Scope check
Who may lawfully perform this, in this state?
Checked against the rule the state actually wrote down — quoted, cited, and linked at source. This compares a procedure against a published limit; it is not a judgement about what a treatment does to skin, and it is not legal advice.
Our scope corpus holds rules read at source for 51 states across 9 service categories. Coverage is uneven and we show you which you are in on every answer. Where we have not read a rule we say so — we never treat our silence as the state's permission.
New Mexico · Chemical peel · Rule on record
We have read and cited this state's own rule for chemical peel. The verdict below rests on that text, linked at source so you can verify it.
NM requires delegation by, or an order from, a prescriber; the practice provides no supervision.
The New Mexico Board of Nursing’s rule 16.12.14 NMAC (effective May 21, 2024) names medium-depth chemical peels (beneath the stratum corneum) as an aesthetic healthcare procedure. An RN may perform one only with appropriate training, when delegated by and under the indirect supervision of an APRN or other clinical supervisor, after that practitioner has examined the patient. The rule does not address lighter peels confined to the stratum corneum.
- The rule permits the procedure, but not with the supervision actually available.
What must be in place
- Requires delegation or a prescriber order
The rule this rests on
Examples of aesthetic healthcare procedures include, but are not limited to, the following forms of procedures or use of related devices: (a) laser or energy-based skin and hair removal; (b) intense pulsed light; (c) ultrasonic devices; (d) radio frequency devices; (e) heating or cryolipolysis devices; (f) electrical stimulation; (g) micro-needling of any depth; (h) injection of soft tissue fillers, polydioxanone (PDO) threads or neuromodulators; ( i ) intravenous (IV) therapy; (j) dermabrasion beneath the stratum corneum; (k) medium-depth chemical peels (beneath the stratum corneum);
16.12.14.7(A)(1)(k) NMAC (Definitions — aesthetic healthcare procedure) · verified 2026-09-28 · read at source
E. Scope of practice for RNs may include aesthetic healthcare procedures with the appropriate education and training only if delegated by, and under the indirect supervision of an APRN or other clinical supervisor.
16.12.14.8(E) NMAC (Education and scope of practice) · verified 2026-09-28 · read at source
“Indirect supervision” means supervision by a licensed independent practitioner who is available outside of the aesthetic healthcare facility, but within a reasonably close distance and on-call, to immediately respond and provide verbal clinical supervision and direction, and travel to the aesthetic healthcare facility as needed.
16.12.14.7(I) NMAC (Definitions — indirect supervision) · verified 2026-09-28 · read at source
B. Prior to a licensee providing any aesthetic healthcare procedure, an APRN or other licensed independent practitioner must conduct an assessment in a face-to-face examination, determine a diagnosis and prescribe a treatment plan for the patient. The APRN or other licensed independent practitioner may never delegate the examination, diagnosis, or treatment plan.
16.12.14.10(B) NMAC (Patient care) · verified 2026-09-28 · read at source
MedSpaRadar is regulatory monitoring and reference: it summarizes public laws, regulations and agency actions and links each to its source. It is not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and using it creates no attorney-client relationship. A summary can lag its source or leave out detail, and monitoring itself can be interrupted — so an absence of alerts means nothing reached you, not that nothing happened. Read the cited source, check its effective date, and confirm any change to your operations or clinical practice with qualified health-law counsel and your medical director.
Where the corpus is deep, and where it isn’t
Read this before you rely on a quiet answer. A category with few states behind it is a category where we will more often tell you we don’t know — which is the correct answer, and not the same as a green light.
| Procedure | States with a rule on record |
|---|---|
| Injectable (neuromodulator, dermal filler) | 46 |
| Energy device (laser, IPL, RF, plasma, ultrasound) | 39 |
| Microneedling / collagen induction | 38 |
| Hair removal (laser / IPL) | 35 |
| Chemical peel | 34 |
| Micropigmentation / permanent makeup | 34 |
| Mechanical exfoliation (dermaplaning, microdermabrasion) | 33 |
| Sclerotherapy | 29 |
| Body contouring (cryolipolysis, RF, ultrasound) | 17 |
Every rule behind these answers is read at an official source and cited. The wider cited corpus — supervision, good-faith exams, ownership and CPOM, advertising — lives on the state pages, and how we decide what to publish is written down in the methodology.
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