If you’re like us, you want to get the most out of the products you spend your hard-earned money on, but skin vacuums? Surely they can’t be serious – can they? Well the answer is that not only are they serious, but they already have FDA approval and are offering the treatment at a dermatologist near you. But before you go out and book the next available appointment, let’s take a closer look at the process involved and, more importantly, how well these treatments work.

The first area to cover is the question of exactly what is entailed in the process and what to expect should you decide to go through with the procedure. The overall concept behind the skin vacuuming – its official name is profusion skin therapy (PST) – is that it can help boost the potency of already existing treatments and skin therapies. First a vacuum device stretches a section of skin and then a machine gently pushes a topical skin cream into the skin glands that are now closer to the surface due to the stretching.

The PST concept can be applied to whatever topical cream you may be interested in from acne fighters to collagen boosting wrinkle fighters. The theory is that with less distance to travel, more of the active ingredients in the topical creams actually make it to the skin glands they are trying to stimulate. What this amounts to is essentially a more concentrated dose to the skin gland. The same theory holds true for laser and other light therapies. By reducing the amount of skin the light must penetrate, PST therapy can also be applied to your favorite in-office light treatments.

Theories are great, but we want to know how it works. A recent study looked at ten women who each had four PST treatments over a six-week period. Each treatment propelled a salicylic acne cream and a peptide-based anti-aging cream to therapeutic depths previously unheard of with normal topical application. Researchers saw measurable improvement both in wrinkle reduction and pigmentation. The women reported that the therapy itself – far from the uncomfortable undertaking the word “vacuum” summons up – actually felt like a facial and took roughly 15 minutes to complete.

So far, there has only been one study and more are certainly to come. Of course the FDA approval is a good sign as well. Currently a block of three to five monthly treatments could cost between $1000 and $1500 and there is talk that there may be home-based systems available in a few years. For now, however, you’ll have to ask your dermatologist for an appointment to have your skin stretched. No matter how you put it, it still sounds like it should be anything but relaxing. Of course we thought that about laser therapy too in the beginning. Even though it sounds harsh, the upside potential of getting the most out of the products you’re using is certainly compelling.

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