Is an exam required before a patient can be treated in Georgia?
Intake · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Yes — a patient treated by an assistant laser practitioner must be examined beforehand by the consulting physician, or by a PA or APRN who is a licensed cosmetic laser practitioner; laser hair removal and pulsed light treatments are exempt from that exam.
Where an assistant laser practitioner treats the patient, Georgia requires a prior examination by a consulting physician, a PA-cosmetic laser practitioner or an APRN-cosmetic laser practitioner — and then names the exception explicitly: Hair removal and pulsed light treatments are carved out of both the examination and the on-site supervision requirement.
Drawn from 4 verified rules in this section · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-35-.05(1)(b) · Aug 17, 2026
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-35-.05(1)(c) · Aug 17, 2026
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-3-.07(a)(1)-(3) (Practice through electronic or other such means) · Sep 8, 2026
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-3-.07(a)(4)-(8) (records, disclosure, annual in-person examination) · Sep 8, 2026
Related Georgia rules
Patients treated by an assistant laser practitioner must be examined before the service by a consulting physician, or by a physician assistant who is a licensed cosmetic laser practitioner, or by an advanced practice registered nurse who is a licensed cosmetic laser practitioner.
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-35-.05(1)(b) · verified Aug 17, 2026
On-site supervision and a prior examination are NOT required for the performance of laser hair removal and pulsed light treatments — the one place Georgia grades the requirement by procedure rather than applying it across the board.
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-35-.05(1)(c) · verified Aug 17, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
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- District of Columbia
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- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
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- Maine
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- Pennsylvania
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- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related Georgia questions
- Can the pre-treatment exam be done by telehealth in Georgia?
- Who may perform the pre-treatment exam in Georgia?
- Must someone be on site while a patient is treated in Georgia?
- Can a med spa in Georgia offer compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide?
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← All Georgia 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).