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. 1d ago

    Peptide Injections: When It Crosses Into a Felony (Doctors Explain) ft. Dr. Flora Waples | EP 107

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ What if the injectable everyone's raving about is not what's actually in the bottle? From BPC-157 for healing, growth hormone secretagogues for muscle, bone, sleep, and skin, to tanning peptides that can turn pale skin dark in a matter of weeks.  Host Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Flora Waples, a Colorado physician who's studied peptides more closely than almost anyone willing to talk about them plainly. Together they walk through the most popular ones: what the science actually shows, what's still mostly theory, and which peptides Dr. Waples won't prescribe, no matter who's asking. Your feed is full of people swearing these tiny compounds changed their lives. What most of them aren't saying is where the vial came from. A lot of people self-injecting peptides are buying them from gray-market sources, often overseas, with no reliable proof of what's actually inside. Then it gets complicated. The FDA restricted many of these peptides in 2023, and an advisory meeting set for July 2026 could shift how compounding pharmacies handle some of them.  You'll find out what's actually legal to buy, when injecting someone crosses into practicing medicine without a license, and why one person in Seattle nearly died after ordering what they thought was Ozempic Chapters: 00:01:30 - Why Peptides Are Everywhere 00:03:10 - What Peptides Actually Do 00:09:30 - Does BPC-157 Really Heal Faster 00:11:30 - The Long-Term Risk Nobody Knows 00:15:53 - Growth Hormone Peptides Explained 00:20:48 - TB500 and the Wolverine Stack 00:25:41 - Why Melanotan Raises Red Flags 00:28:08 - Selank, Semax, and Feeling Better 00:32:09 - How Illegal Are These Peptides 00:40:16 - The Supply Chain Problem 00:46:43 - What to Check Before Injecting If you've thought about trying peptides, or you treat patients who have, this episode hands you the questions to ask before anyone picks up a needle. Because the real question isn't just whether a peptide works, but whether you can prove what's in the bottle. Press play and find out which peptides might be worth it, and which ones could put you in the hospital. Connect with Dr. Flora Waples: https://www.restormedicalspa.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...

    48 min
  2. Jul 1

    Why I Stopped Offering Kybella | Fat Dissolving Injections | EP 106

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Why would a doctor stop offering a treatment that is FDA approved, supported by studies, and still available at some med spas? Host Dr. Kate Dee starts a new series on treatments she says no to, beginning with Kybella, the fat-dissolving injectable used for under-chin fat. She explains why she offered it early on, how deoxycholic acid is supposed to break down fat cells, and why her real-world experience changed her mind. You’ll learn: Why FDA approval does not automatically mean a treatment is the right choice for every patientWhat patients should know about cost, swelling, bruising, downtime, and unpredictable resultsWhy patient selection matters, especially when skin laxity is part of the problemHow to tell whether a provider has truly thought through a treatment, or is simply offering what is being marketed to themAs the founder and medical director of GLOW Medi Spa, Dr. Dee has spent years watching aesthetic treatments rise in popularity, only to become less impressive once real patients, real costs, and real outcomes are involved.  Her standard is simple: if she would not recommend it for herself, she will not casually recommend it to her patients. And you have to hear the patient story she shares because it became the moment that made her stop offering Kybella for good. Press play to learn why “approved” does not always mean “worth it,” and what questions to ask before you spend money on any aesthetic treatment. 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...

    13 min
  3. Jun 24

    Complaints, Hidden Cameras & Suspended Licenses: Inside Med Spa Investigations ft. Shonra Weiss, NP-C | EP 105

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ What does it actually take for the nursing board to show up at your med spa with a hidden camera and a badge? Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Shonra Weiss, a nurse practitioner, med spa co-owner, and consultant who reviews cases for the California nursing board. Shonra has seen what these investigations look like from the inside: the complaints, the undercover visits, the social media evidence, the patient records, and the mistakes that can put a license at risk. This episode reveals how nursing board investigations actually start, what triggers them, what investigators look for, and why doing the right thing for your patient may not be enough if the rest of your practice does not hold up. You’ll hear about providers practicing on suspended licenses, nurses treating patients without proper good faith exams, standing orders being misunderstood, and medical directors who are too remote to manage the complications happening under their license. Shonra also shares the cases that are harder to forget: patients dismissed when they reported serious symptoms, one case involving permanent injury, and another involving scarring that may never fully heal. Chapters: 00:02:30 - How Med Spa Complaints Start 00:03:23 - Are Investigators Watching Instagram? 00:04:54 - When RNs Treat Without Orders 00:06:05 - Standing Orders Are Not Blanket Permission 00:10:00 - Remote Medical Directors Put Patients at Risk 00:14:17 - What a Real Patient Evaluation Requires 00:19:36 - When Complications Get Ignored 00:21:46 - The Filler Risks Patients Never Hear 00:23:21 - Informed Consent Is Not a Form 00:26:20 - What Safer Filler Aftercare Looks Like 00:30:13 - Why Bigger Violations are Missed 00:32:49 - What Real Medical Oversight Looks Like 00:37:24 - How Complications Happen  00:40:20 - Raising the Standard for Med Spas But here’s the part that matters most: some of these providers thought they were doing everything right. If you work in a med spa, own one, or book aesthetic treatments, you need to understand what is happening behind the scenes right now. Press play and learn what the nursing board already knows, and what it could mean for the med spa you're trusting with your face. Connect with guest: https://www.aestheramedspa.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...

