Making the Transition from Beauty Salon to Health Care

When it comes to your face, Amber Sketers can tell you everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. Sketers is an aesthetician (facialist), working at the Atmosphere Day Spa in Woodland Hills, Calif. She's happiest when she is steaming pores open, applying facial masks, and massaging away someone's stress.

"The thing I love most about being an aesthetician is when I can make someone's day. Sometimes people come in stressed or sad but by the end of the facial they look totally tranquil," says the 31-year-old Sketers.

Not so tranquil, though, is the state of her business. After spending over 600 hours studying how the skin works and what the underlying causes of skin problems might be, then applying that knowledge on fellow students and passing a test administered by the California State Board of Cosmetology just to practice, Sketers now finds herself at a crossroads.