Why are laser treatments so expensive?

I'm surprised we aren't asked this question more often. There are several contributing factors that determine pricing of laser treatments. First, in California, class IV medical lasers cannot be used by anyone other than a Registered Nurse or Physician. Because only registered medical professionals can use lasers the cost of the wages for the persons that perform the procedures is high. The salary of a licensed medical person is considerably different than that of a technician or esthetician. A second contributing factor to the cost of laser treatment is the cost of lasers themselves. Lasers can cost between $60,000 and $150,000 so it takes a lot of treatments to pay these equipment costs off. The technology is ever-evolving and quite advanced. Laser equipment is quite sensitive and costly to maintain and/or repair. A preventative maintenance contract for one laser may run over $15k per year. A third factor is the cost associated with malpractice insurance. We live in a very litigous society and the cost of protecting oneself from lawsuits is high. The cost of aquiring patients is high because the market for cosmetic procedures is competitive. Although most practices stay healthy through referral business, most do maintain some form of advertising budget to attract new customers. The cost of patient acquisition does contribute to the total cost of the procedures. Often, we receive calls from consumers shopping around for the lowest price. We remind them that, although cost is important, results and safety are what keeps our patients coming back. The comment that "laser treatments are almost as expensive as surgery"...seems like quite an over-statement, as any surgical procedure in a surgical setting will always be far more expensive.

I agree with Ms. Haney's opinion. Also, in a decent laser practice one needs multiple laser machines for different treatments. When one is providing customized non-surgical treatments, it takes a lot of skill and cost to provide consistently good results. I hope this helps.