Peeling Away The Years

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

Special Assignment: Peeling Away The Years aired Monday, January 11, 1999 at 11 p.m.

It's a weird-looking wand connected to a container full of percolating crystals, but some skin care experts believe it's the next big thing for the beauty industry.

"This is the best thing ever for the skin," aestetician Tina Prande told CBS 2 News.

If Prande sounds overzealous, it's because she says she's overwhelmed by her clients' reactions to a new skin care treatment called the power peel, reported CBS 2 News' Jennifer Sabih.

"The first reactin that people have that they really like about this is that the texture of the skin is amazing, even after one visit," Prande said.

The power peel is a form of microdermabrasion, a mechanical way to exfoliate the top layers of the skin, Sabih said.

"To reveal the younger, tighter, more radiant skin underneath," is another benefit to the procedure added skin care specialist Ole Henricksen.

It works somewhat like sandblasting, reported Sabih. A wand shoots micronized aluminum crystals onto the face, and a suction tube then vacuums them back up.

The process sands away fine lines and imperfections, revealing smoother, younger-looking skin underneath. Aesteticians can also concentrate the crystal where the clients need them most.

"Where there is a line or more discoloration, I will go over a couple times," Prande told CBS 2 News.

One treatment takes about 20 minutes and it feels, one client says, like a cat's tongue licking your face. But what does it do?

University of Southern California dermatologist Dr. Joshua Wieder said -- for people with fine lines, superficial scars and sun damage -- a series of six to 10 power peels can give you almost the same results as the more drastic laser peel.

"What you can expect is an improvement in the fine lines," Dr. Wieder told Sabih. "It can improve patchy pigmentation, it'll help with mottled skin texture, it can help with acne itself and it can help with superficial scars."

It cannot, said Dr. Wieder, erase deep lines or severe scars. For those you need a laser, he said.

But with a laser, you also need weeks or even months of recovery time. That's because there's bleeding, bandages and pain, said Sabih. With the power peel, there's none of that.

"What's wonderful about it is when you leave after the treatment, you don't look as if your skin has been in a war zone," Henricksen said.

Henricksen has a salon full of the famous faces he's treated, reported Sabih. Supermodels and movie stars come to him. And in the 25 years he's been in the beauty business, he's seen a lot of skin care scams and trends come and go.

Henricksen said when he first heard the claims about this little machine, he took them with a grain of salt.

"When I was first introduced to it, I had my reservations," he said. "But as I've seen the results, I've been totally impressed."

Thirty-two-year-old Gail Tyrolt is impressed, too. A former sun worshipper, Tyrolt had tried every treatment under the sun, said Sabih.

"Regular facials, glycolic peels -- I felt like it wasn't really doing the trick," Tyrolt said. "I felt it worked for a few days, and then my skin was back to the same old thing."

So when the power peel was approved for use in the United States a few months ago, Tyrolt gave it a shot. She said she saw results right away, but what conviced her was the unsolicited remark of an unknown friend.

"After the first time, a friend of mine said to me, 'Your skin looks great,'" Tyrolt told CBS 2 News.

It takes a series of six to 10 sessions to get the optimum results, but there's no recovery time between them, Sabih said. In fact, immediately after her peel, Tyrolt was ready to go right back to work.

"I'm going right now," she said. "I have a meeting. I'm going back to work."

Out the door and back to work just minutes after Prande brushed the crystals off her face and put the wand away. It's a wand that Tyrolt feels is a magic one.

So, how much does the procedure cost? While a traditional laser peel will run you between $1,500 and $5,000, the power peel starts at $150, said Sabih.

A series of six sessions ends up costing about $900. It's now being offered by dermatologists and at salons around Southern California.

More information:

• To find out more about this procedure, call (310) 854-7700.