Today, you have many options for keeping your skin vibrant and healthy. How do you know which kind of treatment is the best overall and which one is right for you, specifically? Two treatments that both address acne, fine lines, wrinkles, and spots are the HydraFacial and Microdermabrasion. At Nourished MedSpa and Wellness Center in Sherman, TX, we are skin care specialists, and we want you to know the key differences between these two treatments.
What Does Healthy Skin Look Like?
Achieving healthy skin can make you glow from the inside out. For most people, healthy skin means clean pores, an even tone, a consistent texture, and a nourished, radiant appearance. As you can see, healthy skin equals beautiful skin! Unfortunately, our hormones, the natural aging process, and everyday lifestyle factors can all get in the way of having healthy skin.
Clogged pores and acne can result from hormones that trigger excess oil production. By spending time outside doing our favorite activities, we can incur sun damage that shows up as fine lines and wrinkles. A lack of vitamins and/or excessive amounts of stress can lead to dull, lifeless skin. These are just a few of the ways life can take a toll on our appearance.
Fortunately, you can maintain good skin health by adopting healthy habits, following a skin care regimen, seeing your dermatologist once a year, and getting special treatments periodically. Two of the treatments you can opt for are the HydraFacial and microdermabrasion. Both aim to remove dead cells from the surface, revealing healthier, glowing, evenly textured skin underneath.
What Is Microdermabrasion?
Microdermabrasion is a minimally invasive treatment. A device is used to gently remove the top layer of your skin. The machine used has an ablative tip that physically sands away dead and damaged skin cells. When your skin renews itself, it does so with a more even tone. The result is a reduction of fine lines, wrinkles, acne, spots, scars, and other elements that can cause your skin to look aged.
What Is the HydraFacial?
This treatment is a trifold treatment that includes cleansing, exfoliating, and hydrating elements to achieve total skin care. It is done in three steps:
1) Cleanse + Peel
2) Extract + Hydrate
3) Fuse + Protect
All three of these steps are performed with patented Vortex Fusion technology that suctions away the “bad stuff” (like dirt, oil, and dead skin cells) while delivering the “good stuff” (hydration and nourishing serums). Following this treatment, your skin will feel renewed and revitalized. You will have noticeably healthier skin with fewer fine lines, a reduced appearance of wrinkles, and less acne.
What Are the Differences Between These Two Treatments?
The Technology
Both treatments use an intensive means of exfoliating your skin. As mentioned, microdermabrasion involves a machine with an ablative tip that removes skin cells while simultaneously suctioning them up. This is essentially a refined way of scraping your skin. On the other hand, the facial treatment uses a machine with a spiral tip that cleans, exfoliates, and hydrates your skin in different stages. The resurfacing it performs is done with hydra-dermabrasion. Therefore, it is a more gentle treatment.
The Scope of the Treatment
Microdermabrasion is a resurfacing treatment. It removes skin to reveal healthier layers underneath. However, if you want moisturizing benefits, you need to add a mask to the treatment.
The facial treatment provides this resurfacing plus more benefits. As a treatment, it has a broader scope, delivering hydration and deep care as it resurfaces your skin. Think of it this way: while microdermabrasion takes away undesirable elements from your skin, the facial treatment both removes imperfections and delivers nourishing hydration.
Candidates
Microdermabrasion works very well on people with excessively oily skin. If you want to unclog your pores, reverse sun damage, lighten dark spots, and address mild acne, it can be an effective treatment. However, for other skin types, microdermabrasion can cause irritation or be too intense.
The facial treatment is designed to be gentle and effective on people of all ages and skin types. The chances that your skin will experience irritation following this treatment are low. Its trifold approach of cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing provides a kind of care that results in healthier, more attractive skin, universally.
While some people may benefit more from the cleansing and others might need more hydration, these three elements of skin care are important for all people. That said, you can think of the facial treatment as a service that offers something for everyone. For example, younger people who are prone to breakouts can benefit especially from the deep cleaning component. People who want to brighten their skin will love the nourishing serums that can be added to the treatment.
The 3 Most Important Elements of Skin Care
Why does the facial treatment focus on cleansing, exfoliating, and hydrating the skin? In short, because these three elements have widespread benefits for the health of your skin. Here’s why.
Cleansing
Cleansing is an important aspect of skin care because, over the course of normal activities and environmental exposure, your skin builds up dirt, makeup residue, and dead skin cells. Cleansing your skin removes these elements and allows your skin to breath. It can even remove toxins that stay on the surface of your skin after they are eliminated from within your body.
