Microdermabrasion – A Skin Care Treatment Alternative
Microdermabrasion is a fairly new skin-care treatment that is an effective alternative to costlier and more invasive procedures such as plastic surgery, chemical peels, and Botox injections. It is deemed as an “instant facelift,” a new technique that has crossed over from Hollywood into the mainstream.
Microdermabrasion is a general term for the application of tiny rough grains to buff away the surface layer of skin. The procedure is not very painful and requires no anesthetic. It is usually done to the face, chest, neck, arms or hands to remove sun-damaged skin and to remove or lessen scars and dark spots on the skin.
The surface layer of your skin is called the stratum corneum, which is part of the epidermis. It is the layer of dead skin cells on top of other layers of cells that are in the process of maturing. The stratum corneum mostly acts as a barrier between the outside world and the lower skin layers.
All of the action in microdermabrasion takes place at the level of the stratum corneum. Affecting deeper layers of skin would be painful and harmful, and it would risk permanently embedding the tiny grains into the skin.
In a nutshell, microdermabrasion is a skin resurfacing treatment that uses tools or products designed for home use, in order to rejuvenate and restore natural glow to the skin.
There is only one, though minor, risk associated with microdermabrasion: tampering with the skin's color balance. Put in another way, you may get dark or light patches from microdermabrasion. It is important to remember that scarring and pigmentary changes are common complications for other skin rejuvenation techniques, like laser resurfacing, dermal abrasion and chemical peels.
The reason the risk is so small with microdermabrasion is because it's a very gentle procedure and only removes the top layer of dead skin cells, leaving the live tissue underneath intact.
