This advice led her to start a practice she never anticipated. Jo Ann's med spa began with just fillers and Botox but quickly expanded. "You don't wanna just put Band Aids on people," she said.

In the fall of 2023, a distraught young woman showed up at the office of New York City–based dermatologist Nkem Ugonabo, M.D., M.P.H. She’d just had laser hair removal at a med spa—one of ...