WA Master Esthetician case studies
WA Master Esthetician · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Washington Master Esthetician credential is the advanced tier of esthetics licensure in Washington State. It authorizes a practitioner to perform treatments that fall outside the standard esthetician scope - deeper chemical exfoliation, light-based and laser devices, microneedling, and related advanced modalities - while working inside the state's sanitation, supervision, and safety rules. The WA Master Esthetician case studies are 5 cases and about 4,877 words.
1The Pre-Wedding Pigment Peel: Four Insults and a Deadline
A 42-year-old woman (Fitzpatrick IV) books a "pigment peel" to fade melasma and post-inflammatory marks on both cheeks before her sister's wedding in 10 days. Intake notes: tretinoin 0.05% nightly, last applied 3 days ago; eyebrow and upper-lip wax 4 days ago; doxycycline 100 mg daily started 6 weeks ago for acne; a weekend at Lake Chelan 4 days ago with visible tan lines.
916 words, about 5 min2The IPL Request With an Irregular Macule
A 36-year-old woman (Fitzpatrick V) requests IPL for "sun damage and brown patches" on her cheeks. She returned 6 days ago from a 10-day trip to Arizona, is visibly tanned with faint tan lines, and has a 9 mm brown macule on the left cheek that is irregular in shape, shows two distinct shades of brown, and has a slightly notched border; she says it "showed up about a year ago and has gotten bigger and darker." Medications: hydrochlorothiazide and a daily St.
941 words, about 5 min3Microneedling Four Months After the Last Isotretinoin Dose
A 29-year-old man requests microneedling for rolling acne scars on both cheeks and wants to add PRP ("vampire facial") the same day. History: isotretinoin 40 mg daily, final dose 5 months ago; three active, tender nodulocystic lesions on the jawline today; a raised, firm 1.5 cm scar on the right shoulder from a mole removal two years ago that he says "kept growing for months"; no history of herpes.
984 words, about 5 min4The Autoclave That Failed Its Spore Test
You have just been hired as lead esthetician at a three-room day spa in Spokane. On your first walkthrough you find: the office autoclave's biological indicator (spore test) came back positive for growth 9 days ago, and the log shows staff kept running extractors and tweezers through it because "it's only metal and everything gets wiped with alcohol first." The 70% isopropyl bottle at each station is refilled from a larger jug every few days and carries no date.
962 words, about 5 min5Three Requests From the Owner and One Lesion on the Nose
You are the senior esthetician at a Kirkland studio. The owner - who is not a licensed health care provider - asks you to (1) start offering 35% TCA peels marketed as "medical-grade medium peels," (2) let a newly licensed esthetician who has assisted on three peels perform a 30% TCA peel next week while the owner is in Hawaii, and (3) post before-and-after photos pulled from client files to the studio's Instagram; the only release on file is a two-year-old intake form stating "photos may be used for training purposes." Later that week a client points to a 7 mm pearly papule with fine visible blood vessels on her nasal ala and asks you to "freeze it off with the peel.".
1,074 words, about 5 min