May an esthetician or laser technician perform microneedling in South Dakota?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
Not for an esthetician — esthetics is confined to the stratum corneum, with living cells never altered, cut, or damaged, so needling below that layer falls outside it; the cited rules don't define a laser technician or say who may perform microneedling.
A person is engaged in the practice of esthetics if that person, for compensation, a fee, or any valuable consideration, engages in beautifying, massaging, cleansing, exfoliating, stimulating, or applying oils, creams, cosmetic preparations, make-up, facial treatments, body treatments, body wraps, antiseptics, scrubs, clays, lotions, masks, waxes, or other preparations for the noninvasive care of the skin. For purposes of this subdivision, noninvasive means confined to the nonliving cells of the stratum corneum of the epidermis. Such practices shall be in a superficial mode and not for the treatment of medical disorders, and living cells may never be altered, cut, or damaged.
S.D. Codified Laws §36-15-2.2(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related South Dakota rules
None of the following constitute the practice of cosmetology: any person practicing permanent removal of hair by the use of a galvanic or thermalytic needle known as electrolysis.
S.D. Codified Laws §36-15-2.1(1) · verified Sep 3, 2026
For the purpose of this chapter, "practice of medicine or osteopathy" includes, but not by way of limitation, to append or prefix the letters M.D., or D.O. or the title of Doctor or Dr. or Specialist or Osteopath or any other sign or appellation in a medical sense to one's name or to profess publicly to be a physician or surgeon or to recommend, prescribe or direct for the use of any person any drug, medicine, apparatus, or other agency for the cure, relief or palliation of any ailment or disease of the mind or body or the cure or relief of any wound, fracture or bodily injury or deformity.
S.D. Codified Laws §36-4-9 · verified Sep 3, 2026
How other states answer this
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Related South Dakota questions
Every South Dakota question we can answer →Get South Dakota changes as they publish
We scan the South Dakota legislature and licensing boards daily, plus the FDA and the Federal Register. Free weekly Brief — what changed, in plain language, with the source.
Free · unsubscribe in one click · we never sell your address
← All South Dakota 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).