Nobody has to look old any more. We live in the era of plastic surgery, where aging gracefully – in fact, aging at all, at least physically – is a thing of the past. Problem areas can easily be nipped, tucked, sucked, buffed, or implanted away. It’s a veritable fountain of youth, if you can afford to fork over thousands of dollars per procedure. If not, you’re forced to (gasp!) look your chronological age.

But now, there are more affordable – albeit less dramatic – options available to those of us who can’t afford the whole shebang. One of those options is microdermabrasion: the aptly nicknamed “lunchtime peel.” It is a simple procedure that, as its moniker suggests, can be done in a relatively quick period of time.

Micro-derma-what?

Microdermabrasion involves having the skin “sandblasted” by aluminum oxide crystals (baking soda or salt may also be used, under their more scientific-sounding names, “sodium bicarbonate” and “sodium chloride”) in order to remove the top layer of dead skin cells. The crystals, along with the dead cells, are then sucked up into a handheld device. It’s often called a “mini-procedure” because it is low-risk and can be done very quickly – the average time ranges from fifteen minutes to half an hour (that’s just for the face; if the neck and chest are included in the procedure, count on being there for about an hour). The principal of microdermabrasion is that when the stratum corneum (the top layer of skin) is broken, the body interprets it as an injured site and rushes to replace the skin cells you’ve lost with new, healthy ones. The procedure also increases collagen production. It can leave your skin looking refreshed, smoother, and younger-looking. Generally, multiple treatments are required in order to achieve the desired results. A normal regimen is four to eight treatments at intervals of one to three weeks. After that, a session every one to three months should be adequate to maintain the condition of your skin.