BOSTON -- Lasers are touted as the solution to all sorts of appearance issues with ads promising they can remove unwanted hair, cellulite and wrinkles. But local dermatologists told Team 5 Investigates they were alarmed at what they're seeing.

"In the last month, I've seen two patients who came to see me because they had moles treated in medical spas by non-medical personnel," said Dr. Jeffrey Dover, a dermatologist in Chestnut Hill.

Dr. Carl Schanbacher has also seen similar cases in his dermatology practice.

"You assume the technician wouldn't treat a bad-looking mole, but how do they know?" he said. "They have no medical training whatsoever."

Both dermatologists say once a mole is lasered off, they can no longer follow it clinically.

"The chance to see something or diagnose something as a melanoma is completely lost," said Schanbacher.

Doctors said part of the mole can still linger under the surface and cause problems. Team 5 Investigates sent two producers into a local medical spa. One went to Macmed spa in Milford where the electrologist told her she would remove flat moles, but not moles that are raised.

"Flat or raised doesn't matter," said Dr. Dover. "A brown spot could be a melanoma and if you have a spot you don't like, have it checked first before you consider having it treated."

It was a similar story at American Laser Center in Wellesley. The employee told the producer they could remove almost all the spots on her legs and never mentioned the word "mole."

But when Dover examined the producer, he said there were moles all over her legs.

"This would not respond to laser," Dover said. "In fact, it would get worse."

In a statement to Team 5 Investigates the medical director of American Laser Centers, a nationwide company, said: "All our licensed providers know they are to avoid all areas with moles, whether flat or raised," and that staff training "far exceeds the training that's required by any state."

The company said it would look into what occurred with the producer at its Wellesley center.

The manager of MacMed spa told Team 5 its staff is very qualified to treat skin and if a mole looked suspicious staff members would refer the client to a dermatologist.

Team 5 Investigates first reported on the lack of medical oversight at medical spas in 2005. Since then a medical spa task force spent nearly three years working on recommendations that led to legislation. It calls for the Department of Public Health to license medical spas and regulate who can perform certain procedures, including laser treatments for the skin. A legislative hearing is scheduled for next week.

Fourteen states require onsite medical supervision for laser treatments but Massachusetts isn't one of them. Even though the use of lasers in Massachusetts is considered to be the practice of medicine, state officials acknowledged to Team 5 investigates that it's like the wild west, with everyone from electrologists to estheticians performing the procedures.

Dover said the stakes are high. One patient who had a mole lasered off was at risk for cancer.

"It turned out the one of the moles treated was a pre-melanoma," Dr. Dover said. "Had she not come to see us she might have eventually died of melanoma."

Some medical spa representatives said this comes down to a turf battle, because dermatologists want the profitable business of cosmetic skin treatments for themselves. But doctors say it's a matter of public health.