Are you looking for a way to help combat how age and the environment takes a toll on your skin? It’s a problem for nearly everyone — how time and things like the sun, pollution, and other environmental elements affect our skin every day, particularly the skin on our face.
Age spots, fine lines, scars from acne and other blemishes, and other kinds of hyperpigmentation can damage our facial skin and make it look tired, older than it should, uneven and give it a rough appearance. Creams and skin care products can only do so much. If this sounds familiar to you, Spa Black has something that may help: Microdermabrasion.
Microdermabrasion is a non-invasive, non-surgical technique that can help lessen and even correct many of these issues. It’s abrasive, but only minimally so, and the technique works to “sand” the outer layer of your skin to reveal the smoother, fresher skin underneath.
Some of the main issues that this kind of procedure can help include improving age spots and hyperpigmentation, deep cleansing to remove blackheads and other blemishes, lessen stretch marks (which sometimes appear after weight loss), reduce the look of fine lines and wrinkles, help reduce the appearance of large pores, and even treat both acne and acne scars. Some rosacea sufferers can also benefit from Microdermabrasion. This procedure also works to thicken your skin’s natural collagen, which gives you younger-looking skin that appears tighter and more firm — things that we lose as we age.
Microdermabrasion is non-chemical and there are two ways to do it. The most common way can be thought of like a gentle sander for your face. Your medical spa professional uses a special tool that sprays microcrystals onto the skin of your face. Those crystals work to smooth the outer layers of skin and remove dead skin cells and other pollutants that you don’t want trapped in your skin. While this is happening, new skin cells are encouraged to grow, along with higher levels of collagen and elastin — a protein in our skin that helps maintain tightness and firmness. At the same time that those microcrystals work to loosen all the dead skin cells and pollutants, a vacuum device gently sucks it all away.
A second technique involves the use of a diamond-tipped wand. Your spa professional uses this wand on the skin of your face to do much the same thing that the microcrystals do, but can offer more precision if there are particular areas that require more attention. A vacuum device is also used here to reduce the superficial cells and pollutants as the diamond-tipped wand does its work.
Microdermabrasion is a gentler technique than traditional dermabrasion, which is used to help people who have deep facial lines, significant sun damage, and certain kinds of facial scarring. Microdermabrasion is simple and sessions are relatively quick — about half an hour in most cases. There is no pain and very little discomfort. Some people feel a mild scratching sensation as either the crystals or the wand do their work, and there is also a vibrating feeling like a massage. You may also feel slight suction across the surface of the skin due to the vacuum tool. There is no downtime following microdermabrasion sessions; your spa professional may suggest the use of special skin care products to help maintain skin afterward.
The best candidates for microdermabrasion are people who have troublesome but still mostly minor skin concerns, such as the ones noted above. Remember, this is a mild, non-invasive procedure. If you have more serious concerns such as skin sagging, deep lines or wrinkles, or severe acne or acne scarring, talk to us about other procedures that we offer that might give you better results.
To learn more about microdermabrasion and whether it can help with your skin issues, call Spa Black today.