Med Spa Confidential - Exposing the Risks, Rewards, and Business of Beauty

Dr. Kate Dee | Medical Spa Founder & Safety Advocate

Exposing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly secrets of the Medical Aesthetics Industry.Dr. Kate Dee takes you inside the medical spa industry, an unregulated mix of medicine and marketing where the results can be stunning… or dangerous. As a board-certified Physician who left hospital medicine to found GLOW Med Spa, she’s seen both sides: the art, the science, and the shady practices that put patients at risk.You’ll hear insider stories, expert conversations, and practical advice that help you spot who’s qualified, who’s not, and how to stay safe while still looking your best.Subscribe to become a smarter patient and find out what questions to ask and how to figure out who is cutting corners in the wild west of the medspa world

  1. 6d ago

    Can You TRUST a Foot Doctor With Your Botox or Liquid BBL? [Real Case] | EP 123

    Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com Is this person even legally allowed to do this? And is it safe? This woman had been to this Midwest med spa more than once and so she trusted it. So when she was offered a liquid BBL, filler injected straight into the buttocks, she booked it. But something kept nagging at her, and she sent those two questions to the MedSpa Board before she went through with it. Host Dr. Kate Dee, board-certified MD, founder of Glow Medi Spa, and author of MedSpa Mayhem, ran a license search. The owner of a clinic selling Botox, fillers, weight loss drugs, and hormones held exactly one license. And it doesn't cover a single part of your body this med spa treats. Dr. Dee uncovers five problems stacked on top of each other, including one that puts a second license on the line. Then she answers whether the liquid BBL procedure Jenna wanted would even work. Stay until the end for the six questions Dr. Dee wants you to ask before anyone comes near you with a needle. This could be happening in your city right now and the website won't tell you. Press play and learn how to find out what your "doctor" is really licensed for before you book. Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  2. Oct 21

    6 Lymphatic Areas Your Skincare Routine MISSES | Shannon Davenport | EP 122

    Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com Are you spending a fortune on your face but still feeling swollen everywhere else? The problem might be under your skin, not on it. Dr. Kate Dee, a board-certified physician and founder of the Medspa Board, sits down with Shannon Davenport, founder and CEO of Esker Beauty. Shannon spent 12 years as a trend forecaster before ancient Greek bathing rituals inspired her to reinvent a tool bathers once carried to the baths. Dr. Dee has been using it at home, and she’s got a few things to say. Your body has a second circulatory system that moves fluid in one direction only, and it depends on your muscles to keep it flowing. Long days at a desk let that fluid pool. Rubbing your skin the wrong way works against it. Scrub too hard, and you can damage the barrier that keeps allergens out.  Dr. Dee explains how it all works in plain English, and Shannon walks you through a five-minute routine you can try tonight. If you’ve invested in your face and ignored the rest of your body, you’ll hear why that needs to change. Med spa providers will come away with clear, safe talking points for patients asking about lymphatic massage. Timestamps 00:03:40 - The Ancient Tool Behind the Body Plane 00:08:35 - Exfoliating Without Wrecking Your Barrier 00:09:42 - What’s Growing in Your Loofah 00:11:30 - Your Lymph System, Explained Simply 00:14:20 - Why Desk Days Leave You Puffy 00:19:50 - The Peach Test for Lymphatic Massage 00:24:30 - The Massage Direction Most People Get Wrong 00:31:16 - Why She Ditched Lotion for Oil 00:36:00 - The New Sunscreen Ingredient Coming From Europe 00:38:36 - Mineral vs Chemical, a Doctor Weighs In Then Dr. Dee takes on sunscreen. Mineral or chemical? She gives her honest take and explains why she’s excited about bemotrizinol, an ingredient Europeans have been using for years that the FDA only just approved. Press play now and learn the sunscreen habit Dr. Dee never skips, plus the one application mistake that could be watering down your protection. Connect with Shannon Davenport: https://eskerbeauty.com/pages/ourstory https://www.instagram.com/eskerbeauty/ Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  3. Oct 14

