The TV commercial for a do-it-yourself microdermabrasion kit ends, and you find yourself wondering whether you could be trusted to blast high-pressure microcrystals onto your face.
As it turns out, the procedure is safe and generally has nice results. The worry is that hopes may be too high in terms of how much can happen.
Microdermabrasion is a noninvasive procedure in which a hand-held device “polishes” the skin by way of spraying microcrystals to remove the outer layer of dry, dead cells. Invented in the mid-’80s, this procedure is typically performed by dermatologists on patients seeking to literally smooth over wrinkles, acne scars, stretch marks and the like.
Lately, home microdermabrasion kits are available for about $200 — roughly what one session with a dermatologist would cost (and five sessions are recommended for best results). With marketing slogans such as “face-lift in a box,” the appeal is simple. And manufacturers will claim that the procedure is the same as that used by dermatologists.
And it is, says one of the country’s experts in ethnic and cosmetic dermatology.
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» Dr. Charles Crutchfield is a frequent consultant for consumer and trade publications, and his firm is Crutchfield Dermatology. Learn more at crutchfielddermatology.com.
“Dermatologists tend to use machines that are stronger in power, but they are similar,” says Dr. Charles E. Crutchfield, an Eagan, Minn.-based dermatologist, author and lecturer. He’s all for the nice feeling that comes with a good exfoliation and smoother-looking skin that the home kits can provide, Crutchfield says. But the hopes for wrinkle elimination, scar treatment and other cures should not be attached to the home machines. “A lot of the companies, when they first launched, had their sales forces approach many nonmedical facilities such as spas and salons, and the sales force essentially told everyone that these microdermabrasion kits could do everything for you except slice your bread,” Crutchfield says.
“A lot of the companies, when they first launched, had their sales forces approach many nonmedical facilities such as spas and salons, and the sales force essentially told everyone that these microdermabrasion kits could do everything for you except slice your bread,” Crutchfield says.
“Unfortunately, they don’t really permanently reduce wrinkles, they don’t permanently treat melasma, they don’t permanently treat any medical condition. They are good at making your skin feel and look smooth by exfoliating or stripping off the outer dead layer of skin.”
Crutchfield, a frequent contributor to health magazines and, in 2008, to NBC’s “America’s Ethnic Skin,” says no controlled clinical studies exist on how removing the outer dead layer of skin provides any permanent or long-lasting effects below the skin’s surface.
“I like microdermabrasion as one tool in the toolbox, but when people tell you that it is the end all, be all, do all for all skin problems, I would say let the buyer beware.”
Claims such as “face-lift in a box” are ridiculous, he adds.
“When it comes to skin rejuvenation, there are fantastic treatments and procedures out there that really, really work, and they don’t all involve microdermabrasion.”
Joe Tougas has written for The Blueroad Reader, Minnesota State University TODAY and Static magazine.
