May an esthetician or laser technician perform microneedling in Hawaii?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
The cited rules do not settle this — the esthetician scope is hands or non-medically prescribed devices for cleansing, exfoliating and similar surface work, with no mention of microneedling or skin penetration, and no laser technician license appears in them.
"Esthetician" means a person licensed in the State who, with hands or nonmedically prescribed mechanical or electrical apparatus or devices or by use of cosmetic preparations, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, or creams, engages for compensation in any of the following practices: (1) Massaging, cleansing, stimulating, manipulating, exercising, beautifying, or doing similar work on the scalp, face, neck, hands, arms, bust, upper part of the body, legs, or feet; (2) Cleansing, exfoliating, wrapping, or doing similar work upon the entire body, without direct contact by the hands and utilizing gloves, loofah mitts, or brushes; or (3) Removing superfluous hair about the body of any person by means other than electrolysis.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 439A-2 ("Esthetician") · verified Sep 8, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Hawaii rules
"Practice of cosmetology", also known as beauty culture, means the art and science of beauty care of the skin, hair, scalp, and nails, and includes any one or a combination of the beauty operator license categories if they are performed on a person's head, face, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, bust, upper part of the body, legs, or feet for cosmetic purposes.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 439A-2 ("Practice of cosmetology") · verified Sep 8, 2026
the practice of medicine by a physician or an osteopathic physician includes the use of drugs and medicines; surgery; manual medicine; water; electricity; hypnotism; telehealth; the interpretation of tests, including primary diagnosis of pathology specimens, medical imaging, or any physical; osteopathic medicine; any means, method, or agent, either tangible or intangible, to diagnose, treat, prescribe for, palliate, or correct disease, or prevent any human disease, condition, ailment, pain, injury, deformity, illness, infirmity, defect, physical or mental condition in the human subject.
Haw. Rev. Stat. § 453-1 · verified Sep 8, 2026
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← All Hawaii 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).