Aesthetician vs Esthetician: Difference and Comparison

Aestheticians and estheticians have very same-sounding careers in the skin-specializing industry. They have a lot of similarities but very few and noticeable differences.

Both professions involve skincare specialization. Both of them are different in the types of skincare their clients focus upon and their preset conditions.

Key Takeaways

  1. Both aestheticians and estheticians specialize in skin care, but aestheticians focus more on enhancing beauty, whereas estheticians prioritize improving skin health.
  2. Aestheticians work in various settings, including salons and spas, offering services such as makeup application, lash extensions, and facial treatments.
  3. Estheticians are licensed professionals who diagnose and treat skin conditions, providing services like chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and acne treatments.

Aesthetician vs Esthetician

The difference between aesthetician and esthetician is that aestheticians are those skincare specialists that work in a medical background regarding skincare whereas estheticians are those skincare experts that focus upon skincare in a salon, spa, etc. Both professions have significant differences and many similarities.

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An aesthetician is a person who is a skincare specialist and focuses more on clinical knowledge and has a medical background. Aestheticians are licensed medical professionals in the skin care of the body.

They clinically perform skin treatment. Patients visit them after any medical treatment to take care of their skin. 

An esthetician is also a skincare specialist but does not belong to medical background. They work at spas, salons, and other fields to give skincare regimes and treatments like waxing, facial, serum use, etc.

They treat minor skin issues and do not get involved in the biological line of skin treatment.  

Comparison Table

Parameters of ComparisonAesthetician Esthetician
MeaningThey are skincare professionals that belong to medical backgrounds.They are also skincare specialists but do not belong to medical background.
Place of workAestheticians work in medical sectors or clinic facilities like trauma centers, private or public clinics, etc.Estheticians work in their own or someone else’s spa, salon, boutique, and related centers.
Career RequirementsAestheticians learn several subjects of biological reference like anatomy, physiology, etc.Estheticians become professionals by subjects related to salon management, massage therapy, etc. 
Job benefitsAestheticians can also get a government job like visiting centers to see if they abide by rules.Estheticians do not get government job offers as they strictly focus on skincare only.
EquipmentAestheticians use equipment that has a biological background like laser therapy, burns, and scar removal.Estheticians do not have medical equipment but they have skincare appliances.

What is an Aesthetician?

An aesthetician or a medical aesthetician or a clinical aesthetician is a skin care specialist who is a certified professional in skincare regarding the medical treatment of the skin’s epidermal and dermal layers.

Aestheticians are also trained regarding skincare regime and operations on the skin like peeling, waxing, removal of externals like tattoo, etc.

They provide a variety of skincare products, treatments, consultations, and investigate in a deep way of the skin’s medical analysis. To become an aesthetician, a variety of subjects related to the field of biology are learned.

These include subjects like physiology, anatomy, skincare analysis, etc. Once an aesthetician’s degree is occupied, he/she works in a medical center or government hospitals or centers where they treat patients with skin issues.

Usually, those patients or clients are served by aestheticians who get skin problems after a medical treatment like chemotherapy, fire scars, burns, and skin withering.

Aestheticians make use of only biological equipment and do not aim at beautifying the client as the skin parlors, salons, spas or other beauty centers do.

Aestheticians have a medical or clinical setting around them. It is a very suitable career option for someone passionate about skincare.

aesthetician

What is an Esthetician?

Estheticians are different from aestheticians. They have also licensed skincare professionals but their work area and their setting of work are different. Estheticians work in salons, spas, and beauty centers to treat people’s skin in a non-medical and non-clinical way.

They do general skincare regimes and stuff like massage, facial skin care, waxing and peeling but do not consult about medical amenities regarding skincare.

They also make use of general appliances like a hairdryer, wax cream, facial cream, etc to take care of the client’s skin. In other words, an esthetician’s place can be related to a beauty parlor.

They cannot consult with their clients regarding medicines and allergic reactions to the skin. They have nothing to deal with the epidermal and the dermal layers of the client’s skin. The job of an esthetician is more general.

The clients that visit an esthetician are not those who are already going through medical treatment. Estheticians have their prime focus on the client’s beautification.

They either work in their salon or someone else’s salon or beauty center. Their treatment type is also cosmetic. Estheticians are related to the pampering of clients and they try their best to make the client more relaxed.

esthetician

Main Differences Between Aesthetician and Esthetician

  1. Aestheticians deal with those patients or clients that either has an ongoing medical treatment or an already operated treatment whereas estheticians do not get visited by clients with a medical history. 
  2. Aestheticians do not focus on beautifying a client’s appearance but they focus upon skin treatment whereas estheticians have more focus on skin’s beautification and treatment.
  3. Aestheticians treat the skin on a medical basis whereas estheticians do cosmetic treatment on the skin.
  4. Aestheticians are more focused upon treatment of scars, burns, and injuries on the skin whereas estheticians focus upon minor factors like skin aging, wrinkles, blackheads, whiteheads, etc.
  5. Aestheticians are paid a very good amount whereas estheticians are averagely paid half as compared to aestheticians.
Difference Between Aesthetician and Esthetician
References
  1. https://www.ajodo.org/article/0002-9416(66)90250-8/pdf
  2. https://meridian.allenpress.com/angle-orthodontist/article-abstract/73/4/354/57842

Last Updated : 13 July, 2023

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11 thoughts on “Aesthetician vs Esthetician: Difference and Comparison”

  1. I have to say, as an esthetician, I find the difference in pay to be very unfair, especially given the nature of the work.

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