Changing Careers: Nurses Transitioning to Aesthetic Roles

Anni Kim didn’t imagine she’d wind up using Botox to help people right from her patient’s bedside.

After earning her nursing degree, she spent over seven years as a surgical trauma ICU and rapid response nurse at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Eventually, she made the shift to become a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgery injector.

Kim’s initial motivation for entering nursing was a genuine desire to assist others, as she shared in a recent interview. But following her time in the hospital, she found herself questioning the ongoing staffing shortages and their implications, especially heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. A personal note came when her grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, which brought the importance of patient dignity into sharp focus.

“I thought, this is insane. They’re understaffing us to save money, who knows?” Kim reflected. “You’re essentially set up to fail every shift, and if you make it through, it’s like, ‘Oh, I survived another day.’ Patients miss out on the necessary care, which only leads to more long-term issues.”

During her time at Dartmouth, she earned $120,000 annually. After leaving, she briefly explored traveling nursing, raking in $4,000 to $5,000 weekly. Yet, despite the decent pay, she realized she couldn’t stay in the hospital environment. The outlet reached out to Dartmouth-Hitchcock for a comment but didn’t receive one immediately.

As she transitioned to work as an esthetician, Kim had to take a significant pay cut to $30 an hour. Initially, she couldn’t fully detach from her previous role and picked up shifts at the hospital. Now, she has settled into her new career and makes around $130,000 a year.

“There’s a saying in medicine: nothing changes until someone dies,” she explained. “I didn’t want to wait for that moment. It’s just basic common sense, but sadly, that seems lost on some. Morally, I couldn’t continue.”

Recently, approximately 15,000 nurses in New York City have raised similar concerns, staging picket lines in what has become the largest nursing strike in the city’s history. These nurses, primarily from Mount Sinai, NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, and Montefiore Medical Center, accuse large healthcare organizations of lacking adequate resources for patient safety and basic protection for nurses.

With calls for enhancements in staffing and salary, the hospitals have responded with temporary fixes, like using temporary nurses who are reportedly overworked. The health facilities assert they’ve already taken steps to address past grievances.

Given the tumultuous state of things in New York, it’s perhaps not surprising that many nurses across the country are opting for the calmer environment of medical spas. While the financial transition can be challenging—some are indeed finding better compensation—in Kim’s case, that change has been fruitful.

As indicated by reports, the average starting wage for a Registered Nurse in New York State hovers around $33.70 per hour, equating to approximately $70,087 annually. California’s starting salaries are slightly lower depending on the region.

Conversely, the average hourly wage for cosmetic nurses in New York is about $42.25, summing up to roughly $87,874 annually. In California, the figure sits around $38.11 per hour, or $79,269 annually, with potential for higher earnings based on experience.

Dr. Rose Sherman, a nursing leadership expert, has noted an increase in shifts among medical nurses toward aesthetic careers—instead of enduring the high-pressure environment of hospitals, many are looking to work in settings that focus on beauty treatments.

“We’ve heard from hospital administrators noticing this trend,” she remarked. “Some staff members have expressed that their ultimate aim is to work in a medical spa, with some already finding part-time jobs and taking courses on administering Botox.”

Sherman pointed out the approximately 10 to 15,000 registered nurses working in medical spas in comparison to the broader nursing workforce of around 4 million, indicative of a growing movement among nurses opting for more fulfilling roles outside acute care.

Bea Ohanian, another former nurse who transitioned to cosmetic nursing after working in the COVID-19 environment, noted that while she now earns more in aesthetics, it took time to surpass her hospital salary.

“It’s definitely achievable to earn more in aesthetics over time, but you need about two to four years of effort to really establish a loyal clientele,” Ohanian explained. She started in a high-volume hospital, but her goal was always aesthetic nursing.

Initially, she earned $52 per hour at a hospital, but faced a pay cut to $30 an hour in aesthetics, which later increased to around $75 per hour based on commissions.

As she described her former hospital experience, the environment was fast-paced, and the pressure was palpable. “Protocol changes were frequent, and the nurse-to-patient ratio was often non-compliant,” she recalled. “I remember being overwhelmed during my second week and crying when management announced I’d be out for the night on my own.”

Despite starting off intending to work in hospitals, Ohanian’s mental health took a toll, pushing her to switch to aesthetics, a decision she doesn’t regret. She emphasizes, however, that aesthetic nursing comes with its own set of challenges and isn’t as simple as it appears on social media.

“When I began working in beauty, it looked effortless,” she said, “but once you start trying to do well, you realize that mistakes can be serious, especially when it involves needles.” Understanding anatomy and how to navigate the procedures safely, she noted, isn’t something most nurses learn without specializing in aesthetics.

Ohanian believes that her hospital experience has been invaluable, and she encourages nurses who genuinely have an interest in aesthetics to make the leap if they feel it’s right for them. But, she warns, the first steps may involve a pay cut and expenditures for necessary training. It’s not a transition for the faint-hearted or for those simply looking to escape the rigors of the hospital.