Where are the Best Aesthetic Medical Educator Training Programs?
Which Botox® and Filler Training courses are actually CME Accredited?
Who also trains in PRP, and Microneedling?
Which training programs try to upsell “advanced” courses, memberships and unaccredited board “certification”?
For the first time, several of the most visible aesthetic training programs are compared side by side in a single reference table. The goal is to provide clinicians with a centralized starting point for evaluating objective, publicly disclosed program features as of the query date shown in the table key.
While motivated providers can succeed through independent study, clinical experience, and ongoing self-education, the structure of initial training may influence clinical confidence and risk management. Programs that disclose accreditation details, named faculty, supervised hands-on instruction, and physical training locations allow clinicians to make a more fully informed purchasing decision.
Programs that rank prominently in organic search results — including Aesthetic Medical Educators Training (AMET), the American Academy of Facial Esthetics (AAFE), Empire Medical Training, the American Academy of Procedural Medicine (AAOPM), MedAesthetics Training, and PracticalCME — publish differing levels of detail regarding course structure, pricing, faculty credentials, and accreditation. The comparison tables below summarize selected elements that each organization has chosen to publish on its own website, evaluated against consistent criteria applied to every listed program.
When evaluating any aesthetic training provider, clinicians may wish to independently verify the following directly with the organization and with the relevant accrediting bodies before purchase:
The name, professional credentials, and state licensure of the specific instructor(s) assigned to the date and location of interest
The physical street address of the training venue
The CME or CE accreditation status, joint provider (if any), and current term of approval, verifiable through the accrediting body’s public provider directory
Refund, cancellation, and rescheduling policies
Any membership tiers, internal designations, or credentialing pathways that are not recognized by state licensing boards or national specialty boards
The full terms and conditions governing enrollment, including any binding arbitration or class-action waiver provisions
All information reflected in the tables below is based solely on material publicly available on each organization’s own website as of the query date indicated in the table key. Statements made in marketing copy, social media, paid advertising, and third-party listings were not considered. Additional standards, sourcing methodology, and correction procedures are summarized at the bottom of this page.
SEE THE TABLES BELOW FOR SIDE-BY-SIDE COMPARISONS BASED ON PUBLICLY AVAILABLE WEBSITE INFORMATION
Table 1 -- Training Program Accreditation, Class Size, and Faculty
Each accreditation checkmark below corresponds to a directly designated credit via a properly jointly-accredited provider, with credit hours and joint sponsor named on the company’s website. For more on what these credentials mean and which are accepted by your state licensing board, see Step 4 — Avoid These Traps in Aesthetic Training Programs.
NOTE: All data below is for the company’s introductory or first level Botox and Filler training course that includes a live hands-on component.
Last Update: 5/14/2026
Key
Verified. The organization names the joint provider (where applicable), publishes the joint provider’s contact information, publishes the current term-of-approval dates, and states the credit hours specifically designated for the credential type in the column heading applicable to all or part of the activity. The credential can be independently confirmed by cross-referencing the joint provider against the relevant accrediting body’s public provider directory.
Partial. The organization names a joint provider but does not publish complete verification information (missing contact details, missing term-of-approval dates, or both); OR the credit is claimed via reciprocity from a different accrediting body rather than direct designation; OR the credential statement is incomplete in another respect that prevents independent verification.
Not Verified. The organization claims a credential but no joint provider is named on the course page; OR the organization or its joint provider does not appear in the relevant accrediting body’s public directory; OR the credential claim is incomplete in a way that prevents any verification.
Blank cell. The organization does not claim the credential type for this course.
Hands-On Class size is noted if stated. If not stated but any photos show a group of 10 or more then that is displayed. Faculty and Location transparency: If the Guaranteed amount of hands-on product included in your tuition is specified, then it earns a checkmark here. Hands-on time alone does not count. If the faculty for each location and date is clearly listed, then a check is earned. If all dates are taught by MD’s a check is earned, or DDS for dental credit courses, then a “DDS” designation is earned. If the street address of the location is listed for each date, then that earns a checkmark.
