Micro-derma-what? For those of you who have never heard of microdermabrasion, here’s a quick background on what it is and what it’s used for. Microdermabrasion is a facial treatment that removes the outer layer of your skin with a small instrument that feels like a mini suction cup covered in sand paper (diamonds). It has many uses such as skin rejuvenation, wrinkles, scarring, and even acne.
Well, I’ve never had a problem with my skin until about sophomore year of college (side note: I’m a first semester senior now). My skin was never perfect and it was never terrible. A few black and white heads here and there just like everybody else. Now, a few seems like a ton, and let’s face it- acne sucks. I can deal with a few black heads, but have you ever experienced a whitehead? Those things hurt! I’m not really sure what spiked it, but, I assume it’s related to all the late night eating with friends, lack of exercise, school stress, and frequently going out every weekend type of thing.
As the amount of acne picked up, I started looking at different options for some sort of treatment. I went out and bought facial cleansers, face masks, moisturizers, but, nothing really ever FULLY worked. I started looking at YouTube videos to see what people were doing and saw a lot of microdermabrasion treatments. They seemed easy enough and I saw some pretty good results too. I ended up turning to my handy dandy Groupon account (budget life saver) and looked at all the microdermabrasion treatments available. I impulsively bought one, even though I should have been saving up for my trip to Spain. The price difference is significantly reduced compared to non Groupon deals so I obviously had to get it.
On the day of my appointment, I didn’t use my daily cleanser, toner water, and moisturizer because it’s important to have a clean face for the treatment. When I arrived, it was pretty much empty, but the spa was small and cute. As the treatment was starting, I wasn’t expecting anything to hurt because I watched SO many YouTube videos and the process seemed painless. Well, for me, it was a weird feeling. I couldn’t tell if hurt or not? There were diamonds being pushed across my face to allow for exfoliation to occur, but it honestly felt like sandpaper. Instead of feeling relaxed, I felt unconformable and tense the entire time.
My one microdermabrasion experience did not make a significance different on my skin. Though, it did give my skin a much needed cleanse and breather. The dead skin was removed and new skin was coming in which explained the amount of redness afterwards. In order to see a significant difference in my skin, I would have to have multiple microdermabrasion treatments. I learned that my acne was very mild and “surface” meaning that it was not too far in my skin and it was probably due to some product I was using. Instead, I found out that I should undergo a blackhead extraction to remove any surface acne instantly.
Although the microdermabrasion treatments had some sort effect of skin, clean eating, daily exercise, rest, water, and maintenance of my skin has worked the best and cleared up my skin significantly. The one microdermabrasion experience didn’t do much physically, but I did learn a lot about what works best for me. Everyone’s skin is different- the more you know, the better you can take care of it.