    What Could Be Inside 11,000 FAKE Ozempic Pens? (Doctor Explains) | EP 121

    Is Your MedSpa Certified? Check HERE → https://medspaboard.com Would you know if the Ozempic pen in your fridge was fake?   On September 29, the Justice Department announced charges against two men accused of smuggling counterfeit Ozempic from China and selling it to U.S. drug distributors at a discount. Prosecutors say one delivery alone, about 11,000 units, went to a single warehouse in Ohio.  The fakes came with counterfeit cartons, labels, inserts, and even needles. Both men are presumed innocent, and an indictment is only an allegation. But one detail stopped Dr. Kate Dee cold. The FDA warned the whole country about these fakes in December 2023, and prosecutors say the scheme kept going for months. Here’s the scariest part. Nobody knows what was inside those pens. A counterfeit could hold a completely different drug. One fake pen bought at a U.S. pharmacy did exactly that, and the drug inside can crash your blood sugar hard enough to put you in a coma or kill you. Dr. Dee reveals what it was, along with a near-fatal story you need to hear.  So she went looking for where those pens ended up. The answer isn’t the one she wanted. It points to the place most of us trust without a second thought. Dr. Kate Dee walks you through brand-name vs. compounded vs. counterfeit, the warning signs that mean you call 911 right away, and the legal gray area she put straight to the FDA. Stay to the end for her five-point checklist. It’s simple, and it could keep a dangerous pen out of your body. Press play and learn what to check before the needle goes in. Find the FDA Statement and Serial Numbers: HERE Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  4. Oct 7

    Why You’re OVERPAYING for Med Spa Lasers | Laser Rep Explains ft. Jason Peters, Aesthetic Negotiators | EP 120

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Before your next laser treatment, do you know what your provider was told when they bought the machine? Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Jason Peters who sold aesthetic lasers for 13 years. He tells us why he was "the bad guy," the sales rep in your medspa’s office. Now he runs Aesthetic Negotiators, and he's laying out the tactics he used. One of his customers bought a facial device for about $50,000. Over a five-year loan, she paid $92,000. Here's why that matters. What an owner pays for a device affects what you pay for the treatment. And an owner carrying that kind of debt can feel pressure to sell it, whether it works or not. Dr. Dee has bought these devices and laughed at more than one rep's sales spreadsheet. Jason gets into pressure tactics, loans with hidden fees, one CO2 laser he says 15 US distributors sell under different names, and devices that aren't FDA approved or cleared. They don't agree on everything and you’ll hear which laser Dr. Kate Dee won't buy. Chapters: 06:04 - Pressure Tactics Reps Use to Close a Sale 09:42 - Why Debt Pushes Med Spas to Oversell 13:37 - When Hype Outruns the Science 17:46 - The Fee Hiding in the Fine Print 24:40 - The Loan That Nearly Doubled a Device's Cost 32:12 - Imported Devices and the FDA Question 37:38 - One Laser Sold Under 15 Names 44:57 - Why the Person Holding the Device Matters Most 50:53 - The Device Dr. Dee Refuses to Buy 57:46 - Three Phone Calls to Make Before You Sign If you have a treatment booked or a quote on your desk, listen before you say yes. Owners get clear steps to take before signing. Patients see what's behind the price and the pitch. Stay until the end to hear what happened when a rep gave Dr. Dee three doctors to call about her first device. Press play and learn how laser sales work before you book or sign. Connect with Jason at Aesthetic Negotiators: https://ads.aestheticnegotiators.com/ Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  5. Sep 30

