My Experience: Microdermabrasion at a Clinic

I decided to go for microdermabrasion at a clinic as I found out that it is cheaper than some ridiculously priced salon microdermabrasion facials. I once asked a beautician why microdermabrasion at their spa is so expensive, more expensive than medical microdermabrasion at the clinic and she gave me a silly 'relaxation and service' excuse.

What I want is a good medical grade microdermabrasion to thoroughly scrub off my layer of dead skin cells and renew my skin, not (lousy) service that most spas provide. My last few facial trips to different spas have been thoroughly disappointing, with me breaking out after the facials. So I decided I would go to a clinic instead, and as my nursing friend put it, if anything happens to your face, there is always a doctor there!

When I first entered the treatment room, the nurse put a pillow behind my back and another at my neck, then the chair was lowered to almost horizontal. She then covered me with a blanket cos the treatment room is cold. (The service is similar to salons and the nurses there are friendly). They offered me drinks: coffee,tea or water and some biscuits while the nurse prepared the machine as it was my 'lunchtime procedure'.

The nurse double cleansed (I think she used Cetaphil, just my guess!). Then the microdermabrasion started! Unlike salon microderm where it feels like the machine is vacuuming/sucking your skin, the clinic one was more painful. It felt more scratchy, a bit like sand-papering your skin - which is of course the intended purpose, to remove the surface epidermis so that the underlying skin is stimulated to produce collagen and newer skin beneath is revealed. So definitely more intense and deeper removal of skin than the spa microdermabrasion. It was painful for me, especially around the area around the eyes. She concentrated the wand at the t-zone and my cheek area where I had more clogs.

Unlike spas, where they just do one round of suction, the nurse made several rounds around my face using the rougher wand, then followed up with a lighter wand which didn't hurt, then ended with an even gentler one for the eye area. So the entire process was very thorough and covered pretty much every part of my face and also part of the neck area.

After the procedure, the nurse will put on a mask for 15-20mins then clean it off and apply moisturiser and sunblock for you. She used La Roche-Posay moisturiser and Heliocare SPF90 gel sunblock.

For me, this procedure was painful and my face was red for about 2 hours and I felt the sting the rest of the day. At around evening time when I washed the sunblock off, my skin became red and stinging again. I think it was cos my skin type is sensitive thats why it was red and stinging for so long. It did not sting that much for my friend but for her, her skin was very dry after the procedure and peeled a bit.

The next day, the sting and redness was gone and my skin looked more even toned, brighter and felt smoother. The blackheads on my nose were gone! But they came back after a few days, which I presume is normal. The red pimple marks were also lightened. I was happy with the results as it seemed more worth it compared to spending big money at spas that aren't that thorough and use a less effective machine. I think I will go back and do microdermabrasion again, since the effects were quite good for me and it seemed more effective than a normal facial.

**Edit: I did not include the clinic name as this post is meant to share my experience of doing microdermabrasion at a clinic as compared to a facial salon/spa. Please respect my decision as I do not wish to advertise for this clinic since it is not mentioned anywhere on forums or blogs. I wrote about my experience with Dr Georgia Lee because there are plenty info about her on forums and blogs and I wanted to share my experience with others.