Dermabrasion, or skin sanding, uses one of several devices to remove the surface layer of your skin to remove wrinkles, correct scarring, either from acne or surgery, or to remove actinic keratoses – growths that result when fair-skinned people get too much sun in their younger years.

These keratoses are usually reddish and have a white scale on top and need to be removed before they become cancerous. They are generally rough to the touch, and may feel sore when you rub them, or when they come in contact with clothing. Seborrheic keratoses, on the other hand, are commonly non-cancerous but can be quite disfiguring as age brings on more and more of these dark brown spots.

Dermabrasion involves the use of diamond fraises, ultra-fine wire brushes or serrated wheels. The fraises look remarkably like buffing attachments for the Dremel rotary tool, and contain miniscule chips of diamond. The wire brushes and serrated tools are also micro-fine versions of similar tools used with a Dremel or sander, to sand, buff or clean wood, and the hand tool into which dermabrasion heads are inserted achieve speeds similar to a Dremel - that is, about 18,000 to 35,000 revolutions per minute.