Boston News Today - FACE CALM: IS THE HOTTEST FACIAL TREATMENT AROUND ALL HYPE? OR IS IT ACTUALLY HELPFUL?

There are tons of trends in the beauty industry, and sifting through the noise (and celebrity endorsements) to find results-driven treatments that won’t require a second mortgage can feel like a fool’s errand. In an age where all it takes is a Kardashian to post a selfie at the dermatologist to get people talking about the next breakthrough, it can be difficult (and daunting) to decide where to start and what to look for.

Within the last couple of years, one such treatment—touted as a celebrity red carpet secret—began showing up seemingly everywhere. HydraFacial, it is said, tackles virtually every skin malady in just one quick, painless 30-minute office visit. You may have heard people chatting it up or posting about it—no downtime, no need to run out the back door with a scarf wrapped around your head, and no need to sell an organ to be able to afford it.

Lofty claims go hand in hand with most skincare, so I set out to put it to the test. Can a noninvasive, needle-free, lunch break facial really be that good?

RN Esthetics, which has three locations on the North Shore (Lynnfield, Salem, and Newburyport), has the rare distinction of being a HydraFacial Black Diamond practice, a top honor bestowed on the most elite spas across the country (elite doesn’t necessarily mean expensive, it just means good). Comparatively, the practice is recognized as an Allergan top 1 percent provider of Botox and fillers in the country, an honor that most Beverly Hills dermatologists can’t even claim.

According to Linda Vecchione, co-founder of RN Esthetics, HydraFacial functions as both a treatment that produces immediate results (bright, glowing, firm skin) and a treatment that, when repeated regularly, will give you the best skin of your life. In addition to lessening fine lines and wrinkles, each HydraFacial treatment is said to bring you one step closer to flawless skin. And all this sounds wonderful, but can one treatment really make that big of a difference?

The answer? Um, yes.

The first thing that happens is that a wand-like tool opens your pores, washes your face, and eliminates that pesky top layer of dead skin cells. Then, a gentle acid peel is used to exfoliate the skin one step further (no, it doesn’t burn). Then—get this—a magical kind of skincare vacuum unclogs pores and sucks all the nasty stuff up a big tube. Finally, a magical vortex tool infuses the skin with serum rich in antioxidants and collagen.

I didn’t only look considerably better right after the treatment, but I could see the difference in my skin for a full week after the procedure. Even with just a simple moisturizer, my skin had an unreal glow to it. A bothersome sunspot was faded, I had virtually no pores, and my skin seemed temporarily immune to the harshness of an unforgiving New England winter.

It’s hard to judge most skincare treatments from only one session, but HydraFacial more than delivers on its promises, just as the ladies at RN Esthetics told me it would.

CHRISTOPHER EHLERS

Theater critic for TheaterMania & WBUR’s TheArtery | Theater Editor for DigBoston | film and music critic for EDGE Media | Boston Theater Critics Association.