How Much Does Microdermabrasion Cost?

No national per-session figure for microdermabrasion survived our research: no tier-1 or tier-2 survey we could read publishes one.

With nothing national to check a quote against, the number that matters for your budget is a written quote from a practice near you.

Treat any single "national average" you see quoted for microdermabrasion with the same caution.

One figure that looks relevant but is not: the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) states an average skin resurfacing cost of $1,829 on its chemical peel and dermabrasion cost pages, "according to the latest statistics." That is a plastic-surgeon fee for a broad resurfacing category — one that includes surgical dermabrasion — not a price for a med spa microdermabrasion session.

The distinction matters, because the two procedures are not interchangeable.

Cleveland Clinic calls dermabrasion a more aggressive technique — a sanding procedure that bleeds, crusts and needs about 7 to 14 days before normal activities — while microdermabrasion causes no bleeding and needs minimal downtime.

If a quote or an article is really about dermabrasion, it is describing a different procedure, and a price that is not a microdermabrasion price.

So what does a session charge buy?

A device exfoliation of the outermost layer of skin: tiny crystals sprayed through a tube and vacuumed back up, or a diamond-tipped wand that abrades the skin while suction clears away the debris.

Cleveland Clinic puts a session at about 30 to 40 minutes, with no anesthetic, and skin that may be red, swollen or sensitive for up to 24 hours afterwards.

On the device itself, one regulatory fact is worth knowing when marketing claims come attached to a price: powered dermabrasion and microdermabrasion devices fall under FDA product code GFE (21 CFR 878.4820), a Class I category that is exempt from 510(k) premarket notification — though an individual device can carry other codes — and an openFDA search found no 510(k) records with "microdermabrasion" in the device name.

Menu wording is the last thing to read closely.

Cleveland Clinic also calls the treatment a "power peel," and a menu line like "microdermabrasion facial" leaves it fair to ask what a quoted price covers — the exfoliation alone, or a longer, multi-step appointment with the exfoliation as one step.

Ask before you line one office's number up against another's.

The per-session price is the start of the math, not the end of it.

Cleveland Clinic says most people need multiple treatments, describes a typical course as five to 12 sessions spaced a week or two apart, and says results build over multiple sessions and that monthly treatments can help maintain them.

Because the treatment does not stop skin aging, those maintenance visits are a continuing line item rather than a one-time purchase.

That changes what a cheap-looking session means.

A five-to-12-session course multiplies whatever the per-session quote is, and the maintenance visits keep coming after it.

An office quoting more per session can end up costing less across a full course, and the way to see that is to ask each practice what a complete plan is expected to cost — then compare course totals, not session prices.

Package pricing is where the research came up empty: we could not confirm package pricing for microdermabrasion from any national source, so the package numbers that mean anything are the ones a practice puts in writing.

Ask for three: the price of one session on its own, the package total and the session count it includes, and what happens to unused sessions if you stop.

Before committing to a course, it is worth being sure the treatment fits the concern.

Cleveland Clinic's list of what microdermabrasion can make less noticeable is capped at exactly that — age spots, enlarged pores and blackheads, fine lines, mild scars, uneven tone, stretch marks and sun damage made less noticeable, not erased.

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) is blunter about scars: microdermabrasion won't treat acne scars, though dermatologists use it to even out skin tone alongside other acne-scar treatments.

Depth is one way to see that ceiling.

Cleveland Clinic's ladder: microdermabrasion removes only the top layer of skin, chemical peels exfoliate deeper, and microneedling goes deeper still and may work better for problems beneath the surface, like acne scars.

Which depth a concern calls for is a licensed-provider question, and our microneedling vs. microdermabrasion comparison lines the two up.

With no national figure to check a quote against, the quotes themselves are the method.

Get each number in writing, and make the quotes comparable before ranking them — same treatment, same session count, same inclusions.

Six questions put any two offices on the same sheet of paper:

Discount vouchers earn the same questions.

We found no independent source that has evaluated the safety of discounted facial deals — Groupon included, microdermabrasion among them — so we cannot tell you a deal is safe or unsafe as a category.

What you can judge is the practice selling the voucher, and a practice that will not answer the questions above tells you more than the coupon does.

Our med spa deals guide walks through the fine print worth reading on any med spa coupon, from expiry dates to who performs the treatment.

One payment note to finish: under IRS Publication 502 (for 2025 returns), a procedure directed at improving appearance that does not meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease generally cannot be included as medical expenses.

By that definition, purely cosmetic skin treatments such as microdermabrasion are generally outside HSA and FSA eligibility.

If you are weighing a payment plan for a five-to-12-session course, our med spa financing guide explains the common options and their terms.

For what the treatment is, what it can and cannot do, how a session feels and who can perform it, start with our microdermabrasion guide.