Dermaplaning- Surgical Instruments and DIY: A no-no

In this blog, I am going to speak to a procedure that ALMOST every woman can benefit from. I am certain if you’ve ever had it done once, you’ve had it done twice. It’s a very simple procedure but is best left out of your DIY routine. Why? The actual aesthetic procedure consists of the use of a number 10 blade and a scalpel handle. I actually have some blades that are curved all the way around so there is no point on the blade anywhere; this reduces the likelihood of accidental knicks. Dermaplaning the face exfoliates off the stratum corneum. The stratum corneum is the outer most layer of the epidermis (I explained the epidermis in the microneedling blog if you are unsure of what it is). The women who shouldn’t have the procedure done are those with active cystic acne outbreaks and women with hirsutism (a condition of excessive male-pattern hair growth in women). If you run a surgical blade over an inflamed acne lesion, you will spread the P. Acnes bacteria to other areas. Benefits of dermaplaning are: it exfoliates the stratum corneum which will, in return, stimulate cell turnover, there is no downtime with this treatment, even pregnant women can have this done, and it can be performed prior to facials or chemical peels for better product absorption. For the last reason in the list, I often combine dermaplaning with my ZO “red carpet peel” into packages. This seems to work well the day before or the day of an event, and it gives the skin a nice glow. Also, after having been dermaplaned, your face will look and feel so much better after you have applied your makeup. You should get dermaplaning about every month because this is considered a deeply exfoliating treatment. You should avoid heavy cosmetics for the remainder of the day to let your skin breathe. You should, as you do every day, apply sunscreen before going out. For the DIY folks out there, they make special dermaplaning tools, or you can use a razor just the same. You will not get the exfoliation benefit, but you can take care
of unwanted facial hair. Which brings up my next point: neither dermaplaning nor shaving will change the coarseness or thickness of the hair on your face. It is only when you manipulate the root of the hair that you change the actual texture of the hair. The reason you feel it more after shaving is because you cut the hair straight across. FACTS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS BLOG: Dermaplaning is a fairly simple and inexpensive procedure that could be incorporated into your monthly skin care routine, almost any woman can have it (unless they have active cystic acne or hirsutism), it works well when combined with a red carpet peel for any special event night, and most importantly, it does not cause your hair to grow back thicker.