    Filler Sales Are CRASHING: 3 Reasons Why (Doctor Explains) | EP 119

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Why is the beauty industry suddenly begging you to stop saying the word "filler"? Filler sales in America are sliding fast. The Wall Street Journal has a name for it: the Great Deflate. Juvederm just lost its billion-dollar status, while spending on facelifts and nose jobs keeps climbing. So what's really happening behind the syringe? Dr. Kate Dee has been warning about overstuffed faces for years. Now the numbers are backing her up. She breaks down three forces colliding at once, including the one she says you really need to know before considering filler. You'll hear why more people need volume than ever but fewer want it injected, and why celebrities and creators are going public about the pain of dissolving old filler. Plus, one injectable company launched a campaign to rename its own product. What does that tell you? Stay until the end, Dr. Dee also runs filler through her safety, effectiveness, and reasonableness test. She covers what dissolving may not fully erase, the complication every patient deserves to hear about, and the real price and permanence of the trendy alternative. Press play and learn why a new name won't make filler any safer.  Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  6. Sep 23

    Exosomes, Stem Cells & IVs: The Industry's Biggest Hype ft. Dr. Kristin Jacobs | EP 118

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ He flew to Seattle for a stem cell treatment that promised hope where medicine had few answers. He died after the procedure, and his family later won $24 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. Host Dr. Kate Dee, founder of Glo MediSpa, sits down with Dr. Kristin Jacobs, founder of OohLaLa Spa and the newest certified member of the MedSpa Board, to take on some of the most overhyped treatments in aesthetics. Exosomes come up first. Everyone is selling them, but many people selling them cannot explain what they actually are. Dr. Dee walks through why processing and instability may leave some products without the intact exosomes patients think they are paying for. Then there is IV therapy, which sounds harmless until Dr. Dee discusses a recent New York case involving a practitioner she says had no medical license in the state and a patient who died after receiving NAD. It raises a bigger question the episode keeps returning to: who is actually qualified to provide these treatments? Handheld LED devices get the same treatment. So do facials, and Dr. Dee admits she has a soft spot for those even while questioning how necessary they really are. If you have ever paid for a treatment because it sounded impressive rather than because someone showed you the evidence, this episode is for you.  It gives you a better way to judge whether a treatment has real science behind it, whether you actually need it, and whether the person selling it should be providing it in the first place. Chapters: 00:03:16 - The Aesthetic Treatments That Sound Better Than They Work 00:08:52 - What Your Exosome Treatment May Actually Contain 00:12:40 - The $2,000 Add-On That May Not Be Worth It 00:14:41 - When Cutting-Edge Medicine Crosses the Line 00:17:30 - The Med Spa Claims That Should Make You Pause 00:20:50 - Is Your Treatment Plan Built Around You or Revenue? 00:22:26 - The Wellness Trend Doctors Are Questioning 00:23:54 - What Happened After an NAD IV Went Wrong 00:28:22 - The At-Home Skin Device Most People Use Wrong 00:33:10 - What You’re Really Paying for With a Facial 00:36:17 - The Hormone Treatment Costing Patients Extra for Nothing Stay for the end. Dr. Jacobs calls her compounded hormone treatment life changing. Dr. Dee agrees about the power of hormone therapy, but questions whether the expensive compounded version is actually necessary. Press play and learn which treatments may be worth the money, which ones deserve more scrutiny, and which ones could leave you with nothing more than really expensive urine. Connect with Dr. Kristin Jacobs: https://kristenjacobs.com/ Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  7. Sep 16

    Inside a DEADLY NAD + Infusion (Doctor Explains) | EP 117

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ A 27-year-old woman walked into a wellness clinic for a routine infusion. She never walked out.  Dr. Kate Dee is sharing details of the most disturbing cases she's covered: a fatal NAD infusion administered by a man with no license to practice medicine anywhere in the state. He claimed credentials from two other countries. None of them counted where it mattered. He's now facing charges, but the damage is already done, and this isn't an isolated incident. Dr. Dee breaks down what NAD actually is, what it's supposed to do inside your cells, and why pumping it straight into your bloodstream is a waste of money. Once you hear the science, you'll understand why an entire wellness trend built around this treatment might be sitting on a foundation of nothing. She also gets into the FDA's most serious level of warning about NAD's supply chain, why even AI gets the science wrong when you ask it, and where IV therapy actually belongs in medicine versus where it's just an expensive risk dressed up as self-care. If you've ever booked an IV drip, or you're a provider offering one right now, this episode could change your mind before something goes wrong.  Press play and learn why one of wellness's most popular trends could be the most dangerous thing in the room. Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

