How to prepare skin for the dermabrasion surgery

According to my surgeon no changes in my regular skin care routine were necessary before the dermabrasion procedure.

However, according to the internet research that I did, most surgeons recommend stoping taking Accutane (Isotretinoin) at least six months before dermabrasion. If you don't, you run into higher risk of hyperpigmentation after the procedure. I was never taking Accutane, so I was not worried about that.

Also, several surgeons recommend treating your skin with Retin-A (retinoic acid/tretinoin) for about one month before the procedure. Retinoic acid improves skin texture by causing skin cells to turn over more rapidly and by increasing the amount of collagen. I decided that in my case it would be better to use glycolic acid instead of Retin-A. Glycolic acid offers similar benefits to Retin-A: it improves skin texture and appearance by promoting skin cell turnover. I used it at the concentration of 35% once a week for six weeks before the surgery.

In my personal judgment, it did a good job at evening out my skin texture and coloring. In a result, my skin definitely looked much better before the surgery than it looks now, a month after the surgery. But according to my doctor that is normal and I will only start to see the results of the surgery in a few months.