For years, Michelle Palmer, a lawyer in Manhattan, bounced from aesthetician to aesthetician having her skin cleaned, assessed and exfoliated, simply because she had always heard that facials were the best way to get glowing skin.
'I never did a tonne of research to figure out what those products were doing, or whether or not I could get results at home, or whether I was better off going to see a dermatologist - this is what single women in the city did,' said Palmer, 36, who paid from US$100 (S$156) to US$250 per session.
Aestheticians and spas have long promoted such routine facials as must-dos for radiant skin. But dermatologists do not necessarily agree.
Today's bloated spa menus promise more than a mere facial can deliver, they say.
'People will say, 'I've had facial after facial and I still have wrinkles',' said dermatologist Amy Derick. 'They have unrealistic expectations of what facials can do.'
Meanwhile, aestheticians say that some doctors downplay how effective their treatments are because they do not want their patients consulting the facial salon down the street.
'They're bad-mouthing us because they want our business to go to them,' said Wendei Spale, an aesthetician of 14 years and the owner of Peace of Mind Skin & Body Care in Los Angeles.
'If my clients go to them, they're going to talk them into fillers, Botox or a super-strong peel they don't need.'
Facials, a pillar of the US$10.9 billion spa industry, are the third most popular service at spas nationwide, after massages and nail care, according to the International Spa Association.
Most spas and aestheticians also offer a dizzying array of results-oriented facials that claim to do far more.
CLAIMS AND MORE CLAIMS
Aestheticians say that so-called oxygen facials can plump skin, produce collagen and regenerate new cells. A company called Intraceuticals has its technology in 300 spas, resorts and doctors' offices nationwide.
It uses pressurised oxygen to deliver modified hyaluronic acid to the face but does not have any research to back its machine, said Deirdre Burke, its director of sales and education.
Still, she added: 'If you have had a treatment, you're a believer.'
However, without scientific evidence, dermatologists remain unconvinced.
'Show me the data that oxygen facials make the skin better,' said DrJeffrey Dover, a director of SkinCare Physicians, a dermatology practice in Massachusettes.
So, what can consumers expect from deep cleansing, microdermabrasion and other staples of today's facials?
To get rid of some of the outermost dead-cell layers, old-fashioned exfoliation, microdermabrasion or a glycolic peel will do the trick, say many dermatologists.
More and more dermatologists are hiring aestheticians to perform such services.
Palmer, now married, found her facialist of three years, Rowena Woo, at her dermatologist's office, Tribeca Skin Center in Manhattan.
'If a client wants an anti-ageing facial, we don't have that,' said Woo, who sticks to basics like cleaning, extraction and exfoliation.
Dr Arielle Kauvar, the director of New York Laser & Skin Care in Manhattan, does not offer facials, but she offers microdermabrasion as well as glycolic and salicylic peels.
'From a pure budgetary standpoint, facials can add up,' she said.
She advises patients who dislike their frown lines or crow's feet and spend hundreds of dollars on anti-ageing facials to consider Botox.
'The same amount of money would at least erase those wrinkles,' she said.
Temporarily, of course.
The New York Times