Footnotes/Explanations
* AAFE’s accreditation page identifies Medical Education Resources (MER) as the joint provider for AMA, AANP, and ANCC credit. However, the page publishes no contact information for MER, no term-of-approval / expiration dates for any of the 13 listed activities, and misspells “ACCME” as “ACME” throughout. The AANP column on AAFE’s accreditation page lists “AMA, ACME, ANCC” — which is reciprocity language (“AANP recognizes credits from these bodies”), not a direct AANP designation. A-T.com contacted MER on multiple occasions to verify these specific activities and received no response. They get a yellow dot for street address because dates not taught at AAFE-branded medspas lack location transparency.
** The organization identifies a joint provider with proper ACCME-format accreditation statements designating credit hours, but does not publish the joint provider’s front-facing contact information or the activity’s current term-of-approval dates on the course page. A-T.com contacted the named joint providers on multiple occasions to verify these specific activities and received no response. The specific joint providers are: AKH Inc., Advancing Knowledge in Healthcare (Empire); Oakstone Publishing (AAAMS); and Medical Academy LLC (ABAM). For AAAMS and ABAM, ANCC nursing contact hours are also designated through the same joint providers. See “Independent ACCME Verification” below.
^^ AAOPM (American Academy of Procedural Medicine) is not listed in the ACCME provider directory at accme.org. Multiple AAOPM website pages state “AAOPM is accredited by the ACCME” without identifying any joint provider. AAOPM was created in 2004 by Stephen Cosentino, who also owns Empire Medical Training. The 5-member “Physician Advisory Board” that oversees AAOPM Board Certification is composed of Empire faculty. AAOPM is not recognized by any state medical, nursing, or dental board, nor by ABMS or the AOA. The “AAOPM Board Certification” credential is an internal designation, not an independent specialty board. Where AKH is properly named on related Empire course pages, the same joint-provider verification deficits noted above apply.
# AAFP-only accreditation. The American Academy of Family Physicians issues “AAFP Prescribed Credit,” which the AMA accepts as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit by formal reciprocity agreement. AAFP credit has no direct reciprocity for ANCC, AANP, or dental (ADA/AGD). State boards may accept AAFP Prescribed credit indirectly through their own acceptance policies, but the activity is not directly designated for those credentials.
*** Dermamedical’s accreditation is CPD (Continuing Professional Development), a UK credential with no US CME reciprocity.
^ Empire Medical Training and AAOPM (American Academy of Procedural Medicine) are owned by the same organization. AAOPM is a private “board certification” / membership company that is not recognized by any state or national medical, nursing, or dental board. The Empire and AAOPM training catalogs share faculty, infrastructure, and curriculum. Empire’s website properly identifies AKH as joint provider for CME credit; AAOPM’s website does not, and is itself not ACCME-accredited.
Independent ACCME Verification: All ACCME-accredited providers in the United States are listed in the public ACCME provider directory at accme.org/cme-provider-directory. As of 5/14/2026, none of the training companies listed in this comparison are themselves accredited by ACCME in their own corporate name. Every company in the table that offers AMA PRA Category 1 Credit does so through joint providership with a separately ACCME-accredited entity. The named joint providers in this comparison are: Global Education Group (PracticalCME), Medical Education Resources / MER (AAFE), AKH Inc., Advancing Knowledge in Healthcare (Empire), Oakstone Publishing (AAAMS), and Medical Academy LLC (AAAM/ABAM). Verify any company’s joint provider directly through the ACCME provider directory before relying on these credits for licensure or insurance credentialing.
Table 2 -- Classes Offered for Each Training Program
Note: Blended Online Before Live Training: Means that online training is offered prior to the live date. Some companies charge extra for this. PracticalCME’s online training is also accredited for CME.
** PracticalCME discontinued PDO Threads in 2026. Vein Sclerotherapy is non-CME Training online course only.
^ Empire and AAOPM are owned by the same person. AAOPM is simply a private board certification/membership company superimposed on top of the Empire training courses. These ratings refer to the combined offering of both websites. Blended training is listed as “optional” and an additional $500 charge when reserving a live date. 3% is added to credit card orders.
