Texas Border Business
Texas Border Business
Texas Southmost College will launch a Medical Aesthetics Injector Certificate program in August, offering licensed health care professionals hands-on training in cosmetic injectable procedures.
The program will begin with a 16-hour, in-person course covering neurotoxins, dermal fillers, advanced injectable techniques and complication management. The college plans to expand the course to a hybrid format.
Participants will study facial anatomy, patient assessment, injection safety, treatment planning, and procedures, including lip enhancement, jawline contouring, and masseter injections. The course will include supervised training with live models and emphasize patient care, safe practices and complication prevention.
“We take pride in hands-on training because you’re going to get the skills and be able to practice with live models,” lead instructor Cynthia Diaz said. “That is going to guarantee you feel confident when performing procedures on your own.”
Diaz has worked in medical aesthetics for more than a decade. She began her health care career more than 20 years ago as a nurse, working in intensive care units, home health, hospice care and administrative positions before completing a medical aesthetics course in New York.
“I fell in love with it,” Diaz said. “I started offering it after hours, and it eventually became my full-time job.”
Diaz later trained in South Korea and Switzerland, including with injector Julie Horne. She founded the Allure Medical Aesthetics Institute in McAllen, where she has trained health care professionals for the past 10 years. According to the college, many of those professionals later opened their own medical spas.
As the program’s lead instructor, Diaz will develop the curriculum and provide instruction on the clinical and business requirements of practicing medical aesthetics.
“My experience has shown that we need properly trained health care professionals,” Diaz said. “This is a medication we’re injecting into patients, and if done incorrectly, it can cause harm. We want to make sure our community is safe and that health care professionals are practicing safely.”
Diaz said the course will address the use of products approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and procedures for responding to complications. She said she has treated patients seeking corrective procedures after receiving injections elsewhere.
“I hear it all the time,” Diaz said. “Patients come in asking to remove lip filler. It’s very important we use FDA-approved products and know how to safely inject them.”
The program will also cover requirements for establishing a medical aesthetics business, including working with a medical director.
“Just because you know how to inject doesn’t mean you can open right away,” Diaz said. “It is considered the practice of medicine. We’ll guide participants through requirements, including working with a medical director, and we’ll show them how to start their business.”
Diaz said financing options will be available and students will earn college credit hours. The program also plans to offer online coursework and hands-on training in other locations.
“We want to expand all over the U.S. and offer these courses nationwide,” Diaz said. “If you’re in San Antonio and work full time and don’t have time to come down, you’ll be able to take online courses. We can then go there for hands-on training, or you can come here when we offer it.”
Licensed health care professionals and prospective students can attend an information session from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 30, at the Texas Southmost College ITEC Center Art Gallery.
The session will provide information about the training, answer questions and connect prospective students with the instructional team and industry partners.
