California med spa questions, answered from statute
Every question below is answered from California law, with the statute or board rule linked and the date we verified it. 25 of the 27 questions we ask have a verified California answer today, most recently checked Sep 20, 2026. The rest are not listed, because we would be guessing.
Organized by The Practice Perimeter — the decisions every state makes about an aesthetic practice.
Ownership
Who is allowed to own this business, and in what corporate form?
- Can a non-physician own a med spa in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 650(a)
- What limits does California place on a med spa's business structure?Cal. Corp. Code §13401.5(a)
- Can a management company run the business side of a med spa in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 650(b)
- Can private equity invest in a med spa in California?Cal. SB 351 (2025), Health & Safety Code §§1190–1192
- In California, may a non-clinical owner or manager be paid a share of revenue?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 650(a)
Oversight
Which physician relationship does the state require, and what must that physician actually do?
- Does a med spa in California need a medical director?Medical Board of California — Medical Spas guidance (the medical-director role)
- What must the supervising physician actually do in California?Cal. Code Regs. tit. 16, §1364.50
- Who may operate a cosmetic laser in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2052; Medical Board of California — Medical Spas guidance
- Can a medical assistant give injections in California?Medical Board of California — Medical Spas guidance (Delegation to unlicensed staff)
- May an esthetician or laser technician perform microneedling in California?Cal. Bd. of Barbering & Cosmetology, Industry Bulletin, Micro Needling/Derma Rolling (June 5, 2014)
Intake
What has to happen before a patient can be treated, and can any of it be remote?
- Is an exam required before a patient can be treated in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2242(a)
- Can the pre-treatment exam be done by telehealth in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2242(a)
- Who may perform the pre-treatment exam in California?Medical Board of California — Medical Spas guidance
- Must someone be on site while a patient is treated in California?Medical Board of California — Medical Spas: What You Need to Know (Physician Assistants)
- Can a med spa in California offer compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 4126.8
Who treats
Which license may perform which treatment, and under whose order?
- Can a registered nurse inject Botox or filler in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2725
- Can a nurse practitioner treat without a supervising physician in California?Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code §2837.103
- Can a physician assistant inject or prescribe in California?Medical Board of California — Medical Spas: What You Need to Know (Physician Assistants)
Facility
Does the premises itself have to be registered or licensed?
Marketing
What may this practice claim about its services, its staff, and their credentials?
Enforcement
What happens when one of the six above is crossed?
How the other states answer the same questions
One question, every state we have read against its own statute or board rule.
- Can a non-physician own a med spa, state by state51 states
- What limits does each state place on a med spa's business structure51 states
- Does a med spa in each state need a medical director51 states
- Is an exam required before a patient can be treated, state by state51 states
- Can the pre-treatment exam be done by telehealth, state by state51 states
- Can a registered nurse inject Botox or filler, state by state51 states
What is not here, and why
We ask 27 questions of every state we cover. California answers 25 of them from primary sources we have verified. Where a question is missing it is because the California record we hold does not address it — not because the answer is no. We would rather publish a shorter list than a page that looks like an answer and is not. As the California record grows, questions appear here on their own.
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← California overview · 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. Legislative data via LegiScan (CC BY 4.0).