WASHINGTON — The advertising slogan is a sly double entendre: Washington's Cultura Medical Spa bills itself as "a place where it's appropriate to treat people based on the color of their skin."

Founded six years ago by two African-American physicians — cosmetic dermatologist Eliot F. Battle Jr., an expert in laser treatments, and Monte O. Harris, a board-certified otolaryngologist who specializes in rhinoplasty and other facial plastic surgery — Cultura is one of the first centers in the country to focus on the burgeoning field known as "ethnic plastic surgery."

Two-thirds of the center's patients are nonwhite, many of them black women who in increasing numbers are seeking such procedures as nose jobs and laser hair removal that until recently were largely the province of well-heeled white women. Many of these patients, doctors say, are also seeking treatments that seek to enhance — not obscure — their racial or ethnic characteristics.

Although white women continue to dominate the ranks of cosmetic medicine, the number of black, Hispanic and Asian patients has escalated dramatically in the past five years, according to officials at the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

Experts say the growth reflects increased acceptance of such procedures within these groups, greater economic clout and larger numbers of minority specialists whom many ethnic patients regard as more attuned to their needs.

In 2002, according to statistics compiled by the ASPS, minorities accounted for 16 percent of plastic surgery patients. Four years later, minorities accounted for 23 percent of patients.

The rise in the number of ethnic patients is noticeable in Washington, cosmetic surgeons say, because of its diverse population and high levels of disposable income in some minority groups.

Doctors in cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia — places which, like Washington, are not considered hotbeds of plastic surgery — are reporting similar increases. In the past few years, Chicago's Northwestern University opened a Center for Ethnic Skin, and Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit launched a Multicultural Dermatology Clinic.

Surgeons say that minority women request many of the same procedures as whites, but there are some differences. Surgery to create a crease in the eyelid to give the eye a more open look is popular among Asian-American women, while breast reduction, virtually the only cosmetic procedure that may be covered by insurance because it is usually considered functional, is popular among African-Americans.

Some patients say minority physicians are more sensitive to their aesthetic concerns and have greater skill treating darker skin, which is more prone to scarring and pigment changes than white skin.

"I was looking for a doctor with a laser background" who was experienced with African-American skin, said Miriam Rudder, 50, a Cultura patient since 2001, when she underwent laser hair removal on her underarms. "I didn't want to get burned."

Ten years ago, nonwhite women — and whites with a suntan — were warned that they risked permanent scarring if they underwent laser hair removal as Rudder did, cosmetic dermatologists say.

Battle, 50, left a career in international marketing at IBM when he was 34 to enter medicine. A graduate of Howard University and its medical school, he completed a laser dermatology fellowship at Harvard Medical School and displays an evangelical fervor about ethnic skin care. While at Harvard he helped develop laser treatments now widely used to treat dark skin.

First-generation lasers, he recalls, were designed for light skin and dark hair — and the risks of scarring dark or tanned skin were well-known. But the newer lasers that he helped pioneer mean "I can treat the darkest African and Indian skin safely."

Equal parts glossy retail cosmetics counter, candle-scented day spa and white-coated medical practice with a stable of 30 lasers, Cultura treats about 85 patients six days a week.

They include former Miss America Ericka Dunlap tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams; and basketball stars Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning. Some patients have come from as far as Turkey, Iran and Brazil.

"This place is a mini-U.N.," Battle said, referring to its clientele and staff.