Who may operate a cosmetic laser in Texas?
Oversight · part of The Practice Perimeter
Short answer
A physician, or a qualified, properly trained person the physician delegates to and supervises — the physician remains responsible. Nonablative laser hair removal is the exception: it requires the appropriate TDLR certificate, not the delegation route.
A Texas physician may delegate a medical act — including cosmetic injections, dermal fillers, and cosmetic laser use — to a qualified, properly trained person acting under the physician’s supervision, where a reasonable and prudent physician would find it consistent with sound medical judgment. The delegating physician remains responsible for the delegated act.
Tex. Occ. Code §157.001 · verified Jul 26, 2026 · regulatory monitoring, not legal advice
Related Texas rules
Laser hair removal is separately licensed in Texas and sits OUTSIDE the medical-delegation route above. No person may perform or attempt to perform laser hair removal — the use of a laser or pulsed light device for nonablative hair removal — unless they hold the appropriate certificate from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. That certificate authorizes nonablative cosmetic laser hair removal ONLY: it does not authorize the holder to diagnose, treat, or offer to treat any illness, disease, injury, defect or deformity, and the holder must disclose that limitation in writing to every client and prospective client.
Tex. Health & Safety Code §401.504 · verified Aug 17, 2026
The certificate is tiered. A laser hair removal technician certificate is the base rung; a senior laser hair removal technician must meet the technician requirements and have supervised at least 100 laser hair removal procedures, audited by a certified laser hair removal professional; and a certified laser hair removal professional must meet the senior technician requirements, hold certification from a department-recognized certifying agency, and pass a department examination. A certified professional performs laser hair removal under a protocol established with a consulting physician.
Tex. Health & Safety Code §401.505, §401.506 · verified Aug 17, 2026
How other states answer this
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Related Texas questions
- Does a med spa in Texas need a medical director?
- What must the supervising physician actually do in Texas?
- Can a medical assistant give injections in Texas?
- May an esthetician or laser technician perform microneedling in Texas?
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← All Texas 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).