Choosing the Best Skin Therapy

There are plenty of choices on the market to help you maintain your youthful appearance but it all starts with your skin. Fine lines, faint acne scars, the beginnings of wrinkles- all of these blemishes work together to make your face look older than you are. And while you should age gracefully, you shouldn’t age badly. There are currently a lot of options out there to help you keep your skin looking wrinkle free and youthful regardless of your age including chemical peels, laser peel also known as laser resurfacing, dermabrasion, Botox and a wide assortment of surgical cosmetic procedures. However if you are looking for something that is less invasive than surgery and less painful than having the top layer of your skin removed with chemicals or lasers, Microdermabrasion is also known as micro-resurfacing may be the answer. Microdermabrasion is a non surgical, non invasive method that removes the outer layer of dead skin from your face and takes away fine lines, wrinkles and acne scars in the process. Your new layer of skin is tighter and blemish free so you look younger again.

The process works by exfoliating the outer layer of skin cells by using either a mechanical method such as abrasive paddles or crystals that pass over the surface of the skin followed by a suction piece to remove the dead skin layer or by applying a cream with abrasive particulates that is rubbed into the skin.

There are a wide variety of benefits to Microdermabrasion include the fact that it is non invasive, safe and non surgical. However as with any type of treatment there are restrictions on who is a good candidate for using this method. People who have open skin sores from herpes, acne, lesions or eczema for example should not have this procedure done because it will aggravate their skin and make their medical condition worse. People with lupus dermatis or people who have used Accutane within the last six months should also avoid this type of skin treatment.

If you are a good candidate for Microdermabrasion treatment it only takes fifteen to thirty minutes and the side effects are minimal and include possible swelling and redness in the treated area. Unlike chemical peels the actual treatment is not painful and most patients describe it as pleasant- like a facial massage.

After your treatment your skin will be more sensitive to the sun and you will need to use sunscreen but you should be using sunscreen to protect your skin from environmental agents anyway. Obviously since this is a non invasive method, there is no down time and no need for pain relievers afterwards as you would need for other types of more invasive and aggressive treatment methods.

Microdermabrasion treatments have remained very popular in the United States with over 550,000 treatments performed in 2008 alone. The average cost is $75 per session which makes this a more affordable option than most other options that are available.