Lowdown: microdermabrasion

In part one of a new summer beauty series, Kate Monahan tries out microdermabrasion.

Have you done some-thing different," my colleague asks.

"Your skin looks all glowy."

We are standing in the cafeteria at work, and she is scrutinising my face.

My skin is looking good, apparently. "Like a baby's bottom," says my friend.

It isn't the glow of pregnancy, I assure her, and I haven't been indulging in avocados.

The week before I had tried microdermabrasian, a cosmetic treatment which removes the outer layer of dead skin.

I'd been buffed and polished, I was positively radiant.

Before the treatment I told my partner what was involved.

A practical bloke, he jokingly offered his electric sandblaster. But he wasn't far wrong with what happens during a microdermabrasian treatment.

It exfoliates the outer surface of the skin, scrubbing away dead skin cells.

For those with age damage or acne scarring, multiple treatments can gradually buff away pigmentation and lighter scars.

It helps stimulate cellular turnover, which naturally slows down as we age. "A baby's young skin cells turn over every 10 days but by the time we are 40, it takes 100 days," says Dr Kirshni Appanna from the Jeunesse Appearance Medicine Clinic in Hamilton. "Microdermabrasian gets rid of the top layer so it looks more transparent and it looks like healthier skin."

The treatment begins with a clinical consultation. After a gentle cleanse, Appanna looks at my skin under a UV light to find areas of sun damage and oily buildup.

She gently pushes a diamond-tip wand across my face, which buzzes lightly over my skin. It doesn't hurt at all. The wand polishes off the top layer of dead skin cells and a mini-vacuum gently sucks it away, exposing fresher, younger-looking skin underneath.

Appanna, mother to Suvarn, 10, and Tanika, 5, is not your typical beauty therapist.

A multitasking practitioner, she works as a GP at the Five Crossroads Medical Centre four mornings a week and at her Jeunesse Appearance Medicine Clinic in the afternoons.

Appanna successfully straddles the worlds of medicine and beauty therapy, offering clients the benefit of her doctor's background.

Before she started her clinic three years ago Appanna noticed increased interest from medical patients in new cosmetic procedures. "It started out as a Friday afternoon hobby, doing Botox and fillers for friends," she says. "It kept getting bigger."

She saw an advertisement in a doctor's magazine for a New Zealand College of Appearance Medicine conference and decided to investigate, eventually becoming certified and opening up her clinic three years ago.

Originally from South Africa, she visited New Zealand in 1993 on a working holiday and moved here with her husband, Dr Priyen Naidoo, in 1996.

For those considering microdermabrasian, Appanna says it is a good start to summer, getting rid of old dead skin.

It's a step somewhere between a facial and a low-grade chemical peel.

There are various microdermabrasian techniques using microcrystals, fine particles and crystal machines which blast skin, sucking particles back up. "Ours is a step up from that," says Appanna. "It sucks and infuses treatment product at the same time."

Depending on the needs of the client different products are infused or moisturisers used.

It is painless and takes about half an hour.

I'm slightly pink, but the colour fades. I'm told to avoid the sun afterwards as the new skin is sensitive.

It can take five to eight treatments over several months to reduce blemishes and scarring, with maintenance visits every two or three months.

Each treatment costs $100 or $500 for a course of six treatments if you pay in advance.

Six weeks after the treatment, my skin is still looking healthy and clear.

I'm usually inclined to clogged and enlarged pores beauty therapists are forever telling me I need to exfoliate more.

But microdermabrasian has worked wonders, for me at least.

My skin is the best it has been in more than 10 years - smooth and acne free - and I don't have to wear foundation to cover up blemishes or discolouration.

- © Fairfax NZ News