Skin care products alone can easily represent up to 20% of an aesthetic practice’s overall revenue, according to Alex Thiersch, J.D., founder and director of the American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) in Chicago.

“The reason for this impressive revenue stream is that these practices emphasize retail,” Thiersch tells The Aesthetic Channel. “Unfortunately, particularly among plastic surgeons, the clinician’s value proposition is surgery, so they do not necessarily spend the time, or bring someone aboard to spend the time, to focus on retail.”

Thiersch observes that successful practices use skin care to increase the credibility of their business; for example, services like a facelift or laser resurfacing are improved by using the correct skin care products.

“You do not want a client leaving the office and ruining your procedure by not using proper skin care,” Thiersch says. “Your philosophy should not be that you are selling skin care for money. It should be that you are protecting your investment in your patients and ensuring that they achieve the best result possible when they come to see you.”