Who may operate a cosmetic laser in West Virginia?

West Virginia enumerates what aesthetics is, so the microneedling answer is read off the list rather than inferred. “Aesthetics” or “esthetics” means any one or any combination of the following acts when done on the human body for compensation and not for the treatment of disease: (1) Administering cosmetic treatments to enhance or improve the appearance of the skin, including cleansing, toning, performing effleurage or other related movements, stimulating, exfoliating, or performing any other similar procedure on the skin of the human body or scalp; The list is closed — "any one or any combination of the following acts" — and every act on it is worked ON the skin. Microneedling punctures it. Nothing in this definition describes penetrating the skin, and the whole definition is bounded by "not for the treatment of disease".

W. Va. Code § 30-27-3(a) (aesthetics is a CLOSED list of surface acts, and none of them break skin) · verified Sep 7, 2026

The remaining limbs are topical and anatomically bounded, which is the same answer from the other direction. (2) Applying, by hand or with a mechanical or electrical apparatus, any cosmetics, makeups, oils, powders, clays, antiseptics, tonics, lotions, creams, or chemical preparations necessary for the practice of aesthetics to another person’s face, neck, back, shoulders, hands, elbows and feet up to and including the knee; (3) The rubbing, cleansing, exercising, beautifying, or grooming of another person’s face, neck, back, shoulders, hands, elbows, and feet, up to and including the knee; Even the mechanical or electrical apparatus limb is about APPLYING preparations, not about a device that penetrates.

W. Va. Code § 30-27-3(a)(2)-(3) (what an aesthetician applies, and to which parts of the body) · verified Sep 7, 2026