Book excerpt: This book is a resource that offers guidance to nurses who are experienced or novice aesthetic practitioners and would like to improve their aesthetic practice and enhance patient safety and satisfaction. This textbook reviews skin structure and anatomy, what happens as facial structures age, the effects of aging coupled with environmental exposures, pharmacology of medications used in aesthetics, light-based device properties, patient selection, and benefits of treatments. In addition, it includes suggestions on how to communicate with patients to achieve successful outcomes. Aesthetic Procedures: Nurse Practitioner's Guide to Cosmetic Dermatology provides practitioners a one-source resource to attain more in-depth learning about cosmetic dermatology. Although there are several texts on individual aspects of aesthetic medicine, there is no all-inclusive book for nurses. This book affords the primary care practitioner the opportunity to add minimally invasive cosmetic dermatology procedures to their practice and perform the treatments safely, efficiently and effectively while avoiding common mistakes and minimizing complication risks. Education is paramount in creating a safe patient environment and as more clinicians turn to aesthetics to augment their practice, this book will be a valuable resource for nurses and practitioners all over the world.