00:00I really look at the face like a fabulous piece of art.
00:07I'm less thinking about the discomfort that the patient might experience, I'm more thinking
00:13about how it's going to look.
00:23My name is Christina and I'm getting a vampire facial today.
00:26I first heard about vampire facials a few years ago after Kim Kardashian tweeted a photo
00:30of herself covered in blood.
00:32I would love to be that person that can go out without any makeup on, but I'm not there
00:36yet.
00:37I actually didn't have issues with acne until my mid-20s.
00:40I think that with this procedure, it'll help me kind of get a reset and a restart going into
00:45my 30s with skin that's smoother and clearer.
00:49Intentionally scarring your face is extreme.
00:52I am a little bit nervous about the needles, but I think that I'll be okay because of
00:57the numbing cream.
00:59My name is Dr. Ava Shamban.
01:01I'm a board-certified dermatologist.
01:03I've been practicing since 1989, it's a long time.
01:07You do the math.
01:08A vampire facial refers to a microdermabrasion with the PRP serum applied afterwards.
01:18A PRP treatment begins with drawing the blood, spinning the blood cells out, so that takes
01:23about 15 minutes.
01:32I cannot get it.
01:35I wasn't hydrated enough when I came in, so the nurse had a little bit of trouble finding
01:40my vein, so that was a bit of a challenge.
01:43We had to go by feel, and we used a little bit of a vein finder too, which locates the
01:48veins.
01:53Eventually, with technology, they found it.
02:15This is the vampire part of the procedure, but there's no bite marks in your neck.
02:20It's actually in your arm.
02:22Okay, yeah.
02:23PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma, and it refers to removing the red cells from a
02:32blood draw and then activating the platelets so that they pop open and release all of the
02:38growth factors.
02:40Now, why would anyone want to put blood products on top of their face?
02:44The goal of adding PRP to any of these facial procedures is to speed the healing.
02:49I just saw one of the Kardashians got this done yesterday with no numbing cream.
02:53Yeah, you're not having any numbing cream either.
02:56Yes, I am.
02:57Am I not?
02:58You don't need it.
02:59We're going to ice you.
03:00I like to do these procedures at a level where you don't need to have numbing cream because
03:06I think it's better to do smaller procedures more frequently than try to do it all in one procedure.
03:21Christina will experience the sensation of almost like a flick on the skin.
03:31What we are doing is using the device with the radiofrequency microneedling starting in one corner
03:40of the skin and progressing slowly over the face, making sure that the patient isn't experiencing
03:45any pain.
03:57Then you take that serum and then you apply it to the skin after a procedure.
04:03Then not only will you get faster healing and less redness, but you will get a better
04:10result because you're stimulating the cells to do what they're supposed to do but faster
04:15and more powerfully.
04:16Oh my gosh.
04:18Wow.
04:18Wow!
04:19Right?
04:20Yeah.
04:21Definitely not as red as I thought it would be.
04:22So when I first looked at myself in the mirror after the treatment, I was expecting there to
04:26be red blood all over my face and in fact I just looked super shiny.
04:31It 100% felt like what it looked like.
04:33I could feel every single needle going into my face.
04:36With no numbing cream, I felt really badass, I'm not going to lie.
04:42When they put the plasma back onto my face, it felt really soothing and cooling.
04:47If anything, that was the most enjoyable part of the process.
04:50Right after the procedure and probably for the next four days, I had red dots all over
04:56my face.
04:57The doctor was really clear that if you get too much sun exposure, you're going to get
05:00scarring.
05:01So that to me is more so where the vampire comes in because I found myself really having
05:06to hide out a lot.
05:07I would recommend this for anyone who has tried everything else and they still cannot
05:13treat their hyperpigmentation or scarring.
05:15A week after I got the procedure done, an article came out saying that some patients in New Mexico
05:20were being treated for HIV as a result of getting this procedure done.
05:24So again, to stress, it's really, really important to go get this done by a professional.
05:29It's a very big issue in this world of aesthetic work.
05:34There has to be what I call aesthetic responsibility.
05:37Part of that is educating myself continuously on the newest techniques and procedures and also
05:45on the way that you blend them all together to get the best result.
05:50I think the biggest thing that I've learned is to number one, just be comfortable in the
05:54skin that I have.
05:56There's so much more to life than what's on your skin.
06:02Thank you so much for watching Refinery29.
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