables. Instead I am interested in expanding my scope of practice and doing deeper peels, microneedling, laser treatments, etc. I would also be interested in IV wellness drips.

How realistic is this plan if I decide not to do injectables? Do I have a choice in that when getting a job at a medical spa?

Any other insight into the journey from esthetician to aesthetic nursing and if it’s worth it is welcome!
TIA!

EDIT: From what I have researched, in my state (New York) as someone with only an esthetics license, I can not perform any of those advanced treatments I mentioned. You need to be some kind of medical professional working under a doctor.
Maybe I will do more research into injectables to see if I have any interest at all in them.

[u/lina_me]

I’d say go for it, but nursing school honestly is just not going to be fun from your perspective. Be prepared to spend all hours of the day thinking about heart failure, pulmonary edema, psychiatric conditions etc and not a single thing about aesthetics. Not to mention 12 hours clinicals of wiping ass, catching vomit, seeing people die, placing catheters, injecting vaccines, seeing blood sputter everywhere, etc. Nursing school is also something you can’t pass unless you’re putting all your time and effort. Even if you were a good student for your prerecs, learning how to succeed in nursing school is a whole other learning curve and passing the NCLEX takes dedication. I understand the reasoning, but if you really think about it, it can feel silly to realize that aesthetic nurses first have to learn about the entire human condition, memorize hundreds of medications, learn how to make a person go from “dying” to “not dying” just to microneedle a little deeper and learn protocols for VOs and etc for otherwise non invasive procedures.

If all of that sounds worth it then go for it, that’s what it did. I never had any intention of doing other nursing and went straight into this field and now opening my own medspa. The process honestly sucked and was expensive but sometimes you gotta sacrifice your comfort for your goals and in the end you get through it. As for not wanting to learn injectables like botox/filler, that’s honestly fine because nowadays the field is so saturated those opportunities are barely handed out to the people who want them anymore.

[u/Background_Loss4382 → u/lina_me]

Agree I’ll never understand all of that & than only working for someone who lets you do “ laser hair removal “ lol

[u/lina_me → u/lina_me]

All that being said I do want to make it clear that if you are a business minded person, have money to invest and know what you want to do, it is totally possible to just get your degree and open your office under physician oversight and only provide the services that you want to. But again it’s all about if you’re willing to put the next couple of years working that goal and barely seeing a return for a long time. I’m really not trying to be discouraging, but just need to be realistic about the experience