Combining Microdermabrasion and Light Chemical Peels - Which Comes First?

For the most part, we recommend doing microdermabrasion before chemical peeling or laser treatments.  As microdermabrasion exfoliates the skin, removing excess dead skin and cleaning out the pores, it helps prepare the skin for a chemical peel. Chemical peeling and laser also tends to make the skin more irritated and sensitive and so following either up with microdermabrasion would be difficult. So bottom line, the treatments in this order (microdermabrasion followed by chemical peeling or laser) are more effective and more tolerable, minimizing side effects and irritation. 

Almost always, we do the microdermabrasion first, followed by a laser treatment or a peel. The microdermabrasion removes very surface skin and helps prep the skin for the peel or laser treatment. Done the other way around just isn't as effective and often, the skin is too irritated to do a good microdermabrasion treatment.