Dr. Shel Wellness and Medical Spa

How is this treatment performed?
It is safely performed by using a #10 blade (yes, a sterile surgical blade).  The blade is held against the skin at a 45 degree angle and stroked along the skin, just like shaving.  However, the practitioner is doing the stroking while holding the area of skin taut.

Is this Treatment Safe?
This treatment is extremely safe.  There is no more risk to the skin than when a man shaves his face.

If you are ‘blading” the skin on the face, won’t the hairs on the face grow back thicker?
No.  It is physiologically impossible for your vellous hairs to grow back thicker.  True, once the hair is cut, it has a blunt edge.  But this blunt edge does not mean that the hair structure itself has been physiologically altered.

There are two types of hair that grow on our bodies.  Vellous (tiny translucent blonde hair) and Terminal (thicker hair that grows under the arms, pubic area, eye brows, mustache and beard for men and legs)

Vellous hair when cut or removed will grow back the same.  The structure of the hair does not become damaged, therefore it is impossible to alter.  Terminal hair is physiologically coarse.  When Termianl hair is cut, it grows back the same way…coarse.

Sometimes, waxing can make the hair appear to be “thinner” but it is really not thinner at all.  Because waxing pulls the hair from it’s roots, the new hair grows in with a smooth tip, making it feel softer.  But it is actually the same type of hair it was before.  It’s only when we cut hair (any type of hair) that the hair grows back with a blunt cut at the tip.

Can dermaplaing cause the skin to bleed?
In all honesty, of course it can.  You are performing this procedure with a sharp instrument.  But the incidence of cutting into the skin is slim.  Imagine when you shave your legs.  You can draw blood because you are using a blade.  But how often does that occur?  For some, more often than they’d like, but for most, it doesn’t happen that often, if ever, because we have practiced and trained for several years to perfect the art of shaving.  It becomes second nature to us.

What areas of the skin can be treated?
Blading the skin is performed on the face only.  We do not blade the nose, eye lids, neck or chest.

How often is this procedure performed?
Blading can be performed every 3 – 4 weeks.  Blading the skin actually removes about 2-3 weeks worth of dead skin cells.  We want the skin to complete it’s normal skin cycle of approximately 30 days. It is not recommend treating the skin more often than that.

What skin types/conditions can be treated?
All skin types can benefit from derma planing or blading, however, I would not recommend this treatment for those suffering from acne and an over production of the sebaceous gland.  The oils from the sebaceous gland need to travel up and connect with the vellous hair. (Vellous hair does not have oil/sebaceous glands)  If the hair is removed, then the oils tend to stay below where they are prone to mix with bacterial colonies, ultimately stimulating more acne.