Alcohol and treatments

I often get asked if it is okay to drink alcohol after having a treatment. My answer is maybe the day after! You may ask why does it matter? Alcohol is a dehydrator and it dries everything out including the skin. It is also a vasodilator which means that it dilates or widens the blood vessels. How does that affect your chemical peel or Morpheus8 RF Microneedling treatment? I’m glad you asked! Many of the treatments I perform in the clinic create trauma to the skin, it might be very small and not even visible but it is what needs to happen so the treatment can benefit the issue at hand. Morpheus8 for example uses radiofrequency energy which heats the skin layers and the needles puncture the skin physically making it redden.

When these things happen the blood circulation to the injury areas increases, growth factors flood in so they can start repairing the damage – this is how these procedures work to stimulate the collagen formation. By adding alcohol it widens the blood vessels even more causing flushing and sometimes irritation. So I recommend especially the first day or evening of the treatment, to avoid drinking just so you feel more comfortable. I would suggest you drink more water to help hydrate the skin instead. With treatments like EvolveX body where the fat is melted and needs to be metabolized by the body, water will help flush it out. Morpheus8 used on the body will also need to flush the melted fat away too, Kybella fat dissolving injections also need more water for fat flushing!

But what if you are having dermal fillers or neurotoxin treatments? The same applies and it might even be more important not to drink because alcohol thins out the blood. When we perform injectables treatments on rare occasions a tiny blood vessel might be hit and bleed for a second. That might cause a bruise to develop and as we know bruises show up later on. Since alcohol widens the vessels we recommend that no alcohol is consumed a couple of days before your treatment. We want all those tiny vessels nice and tight and tucked away from the surface of the skin where they might get poked by the needle! Its the same reason why we advise no blood thinners such as vitamin E or Gingko biloba or aspirin etc. They thin the blood and can make the bruising last a lot longer. But don’t fret too much about not having a drink because with all this babying of the skin, it will heal faster, bruise less and that youthful glow will show up fast.