Microdermabrasion and hydradermabrasion

Microdermabrasion and hydradermabrasion are surface exfoliation treatments that loosen and lift dead cells with abrasion and suction, one dry and one water-based. Both usually involve little recovery. The practitioner confirms when your normal skincare and actives resume.

The protocol is the treating professional's clinical decision.

What it is

Microdermabrasion passes a handpiece over the skin that either sprays fine crystals or uses a textured tip, while suction draws away the loosened cells.

Hydradermabrasion uses a water-based system instead of crystals. A handpiece with a textured tip and suction moves over the skin, and many devices combine exfoliation with extraction and with solutions applied to the surface during the session.

The practitioner chooses the tip, the suction and the number of passes for the skin in front of them, which is why the same treatment can feel different from one clinic to the next.

Practitioners use both for the look of visible pores and texture and for dullness. They sit alongside dermaplaning as surface treatments and are gentler than a chemical peel. This page is part of the professional treatments section.

Who performs it

A licensed skin professional performs it, within the scope of practice set by each state, province or country.

What the skin goes through

Both treatments work on the outermost layer. Published reviews describe a smoother-feeling surface and a brighter look straight afterward, with any longer-term change depending on a course of sessions.

Brief redness, a feeling of tightness and some sensitivity to products are commonly described after a session. Over-treatment can leave streaks of redness, small pinpoint bruises or irritation, especially on thin or reactive skin.

Pore size is largely set by genetics, skin type and age. Exfoliation can make pores look less visible for a time without changing their size. The detail is on the pore size myth page.

Recovery

For most people, the day continues as normal. The practitioner describes what to expect for your skin, and that description is the reference.

Typical aftercare means no heat, no scrubbing and no exfoliating products for a short period, with daily sun protection throughout. Makeup can often go on later the same day, on the practitioner's advice.

This is the wrong week to try a new product. On freshly exfoliated skin, a reaction to something new cannot be separated from a reaction to the treatment. Redness that increases instead of settling, broken skin or any area that becomes painful is a reason to call the practitioner.

Questions to ask your practitioner

• Is dry microdermabrasion or hydradermabrasion better for my skin, and why?
• Is my skin too reactive for mechanical exfoliation right now?
• Which solutions will you use during the session, and can I see their ingredient lists?
• Will you extract, and how do you decide what to extract?
• I use retinoids or acids at home. How many days before should I stop?
• How many sessions do you suggest, and how far apart?
• When can I restart my normal skincare and my actives?

Caring for skin once it is intact

Once skin is intact, the routine is ordinary topical care:

• Cleanse gently. Comfort Cleansing Milk with cool to lukewarm water.
• Hydrate. Hydrating NanoSerum as the daily serum.
• Moisturize. AquaCell Moisturizer, with Barrier Repair Cream at night where the skin feels tight.
• Protect. Daily broad-spectrum sun protection from any brand. Vegalab does not sell an SPF product.

Exfoliating products at home wait for the practitioner's date. Exfoliation from the treatment and from a home product adds up on the same skin.

Related professional protocols

• Congestion and visible pores: a treatment-room protocol for texture across the central panel.
• Thirty-minute back-bar facial: an efficient maintenance facial.
• Gentle resurfacing for reactive skin: the option for skin too reactive for mechanical or acid exfoliation.
• At-home maintenance after a professional treatment: the written week after the appointment.

Devices that use electrical or sound energy on the skin are covered on needle-free infusion.

References

The studies below describe the procedure.

• Karimipour DJ, Karimipour G, Orringer JS. Microdermabrasion: an evidence-based review. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 2010;125(1):372-377.