    43 min
  4. Jun 17

    IV Therapy: Expensive Urine or Legitimate Medicine? (Doctor Explains) | EP 104

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Is sticking a needle in your arm better medicine than drinking a glass of water? IV hydration therapy has become a multibillion-dollar wellness business, built on the promise that a drip can do what your body supposedly cannot. Host Dr. Kate Dee breaks down what actually happens when your body absorbs water, vitamins, and electrolytes, and why many healthy people paying for IV drips may be buying very expensive urine. She explains when IVs are legitimate medicine, who is legally allowed to prescribe them, and why a nurse handing you a menu and taking your order may be a bigger red flag than most patients realize. She also covers what can happen when IV therapy goes wrong. Not in theory. In real cases. Patients have died after walking into wellness clinics for elective IV treatments, including cases involving improperly handled electrolyte formulas and IV ingredients that never belonged in a vein. The growth of IV bars did not happen because the science suddenly got stronger. It happened because the margins are high, the demand is real, and oversight has not kept up. Stay until the end, because Dr. Kate Dee explains what a legal, ethical IV service should actually look like, what questions to ask before anyone touches your vein, and when the safer choice is simply water, electrolytes, and time. Press play and learn why a billion-dollar industry might be built on something your body never needed. 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...

    15 min
  5. Jun 10

    Florida's Plastic Surgery Problem (Who’s Actually in Charge?) ft. Dr. Alexander Zuriarrain } EP 103

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ If something goes wrong on the operating table, do you know who's actually responsible?  Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Alexander Zuriarrain, a Miami-based plastic surgeon with four board certifications and years of experience as a medical-legal expert witness. He has reviewed the cases where cosmetic procedures went very, very wrong. And he is here to explain what patients rarely see before they book. You’ll learn why “awake facelifts” are one of the most marketed and misunderstood procedures in cosmetic surgery right now, and why sedation, local anesthesia, and poor patient selection can create serious risks. Dr. Zuriarrain breaks down what separates a bad outcome from real malpractice, and why many patients don’t understand the difference until they are dealing with a result they never expected. He also shares the red flags patients almost never think to check, including one resource hiding in plain sight that can reveal how a clinic actually operates behind the scenes. Chapters: 00:01:30 - Does Florida Have a Hidden Surgery Problem? 00:03:25 - Plastic Surgeon vs Cosmetic Surgeon 00:06:53 - Who Should Touch Your Face 00:10:25 - The Awake Facelift Risk 00:13:02 - When Local Anesthesia Turns Dangerous 00:16:00 - Why Bad Surgeries End Up In Court 00:17:23 - The Procedure Patients Think They Need 00:18:54 - When Complications Become Devastating 00:22:40 - Bad Outcome or Malpractice 00:30:56 - Social Media Changed Plastic Surgery 00:35:15 - The Medical Director Red Flag 00:36:39 - How To Vet A Surgery Clinic 00:44:23 - Don’t Make This Decision Alone If you’re considering any cosmetic procedure, or you just want to understand how these clinics really work behind the scenes, this episode will change how you research any practice going forward. Stay until the end as Dr. Zuriarrain shares one detail about deceased medical directors that most patients would never think to check. Press play and learn exactly what to ask before you let anyone touch your face. Connect with Dr. Z: https://www.zuriplasticsurgery.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...

