Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Colorado?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
The “practice of medicine” reaches energy devices without naming them: it means holding out as able to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, palliate, or prevent any human disease, ailment, pain, injury, deformity or physical condition — “whether by the use of drugs, surgery, manipulation, electricity, telemedicine, the interpretation of tests … or any physical, mechanical, or other means whatsoever.” Colorado wrote a catch-all rather than a device list, so a modality invented after 2019 is inside it by construction.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(1)(a) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Colorado rules
⚠️ the delegation exemption, and its three limits. No license is required for “the rendering of services, other than the prescribing of drugs, by persons qualified by experience, education, or training, under the personal and responsible direction and supervision of a person licensed … to practice medicine.” Colorado will let an unlicensed person perform a medical service — but never prescribe, never without demonstrable qualification, and never at arm’s length.
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 12-240-107(3)(l) · verified Sep 2, 2026
Licensees are prohibited from performing a service and/or using an implement, device, product, machine, tool, or technique, or combination of the same that: a. Penetrates, destroys or alters the clients skin beyond the epidermis; b. Is banned or deemed unsafe by local, state or federal governmental agencies responsible for making such determinations: or, c. Has a reasonable likelihood of causing harm or injury to the client.
4 Colo. Code Regs. § 731-1, Rule 1.8(A)(1) · verified Aug 31, 2026
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← All Colorado rules and changes · 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).