  8. Sep 9

    Med Spa Crackdown: Why States Are Finally Enforcing the Rules ft. Attorney Brett Elliott | EP 116

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ A woman walked into a med spa for a routine Botox appointment and never walked out, and the person who was supposed to be supervising her care wasn't even in the building. That's not a rare horror story. It's happening across the country right now, and Dr. Kate Dee wants you to understand exactly why before you book your next appointment.  In this episode, she sits down with Seattle healthcare attorney Brett Elliott to unpack the wave of new med spa laws sweeping through states like Indiana, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Illinois.  They dig into a disturbing loophole called the "ghost medical director," where a licensed physician signs a contract, collects a fee, and never actually sees a single patient.  You'll also hear how an FDA raid on a Texas med spa uncovered an unmarked vial of Botox in a dumpster, tied to a chain of suspiciously cheap Groupon deals. And in New York, a recent sweep of over 300 med spas found multiple violations including one where investigators found fentanyl on site. Brett brings the legal expertise to explain what these law changes actually mean for you. Together, they hand you the exact questions to ask before you sit down in that chair, so you're never the patient who finds out the hard way. Chapters: 02:23 - States Are Closing Med Spa Loopholes 03:29 - Indiana’s New Med Spa Rules 05:43 - Why Botox Parties Can Be Risky 07:38 - Surprise Inspections Are Changing Everything 09:25 - The Problem With Ghost Medical Directors 14:37 - How Standing Orders Get Abused 18:09 - Why Routine IVs Deserve More Scrutiny 19:44 - What Actually Counts as Medicine 22:38 - The FDA Raid That Shut Down a Med Spa 27:22 - The Fight Over Compounded GLP-1s 35:36 - What New York Found Inside 300+ Med Spas Stay until the end, because the story about what happened in New York will change how you look at that med spa on the corner. Press play and learn how to spot a fake medical director before it costs you your safety. Brett Elliott: https://www.hklaw.com/en/professionals/e/elliott-brett? Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Grab Your Copy of Medspa Mayhem the Book Today: HERE Learn about The MedSpa Board — the national registry that verifies legally compliant, doctor-led med spas. Find a certified provider near you → MedspaBoard.com Want the anti-aging essentials I actually use: Download my FREE  Gift Guide Follower Instagram: instagram.com/drkatedee Please leave us a review on Apple Podcast: HERE  Catch full podcast episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrKateDee GLOW Medspa - Seattle, WA: https://glowspaseattle.com/ Disclaimer:  This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before any aesthetic procedure. Med Spa Confidential with Dr. Kate Dee exposes illegal practices, compliance failures, and patient safety risks inside the medical aesthetics industry. Consumers learn how to find licensed injectors, avoid counterfeit products, and make safer treatment decisions. Med spa owners and providers get real accountability, industry standards, and a pa...

4.4
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Exposing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly secrets of the Medical Aesthetics Industry.Dr. Kate Dee takes you inside the medical spa industry, an unregulated mix of medicine and marketing where the results can be stunning… or dangerous. As a board-certified Physician who left hospital medicine to found GLOW Med Spa, she’s seen both sides: the art, the science, and the shady practices that put patients at risk.You’ll hear insider stories, expert conversations, and practical advice that help you spot who’s qualified, who’s not, and how to stay safe while still looking your best.Subscribe to become a smarter patient and find out what questions to ask and how to figure out who is cutting corners in the wild west of the medspa world

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