All parts of your body are different, and because your skin is a sensitive area, it requires a different approach to cleansing than, say, your feet. Daily cleansing with products specifically formulated for the face is important, as are regular treatments that cleanse in a way that is extra-thorough.
Exfoliating
You have probably heard about the benefits of exfoliating before. It is one of the best things you can do to keep your skin looking youthful and healthy. It is similar to cleansing in that it unclogs pores, but it goes much deeper.
When we exfoliate, we remove layers of dead skin cells. This helps the natural process by which your body renews itself. Getting rid of the cells that no longer benefit us encourages cellular turnover, resulting in the production of new cells. Exfoliating also stimulates the production of collagen, a protein that is responsible for healing scars and preventing wrinkles. With consistent exfoliating at well-timed intervals, you can achieve a reduction in the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, acne scars, spots, and other factors that make your skin look less smooth.
Exfoliating can also help our skin maintain a healthy level of hydration. When our healthy skin is covered with cells that are old and damaged, it tends to dry out more quickly. Exfoliating gets rid of these cells and preps our skin to absorb beneficial products, such as vitamins and moisturizers. For this reason, the exfoliating step of the HydraFacial enhances the moisturizing step.
Moisturizing
The importance of moisturizing your skin on a daily basis and with periodic deep treatments cannot be denied. Moisturizers help your skin maintain a balance, avoiding excessive dryness and excessive oil production. When your skin is too dry, fine lines and wrinkles appear more exaggerated. You might even notice cracking, flaking, and other signs of irritation.
It is not intuitive, but dry skin can also result in excess oil production. This happens because when your body senses that it is too dry, your sebaceous glands respond by overcompensating and producing more oil than your skin needs. As a result, you can experience clogged pores, whiteheads, blackheads, and acne.
Happy, moisturized skin both looks and feels great. It is less susceptible to environmental factors that can damage it, such as pollution, extreme temperatures, and wind. Some studies even show that it is better fortified against diseases like cancer.
The HydraFacial Approach
Here is a detailed, step-by-step look at the technology and process by which this facial treatment can improve your skin.
Step 1: Cleanse + Peel
During this step, you can expect a gentle resurfacing of your skin. Unlike chemical peels, dermabrasion, or other more intense treatments, it is mild and gentle, yet powerfully effective. The spiral tip achieves a deep cleansing of your pores via its patented swirling design that flushes away impurities.
Step 2: Extract + Hydrate
Unlike the extractions done during a traditional facial, which are accomplished by squeezing the skin, the HydraFacial uses the power of suction to remove dirt and debris painlessly. Simultaneously, it delivers hydrating serums that moisturize your skin.
Step 3: Fuse + Protect
During the last step of the HydraFacial, your skin will receive a supercharged dose of antioxidants and peptides, resulting in the glow that everyone raves about. In this step, you can customize your HydraFacial to include serums that are of special benefit to you. The HydraFacial company refers to these as “boosters”. Examples include:
- The CTGF booster, which enhances collagen and hyaluronic acid
- The Dermabuilder booster, which reduces the appearance of fine lines via peptides
- Perk Total Eye, which is specifically designed to brighten the eyes
- HydroPeptide Power Serum Booster, which can enhance the volume and smoothness of your skin
- Zo Rozatrol Booster, which can improve signs of irritation
Enjoying and Maintaining Results
Both microdermabrasion and the facial treatment deliver instant results. Especially after microdermabrasion, you might want to leave a few hours for your skin to calm down following the treatment. That said, there is no prescribed downtime, and you can return to normal activities immediately after leaving the medspa. Many people opt for these treatments to prepare for a special event, such as a wedding or a vacation.
With either of these treatments, you should leave 4 to 8 weeks between one treatment and the next. Optimally, you should aim to get a facial treatment every month. Over time, these treatments will have positive cumulative benefits. They are also effective if done every other month. If this frequency is not possible for you, consider getting one seasonally to help your skin adjust to the changing weather.
The Takeaway
So, what is the difference between microdermabrasion and a facial treatment? Both address common skin concerns such as acne, fine lines, and wrinkles. Both provide mild resurfacing to achieve healthier, glowing skin. In summary, the biggest difference between the two treatments is that while microdermabrasion is an ablative technique, the HydraFacial is a complete system that includes cleansing, exfoliating, and hydrating.
This facial treatment is backed by a philosophy of skin care that asserts the importance of providing deep, gentle care to promote your best skin health. It is painless, effective for all skin types, and universally beneficial.
Learn More
Contact Nourished MedSpa and Wellness Center in Sherman, TX for more information about facial treatments and to schedule a consultation. We are happy to give your skin some nourishing TLC!
