Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Michigan?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Only under a licensed physician's supervision, and only with the patient's knowledge and consent — physicians are exempt, as are PAs and NPs performing it in a health care facility. That is a bar, not a grant; the delegation limits still apply on top.
A licensee, registrant, or other individual shall not perform any procedure using a laser for dermatological purposes unless the procedure is performed under the supervision of a licensed physician, and unless the patient has knowledge of and consents to the procedure being performed by that individual. The supervision requirement does not apply to a licensed physician, to a licensed physician's assistant who performs such a procedure in a health care facility, or to a certified nurse practitioner who performs such a procedure in a health care facility. Practice of dermatology means the diagnosis and treatment of medically necessary and cosmetic conditions of the skin, hair, and nails by various surgical, reconstructive, cosmetic, and nonsurgical methods.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.16276(1)–(3), (5)(b) · verified Sep 8, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Michigan rules
A licensee may delegate to a licensed or unlicensed individual who is otherwise qualified by education, training, or experience the performance of selected acts, tasks, or functions — provided they fall within the scope of practice of the licensee’s own profession and are performed under the licensee’s supervision. Michigan does not restrict delegation to licensed people the way several states in this corpus do. (Michigan Compiled Laws complete through PA 12 of 2025.)
Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.16215(1) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at Internet Archive snapshot — evidence of a page, not the current rule
⚠️ AND HERE IS THE LIMIT THAT DOES THE WORK. A licensee SHALL NOT delegate an act, task, or function if, under standards of acceptable and prevailing practice, it requires the level of education, skill, and judgment required of the licensee. The test is the act’s difficulty, not the delegate’s job title — so a well-trained unlicensed person is eligible for some things and no amount of training makes them eligible for others.
Mich. Comp. Laws § 333.16215(1) · verified Sep 2, 2026 · read at Internet Archive snapshot — evidence of a page, not the current rule
How other states answer this
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
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← All Michigan 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).