Query date: 2/16/26. Information sources are the organizations’ respective website. A-T.com does not warrant any of these companies’ websites to be current, and elements of this table can change without notice. These changes may or may not be reflected in the source website. For instance, an organization can claim to be accredited but might not have accreditation for every subject, date and every location of training.
About This Review
Editorial methodology. The companies included in the comparison tables above were selected based on visibility in U.S. organic search results for “Botox training,” “dermal filler training,” “aesthetic training,” and related queries. The columns scored reflect factors that a clinician weighing a $1,500 to $5,000 hands-on training purchase may wish to verify before enrollment, including U.S. hands-on city count, accreditation status by credit type, maximum class size, product inclusion, named faculty per training date, faculty composition, and physical venue disclosure. Dot colors are assigned based on the presence or absence of specific publicly disclosed elements on each organization’s own website, applying the same standard to every listed organization including PracticalCME.com.
Sources. All factual statements in the comparison tables and accompanying footnotes are based solely on material publicly available on each organization’s own website as of the query date shown in the table key. Statements made in third-party marketing copy, social media posts, paid advertising, online directories, podcast appearances, or unverified user reviews were not considered. Accreditation claims were cross-checked, where applicable, against the public provider directories maintained by the ACCME (accme.org), the AANP Certification Board, the ANCC, the AAFP, the ADA CERP, and the AGD PACE program. Where an organization’s website made a credit claim but the corresponding accrediting body’s directory did not list the organization or its joint provider, the discrepancy is noted in the relevant footnote.
Editorial standards. Findings in the comparison tables and accompanying footnotes represent the editorial opinion of aesthetic-training.com based on the public record at the time of review. This is a comparative editorial review and not a paid advertisement. No listed organization, including PracticalCME.com, has compensated aesthetic-training.com for inclusion in, exclusion from, or commentary within this comparison. The site does not accept sponsorship, advertising, affiliate revenue, or any other form of compensation from the training organizations referenced on this page.
Currency of information. Accreditation status, course offerings, faculty rosters, pricing, venue policies, and enrollment terms are subject to change at any time without notice from the listed organizations. The query date in the table key indicates when the information was last verified. Clinicians are encouraged to confirm current details directly with each training provider and with the relevant accrediting bodies before making any purchase decision. Page last reviewed and updated: May 14, 2026.
Correction requests. If any training organization referenced on this page identifies a factual inaccuracy in the comparison tables or footnotes, a correction will be made promptly upon written verification. Correction requests should be submitted to admin@asthetic-training.com and should include (1) the specific factual statement alleged to be inaccurate, (2) the corrected information, and (3) a direct link to the publicly available source on the organization’s own website that supports the correction. Requests that meet these three criteria will be addressed within ten business days.
Editorial independence. aesthetic-training.com is an editorial publication. It does not accept sponsorship, advertising, affiliate revenue, or other compensation from the training programs referenced on this page. The publisher, Gregory Zengo, MD, also practices aesthetic medicine and operates training programs in the field; readers are encouraged to weigh this context when evaluating any commentary on commercial offerings in this industry.
Trademarks. All product names, company names, and trademarks referenced on this page remain the property of their respective owners. References to third-party trademarks are made solely for purposes of comparative identification and editorial commentary, and do not imply any affiliation with, endorsement by, or sponsorship from the trademark holders.
No professional advice. This page is intended as a comparative editorial resource and does not constitute legal, medical, financial, regulatory, or professional advice. Clinicians considering aesthetic training should consult their state licensing board, professional liability carrier, and applicable accrediting bodies before enrollment in any program. State scope-of-practice laws governing the administration of botulinum toxin, dermal filler, and related aesthetic procedures vary by license type and by state, and the legal acceptability of training and supervised practice within any given program does not establish independent competence to perform these procedures in clinical practice.
