Does HydraFacial remove whiteheads?

Hello and thank you for your question. Hydrafacial treatment clears dead skin cells, loosens pores, and preps them for extraction using a mix of lactic acidosis, glycolic acid, salicylic acid, peptides, antioxidants, botanical extracts, and hyaluronic acid. A series of treatments will help eradicate and prevent them, however, initial treatments may require use of a lancet and manual extraction. A suitable skin care regimen incorporating an AHA cleanser/moisturizer or a retinoid is recommended, and daily use of SPF. Best of luck.

Hydrafacial exfoliates the skin, removing deal skin cells and unclogging pore congestion. This in turn will result in improvement in acne and inflammation. For the best results it's recommended to combine this with daily use of medical grade skin care products like Transform MD and wearing sunscreen every day.

Hydrafacial has a vortex tip to push in and pull out. There is a gunkie jar that shows how it pulls out whiteheads, or even different impurities in the skin. If there are still white heads during the treatment, we can do manual extractions. The difference in whiteheads and blackheads is excess sebum. Sebum is congestion and oil in the skin. With that the hyadrafacial will pull out a majority of it, but doing exfoliation accelorators will help the pores to clean out more effectively. Zo Skin Health has an amazing line of exfoliations to help. We also have these in our office and you can always come in for a skin analysis and can call 423-624-0021 to make an appointment.

Our treatments use combination therapy to improve the epidermis and dermis. We see atrophic and hypertrophic scars, as well as scars that have hypo and hyperpigmentation. Our main concern is rebuilding collagen and that is why we use a HIDEF protocol that includes combination therapy. Morpheus 8, scar subcision, fibrous release, fractional laser, CO2 laser, Thulium laser, PDL Vbeam laser, and fractional resurfacing can be used in addition to TCA Cross and chemical peels to further improve skin. Patients should start Melarase AM and Melarase PM for active hyperpigmentation. Always begin with a consultation to discuss the best treatment options for your type of skin. .

Best,
Dr. Karamanoukian
Realself100 Surgeon

Hi and thanks for your question!Hydrafacial should be a good treatment to remove whiteheads, but as with all treatments, it depends on your provider.There are different Hydrafacial tips, some are more aggressive at exfoliation, that may be better for you (depending on the thickness of your skin)There are also varying Hydrafacial peel strengths; if possible I would recommend you see a provider who can offer Glysal Peel MD; this is only available with a physician-led group.You may also consider a chemical peel (there are varying strengths) to treat whiteheads. While these will produce more redness and peeling, the results will be more dramatic. Remember that most patients need a series of chemical peels (usually 3) to achieve optimal results.Hope this helps!

Hydrafacials are great at treating whiteheads. If your whiteheads are due to acne, then using a higher strength peel like the 15% Peel or 30% MD Peel (only in MD offices) can help take off the layers of dead skin that can cause pores to clog. This is also very helpful for the "whiteheads" of milia, were there is no underlying infections, just clogged pores.

While the extraction step in the hydrafacial can help soften the sebum causing the whiteheads, you need to ask your treatment provider to do manual extractions as well, as the machine is only capable of extracting blackheads.

Hello, the hydrafacial itself wont remove all whiteheads and blackheads.  Find a place that includes manual extractions with your hydrafacial.

Yes, Hydrafacial can remove whiteheads (closed comedones), black heads (open comedones), congested clogged pores and dead skin cell debris. More frequent treatments may help to control your concerns, generally anywhere from 2-6 week intervals are recommended depending on your skin condition. 

Great question!  It depends on whether your white lesions are closed over (milia), or if they have a small opening to the surface, which most people consider traditional "white heads".  Sometimes the firm white nodules of milia require more specific extraction than the machine can get to, so ask your aesthetician or specialist if they can add extraction to any stubborn lesions.  Best of luck!