15.2 Microdermabrasion, Dermaplaning, and Nano Infusion

NIC II.M asks for basic knowledge of advanced topics and treatments, and the bulletin’s examples are dermaplaning, nano infusion, and microdermabrasion. Illinois does not treat those three as a national trivia list. 225 ILCS 410/3A-1 limits esthetics to cosmetic work on the stratum corneum of the epidermis. Public Act 104-0134 (Senate Bill 2154), effective August 1, 2025, amended that section to name microdermabrasion, hydrodermabrasion, and dermaplaning as devices and methods for care of the skin at that dead-cell layer. IDFPR’s Statement on Prohibited Practices (04/06/2026) still bars any technique intended to affect living layers. The exam item is almost always a depth question dressed up as a machine or a blade.

1175.115(d)(4) is the second sentence you need in the same stem: you may not use a manual or mechanical device unless the use is within the licensee’s scope and consistent with the manufacturer’s intended use and with client health and safety. If the box says “dermal remodeling,” “medical microdermabrasion to the papillary dermis,” or “collagen induction,” that indication is not an Illinois esthetics indication. A spa certificate does not rewrite the label.

Crystal versus diamond microdermabrasion

Microdermabrasion is mechanical exfoliation of the stratum corneum. Two classic delivery systems appear on theory exams:

Crystal systems project fine aluminum oxide (corundum) crystals onto the skin and vacuum them back with the abraded cells. The crystal stream is the abrasive; the vacuum is the recovery and mild lifting force. Loose crystals are a housekeeping and inhalation issue. They are not left on the floor, not blown toward the client’s eyes, and not reused from a contaminated canister. Eye protection for client and licensee is part of manufacturer safety, which 1175.115(d)(2) requires you to follow.

Diamond-tip systems use a wand with a diamond-encrusted tip plus vacuum. There is no loose crystal cloud. Grit of the tip and number of passes replace the crystal-flow setting. Tips are nonporous multi-use tools when the manufacturer designs them that way: clean visible debris, then disinfect with hospital-grade disinfectant after each client (1175.115(b)(3)). Disposable tips are discarded. A diamond tip wiped on a used towel and seated back in the handpiece is the same sanitation miss as a dirty extractor.

What both systems may and may not do

Both systems are abrasion of dead surface cells, oil, and debris. They are not medical resurfacing of living epidermis. Settings, passes, and crystal flow that the manufacturer describes as dermal injury are out. Fitzpatrick IV–VI skin, recent isotretinoin, active acne inflammation, rosacea flares, open lesions, and recent peels are typical modify or refuse facts. 1175.115 already forbids massaging inflamed, infected, or erupting skin. After any in-scope microdermabrasion, the barrier is thinner: broad-spectrum SPF and sun avoidance are aftercare, not a retail extra.

Hydrodermabrasion is in the statute

Hydrodermabrasion is water-and-serum mechanical exfoliation: a vortex of solution plus vacuum that rinses as it abrades. Hydrafacial-type devices are the consumer name; Illinois law uses the generic hydrodermabrasion. P.A. 104-0134 put that word next to microdermabrasion and dermaplaning in 3A-1. That confirmation is a depth grant, not a brand grant. A hydrodermabrasion pass that stays on the stratum corneum for cosmetic smoothing can be esthetics. A protocol the manufacturer labels for living-layer infusion, medical peel combination, or collagen induction is not rescued by the word hydrodermabrasion on your menu.

Tips, bottles, and tubing that contact the client or the unused product path must be used so 1175.115(b)(9) contamination rules still hold: you do not run a dirty loop back into a bulk reservoir. Single-use tips are discarded. Reusable nonporous pieces are cleaned and disinfected. Follow the device’s registration and FDA documentation duties in 1175.115(d)(1)–(3) if the unit is an FDA-classified device.

Dermaplaning: blade, angle, and what you are actually cutting

Dermaplaning is a manual (sometimes machine-assisted) shave of vellus hair (peach fuzz) and stratum corneum. Illinois older guidance had treated it as a gray-zone or medical procedure. P.A. 104-0134 resolved the license question: dermaplaning is within surface-skin esthetics when it is done for cosmetic or beautifying purposes and not for the treatment of disease.

