Spa Treatments to Avoid

Going to the spa is one of the truly great pleasures of life. Day spas vary widely in the types of services they provide and products they use. Some specialize on your hair and face; others are focused on full body treatment and relaxation.

I suggest to my patients that they call the spa they are considering and ask questions about the treatments they want — what will be used and what to expect — before they make an appointment. And while it is always a good idea to get a personal recommendation, you must remember that each person will react differently to various treatments.

Most spas specialize in skin care and will teach you how to choose the right products for your skin type and how to use them. Having licensed aestheticians on staff is a sign of a good quality spa that is qualified to perform such procedures and treatments as microdermabrasion, facials and certain chemical peels.

Low-strength chemical peels to help rejuvenate the skin are appropriate to book at a day spa. But if you are looking for a more focused result for skin discolorations such as melasma, I try to steer my patients back to a dermatologist’s office where such a procedure can be done in a more controlled environment. The strength of the chemical peel required to achieve effective results should only be handled by medical personnel.

Similarly, if you are seeking Botox injections, find a licensed physician or other medical personnel who has been trained to perform the procedure. Check with your state’s medical board to verify training. Florida, California, Texas, and Oklahoma are a few states that allow someone other than a physician to inject Botox, but they do require the presence of a licensed physician to be on site to supervise.

A few other words of caution about spa treatments for individuals who suffer from a skin disorder like rosacea, eczema, or psoriasis. There are certain treatments that will only aggravate a skin condition rather than improve it. For patients with rosacea, I suggest that they avoid any procedure that is likely to aggravate their condition. In fact, you may wish to ask specifically if their aestheticians are experienced at dealing with patients with rosacea. Do not get a chemical peel or microdermabrasion. These are best done by a dermatologist.

However, a facial can be a wonderful pampering experience as long as they do not use alcohol, eucalyptus, fragrance, menthol, peppermint or witch hazel, as these are ingredients most likely to aggravate rosacea. You may also wish to avoid hot towel treatments to the face, facial steaming, steam baths and saunas as these all increase blood flow to the face and can trigger a flare-up.

Avoid spas that provide fat-dissolving treatments. In April of this year, the FDA said that procedures such as “lipodissolve, mesotherapy, lipozap, lipotherapy or injection lipolysis” which involve an unproven injection of drugs do not dissolve fat, and as such, are not approved by the FDA for the purposes of fat removal.

My last word of caution is to avoid the tanning beds. Tanning your skin is not the only way to look beautiful. Pampering your skin and your body with spa applications will help to bring out the natural beauty of your skin without subjecting yourself to harmful UV radiation. True beauty does not reside in the tanning of your skin, but in the luminous quality of nourished skin.

Choose your spa carefully and pamper yourself!

Source: webmd