    46 min
  6. Retatrutide Weight Loss Truth (Doctor Explains) | EP 102

    Jun 3

    Retatrutide Weight Loss Truth (Doctor Explains) | EP 102

    Find or Get Your Medspa Certified: https://medspaboard.com/ Would you take a weight loss drug that outperforms bariatric surgery if your doctor told you it wasn't legal yet? There's a new drug making waves in weight loss medicine. The clinical trial results are unlike anything we've seen before. And some clinics are already injecting it into patients, even though it's not legal to do so. It's called Retatrutide.  And Dr. Kate Dee wants you to know exactly what it is before someone tries to sell it to you. She breaks down how this triple-receptor drug works, why the weight loss numbers out of phase three trials are turning heads, and what the side effects actually look like when you read the data carefully.  Dr. Dee also explains the legal landscape in plain terms because right now, there is no legal pathway to get this drug outside of a clinical trial. Not through a compounding pharmacy, not through a wellness clinic, not anywhere. She's here to make sure you're not the person who finds that out the hard way. If you're already on a GLP-1 medication and wondering what's next, this episode gives you a clear framework for thinking through that question. If you've seen retatrutide mentioned online and you're curious, this is the episode that separates the science from the hype. Press play as Dr. Dee shares her own personal take and it might surprise you. 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...

    16 min
  7. May 27

    This Skin Tightening Device SKIPPED Human Trials (It's in Med Spas) ft. Dr. Corinne Erickson - Dermatologist | EP 101

    What if the skin-tightening device your med spa is pushing on you has zero human safety data? Not outdated data. Not limited data. Zero. That's the reality behind one of the most hyped devices in aesthetics right now, and Dr. Kate Dee isn't staying quiet about it. Dr. Kate Dee sits down with Dr. Corrine Erickson, a board-certified dermatologist and owner of Georgia Skin Specialists in Atlanta, to cut through the noise on non-invasive skin tightening. These treatments are everywhere right now, and so is the misinformation. They name the devices that had good ideas but poor execution, including some that are still being sold today. Then they break down what the newer generation of RF technology actually does, how it works, and why the science behind it matters more than the marketing. Dr. Erickson chose her device based on published clinical data, head-to-head studies, and real-world outcomes. Not Instagram hype. Actual evidence. Meanwhile, Dr. Dee raises serious questions about one device flying off shelves right now whose only published safety study was done on two-to-three-month-old pigs. That device is being sold in med spas across the country right now. Maybe even yours. Chapters: 00:03:02 - The Real Problem With Older RF Devices 00:04:18 - The New Generation of Skin Tightening Machines 00:07:12 - Is Korean Technology Leading This Space? 00:08:35 - The Mistake That Causes Facial Fat Loss 00:12:22 - What Skin Tightening Actually Feels Like Now 00:15:18 - How Long Results Really Take to Show Up 00:18:33 - The Temporary Tightening Effect Patients Mistake for Results 00:20:48 - The Red Flags Around Zerf and Deeper RF Claims 00:24:52 - SofWave is Still Raising Concerns 00:27:05 - The One Treatment You Should Use Before Events 00:29:22 - The Skin Tightening Add-On Patients Don’t Expect 00:30:12 - The New Treatment for “Sleevage” 00:33:18 - Non-Surgical Body Tightening Limits 00:35:05 - The Device You Should Avoid 00:36:02 - The Biggest Red Flag in Aesthetic Marketing 00:37:02 - Why Consumers Need to Verify Licenses and Oversight 00:39:32 - Why RF Microneedling Devices Keep Causing Injuries If you've ever considered a skin-tightening treatment, or you've already had one and wondered whether it was the right call, this episode gives you the questions you should have been asking before you walked in the door. Press play and learn exactly what to ask before you book any skin-tightening treatment you've seen all over social media. Connect with Dr. Connie Erickson: https://georgiaskinspecialists.com/providers/corinne-erickson/ 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...

    44 min
  8. May 20

    100 Patients Injected With Illegal GLP-1 at This Med Spa

    The Safer Way to Choose a Medspa → MedspaBoard.com What if the "FDA-approved" weight loss shot you just got… wasn't? The headlines reduced this story to a clinic shutdown and a few thousand dollars in penalties. But Dr. Kate Dee exposes what may have actually happened behind the scenes: roughly 100 patients allegedly injected with research-grade peptides never intended for human use. This could be happening right now in your state, possibly at a clinic down the street, and most patients would never know until something goes wrong. Dr. Kate Dee breaks down the real Alabama case that should have made national headlines. According to the complaint, a med spa allegedly injected patients with substances labeled “not suitable for direct human consumption” while patients believed they were receiving FDA approved GLP-1 medications. She explains how a gray-market peptide supplier, questionable oversight, and loopholes inside the med spa industry created the perfect storm for patient harm and why the consequences handed down barely reflect how serious this case really was. Press play before ordering your next weight loss shot. 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...

    19 min
4.5
out of 5
28 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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