Blade, angle, and blood as a stop sign

Teaching technique you should be able to describe:

• Use a sterile, single-use blade (often a #10-style surgical blade on a handled base). One blade, one client, then sharps disposal. You do not wipe a blade and reuse it. You do not “just flip it.”
• Hold the skin taut. A typical teaching angle is about 45 degrees to the skin — flat enough to skim corneum and vellus, not steep enough to gouge.
• Short, controlled strokes. Hair is removed with the blade’s skim of dead cells, not by scraping living dermis until it bleeds as a goal.
• Pinpoint bleeding means you went too far or the skin was not a candidate. Stop. Treat as a blood-exposure event if blood is present. Do not finish the cheek “because it looks almost even.”

Dermaplaning is not a medical shave of living dermis, not scalpel sculpting, and not a substitute for a dermatologist’s procedure on a lesion. Do not dermaplane over moles, inflamed acne, active herpes, sunburn, or skin on isotretinoin (and commonly for months after, per intake protocols). Blood thinners raise bleed risk. Recent peels or microdermabrasion can make the surface too fragile. 1175.120 still treats use contrary to the manufacturer’s indication — including a blade system labeled for medical dermabrasion of living tissue — as unprofessional conduct.

Aftercare is barrier care: no immediate aggressive acids unless the labeled protocol and the skin allow it, SPF, and honest counseling that vellus returns and the glow is from a smoother corneum, not from a new collagen network you induced as a physician would.

Nano infusion versus microneedling

This is the highest-yield trap in II.M for Illinois candidates.

Nano infusion (also marketed as nano-needling or nano-channeling) is a NIC advanced-topic example, but Illinois does not expressly name it in 225 ILCS 410/3A-1. The statute broadly allows devices used to beautify, exfoliate, or stimulate the stratum corneum and forbids techniques intended to affect living layers. Therefore a nano device is potentially within esthetics only when its manufacturer-intended, labeled cosmetic use is genuinely confined to that dead surface layer. Device names and advertised tip length do not prove legal depth. Use single-use cartridges where specified, disinfect reusable bases, and obtain IDFPR or legal guidance when the intended tissue effect is unclear.

Microneedling (collagen-induction therapy, CIT) uses needles that penetrate living epidermis and often dermis to create controlled wounds so the body lays down collagen. IDFPR’s 04/06/2026 statement lists microneedling among procedures that constitute the practice of medicine and are not within the scope of an esthetician. Depth in millimeters does not create a secret Illinois exception. “0.25 mm so it is esthetics” is not in Part 1175 and is not in 3A-1. If the device is intended to puncture living layers, it is out as esthetics.

Physician delegation does not let you print “esthetician microneedling” on a spa menu. Chapter 2’s delegation rules still apply: physician-patient relationship, physician exam and treatment plan, performance as instructed, and a ban on holding the work out as esthetics. Section 15.3 will put that rule next to lasers. Here, remember the legal test: nano is not automatically authorized by its name; only manufacturer-intended corneum work can fit the broad surface-device clause. Microneedling is living-layer work and prohibited as esthetics.

Do not market collagen induction

Marketing is a scope problem. 225 ILCS 410/1-7 forbids holding out beyond the license. The 04/06/2026 statement and the October 30, 2025 medspa memo both treat living-layer change as medicine. Do not advertise microdermabrasion, hydrodermabrasion, dermaplaning, or nano infusion as:

• Medical collagen induction
• Dermal remodeling or wrinkle surgery
• A microneedling alternative that “goes just as deep”
• Treatment of acne scarring as a disease
• A substitute for a physician’s ablative laser or medium peel

Cosmetic language that stays honest: smoother surface texture, removal of vellus and dead cells, brighter-looking corneum, better cosmetic-product spread on intact skin. If the client wants collagen induction, refer. If a manufacturer trainer sells a weekend “medical esthetics” add-on that contradicts the label or 3A-1, 1175.115(d)(4) still controls what you may switch on Monday morning.

Consultation still happens first (Chapter 12): medications, isotretinoin, herpes history, pigmentation risk, last peel, and a signed consent that describes cosmetic surface effects, not a medical outcome. Then the machine or blade, then SPF. Depth literacy protects the license. Manufacturer literacy protects the client.