Microdermabrasion

What Is Microdermabrasion?

Microdermabrasion has seen increased popularity in acne scar treatment lately compared with other treatment options as it is often painless so no local anesthesia is needed compared with the older dermabrasion method.

It is also cheaper with faster healing time. In many cases, your dermatologist can recommend a trusted beauty spa to perform the process or even at home with the right equipment. It is not a medical process that require only professionally trained doctors or dermatologists to do.

How It Works?

Microdermabrasion is considerably gentler than dermabrasion as it works without using local anesthesia. Rather than “sanding” off the outer skin layers, it sandblasts using jets of aluminum oxide crystals or zinc oxide and micro-abrades the superficial dermal layers progressively over a number of sessions.

With the top dermal layer of the scarred facial skin removed, your body now recognizes the need to naturally replace lost dermal layers with fresh new skin as the micro-abraded areas heal. The new skin produces a smother and more even surface.

Depending on the severity of the scar to be abraded, several microdermabrasion sessions with your dermatologist may be needed to enable new skin to develop several times to improve the even surface. There are professional and home kits available that have proven to be safe and effective in diminishing unsightly acne scarring using microdermabrasion.

But don’t expect home kits to be as potent or can go as deep as professional microdermabrasion treatment using more sophisticated and expensive industry-grade devices. Even in professional systems, you may also have to decide whether a beauty-spa equipment will do or a more potent dermatologist grade one. It really will depend on the severity of your scarring and how much you are willing to spend.

Candidates For Treatment

Microdermabrasion is a popular method for reducing the acne scarring and works best to smoothen shallow boxcars and ice pick scars. It works best with mild to moderate acne scarring but should not be used in patients who have used Accutane over the past 12 months in treating acne.

But it has its limitations. Because it basically works to exfoliate the topmost skin layers, it’s more a superficial or surface treatment. No amount of repeated microdermabrasion can get rid of deep ice pick or boxcar scars. But that doesn’t mean it won’t work as scarring is often a mix of various scar types where the process can work for relatively shallow pits that generally comprise about 70% to 80% of acne scar.

Hence, after a successful microdermabrasion, you only have to worry about a smaller population of really deep scars and can certainly provide significant cosmetic improvement.

Cost, Results and Side Effects

Microdermabrasion is done in a series of treatment sessions which will depend on the extent of scarring.

It is not uncommon to have at least 4-5 sessions up to a high of 10 sessions. Your dermatologist will advice the time intervals between sessions but while 7-10 days is advised, it really depends on how fast your healing takes place.

The cost of each session also varies widely between states and among dermatologist and could cost upwards of $1,200 per treatment session.

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