By the Templateez Team · July 2026

Medical Spa Intake Forms: Why the Paperwork Needs to Be Medical-Grade

There is a disconnect at the heart of the med spa industry. The client walks into a space that looks like a luxury day spa — soft lighting, cucumber water, ambient music. They are there for Botox, or a chemical peel, or laser hair removal. It feels like a pampering appointment. But what is about to happen is a medical procedure, performed with medical-grade products, sometimes involving needles and anesthetics, and the intake paperwork needs to reflect that.

Too many med spas treat intake like a retail checkout. Name, email, credit card, sign the iPad, sit down. That works for a facial. It does not work for injectable neurotoxins, dermal fillers, intense pulsed light therapy, or any procedure that involves breaking the skin, numbing agents, or products that interact with the client’s medications. When something goes wrong — and in aesthetics, “something going wrong” ranges from a bruise that lasts three weeks to vascular occlusion from a misplaced filler — the intake form is the first document that gets pulled.

Medical history: the section that protects everyone

A med spa intake form needs a real medical history section, not a one-line “any medical conditions?” field. Here is why: the list of contraindications for common aesthetic procedures is long and specific, and clients do not always know what matters.

Pregnancy and breastfeeding are obvious — most injectables and many laser treatments are contraindicated during pregnancy. But autoimmune disorders like lupus, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis affect wound healing and can make certain procedures dangerous. A history of keloid scarring means the client may scar badly from any procedure that breaks the skin. Herpes simplex (cold sores) can be reactivated by laser treatments and chemical peels around the mouth, turning a cosmetic treatment into an outbreak that takes weeks to heal.

The intake form should use a check-all-that-apply grid. The grid needs to include: autoimmune disorders, diabetes, bleeding disorders, keloid or hypertrophic scarring history, herpes simplex, skin cancer history, seizure disorder, pregnancy or nursing, and any active skin infections. Each of these affects treatment decisions. A checkbox grid takes thirty seconds to fill out and covers conditions that the client would not think to mention unprompted.

Medications: the ones that matter most

Certain medications are red flags in aesthetics, and the intake form should call them out specifically rather than relying on a generic “list your medications” field.

Accutane (isotretinoin) is the big one. Clients who have taken Accutane within the past six to twelve months should not have chemical peels, microdermabrasion, or laser resurfacing. Their skin is thinner and more fragile, and healing is impaired. The intake form should ask not just “are you currently taking Accutane?” but “have you taken Accutane in the past 12 months?” The distinction matters.

Blood thinners — warfarin, aspirin, fish oil, even high-dose vitamin E — increase bruising risk with injectables. Retinoids (tretinoin, adapalene) thin the skin and affect healing from peels and laser treatments. Immunosuppressants alter the body’s response to any procedure that involves tissue disruption. Photosensitizing medications — certain antibiotics (doxycycline, tetracycline), some antidepressants, and some diuretics — make laser and IPL treatments more likely to cause burns or hyperpigmentation.

The form should list these categories explicitly with checkboxes, with space for the client to add others. A prompted list catches things that a blank “medications” field misses, because the client taking daily baby aspirin does not think of it as a medication until you ask about blood thinners specifically.

Treatment history: what has been done before

Prior aesthetic treatments affect what can be done next. A client who had dermal filler placed six months ago in the same area where you are about to inject more filler needs a different approach than a first-time client. A client who had a bad reaction to a specific brand of neurotoxin should not receive the same brand. A client who had laser hair removal recently should not have certain other laser treatments on the same skin.

The intake form should capture: prior Botox or neurotoxin treatments (brand, date, areas treated, any complications), prior dermal filler treatments (brand, date, areas, any complications including lumps or migration), prior laser treatments (type, date, results), chemical peels (type, depth, date), microneedling, and any adverse reactions to prior aesthetic procedures. “Any complications” is the key follow-up. A client who developed granulomas from a previous filler needs that documented before anyone picks up another syringe.

Allergies: the ones unique to aesthetics

Beyond standard drug allergies, med spa intake forms need to ask about allergens specific to aesthetic procedures. Lidocaine allergy matters because topical lidocaine is the standard numbing agent for injectables and many laser procedures — if the client is allergic, an alternative has to be arranged in advance, not discovered when the numbing cream causes a reaction. Latex allergy matters because some gloves and equipment components contain latex. Hyaluronic acid sensitivity is rare but possible, and it matters for anyone receiving HA-based fillers.

The form should also ask about allergies to specific skincare ingredients: salicylic acid, glycolic acid, hydroquinone, and common preservatives. These come up in chemical peels and post-treatment skincare protocols. Finding out about a glycolic acid allergy after the peel is already on the skin is not a situation anyone wants to be in.

Skin type assessment and treatment goals

Med spas treat clients across the full Fitzpatrick skin type scale, and the skin type affects which treatments are safe and effective. Laser treatments in particular carry higher risks of hyperpigmentation and burns on darker skin tones. The intake form should include a Fitzpatrick scale self-assessment (types I through VI, with plain-language descriptions like “always burns, never tans” through “never burns, deeply pigmented”) and ask about recent tanning, both sun and artificial. A client who just came back from a beach vacation has a different treatment profile than the same client in January.

Treatment goals deserve their own section. What does the client want to achieve? Wrinkle reduction, volume restoration, skin texture improvement, acne scar treatment, hair removal, body contouring? And — this is the question that separates a good intake from a mediocre one — what are the client’s expectations? “What results are you hoping for?” in the client’s own words gives the provider a sense of whether the client’s expectations are realistic. A client who expects Botox to make them look twenty years younger needs an expectations conversation before treatment, not after.

Before-and-after photo consent

Most med spas take before-and-after photos for the clinical record. Many also want to use them on social media and marketing materials. These are two different consents, and the intake form should treat them separately. Consent for clinical photography (“photos taken for your medical record”) is standard. Consent for marketing use (“photos may be used on our website, social media, or promotional materials”) should be a separate opt-in checkbox that the client can decline without affecting their treatment. Combining them into a single consent pressures the client into agreeing to marketing use as a condition of being treated, which is not appropriate.

HIPAA compliance in a spa setting

If a med spa is operated under a physician’s medical license — and in most states, it has to be — then HIPAA applies. The intake form is a medical record. It contains protected health information. It needs to be stored securely, transmitted securely, and produced on request. Every page should carry a HIPAA-compliant footer. The client’s acknowledgment of the Notice of Privacy Practices goes on the client questionnaire.

The spa-like atmosphere does not change the legal requirements. A fillable PDF completed on a tablet in the treatment room and saved to a secure system handles HIPAA better than a paper form sitting on a reception desk between the candle display and the product samples.

The form set

The Templateez medical spa and aesthetics intake form set includes the provider intake form and client questionnaire as matched fillable PDFs. Medical history grid with aesthetics-specific conditions, medication section with Accutane/retinoid/blood thinner prompts, treatment history, allergy checklist, Fitzpatrick skin type assessment, treatment goals, photo consent (clinical and marketing separated), and provider notes. HIPAA footer on every page.

Related sets: dermatology for practices that straddle medical and cosmetic dermatology, and dental for med spas co-located with cosmetic dentistry offices. All 21 healthcare form sets are available in the Healthcare Bundle at 40% off.