Perhaps you have already come across selfies of female celebrities on social media sporting bloody faces. No, they’re not trying to scare you away. On the contrary, they are actually letting you in on one of their secrets as to why they look picture-perfect every single time.

What they’re having in those pictures is what’s referred to as the vampire facial.

It’s all the rage these days. It’s effective, at least according to its proponents. Oh, and it’s super expensive, too — a treatment is about $1,000.

Interested to know more about the vampire facial? Then keep on reading. Below you will come across some of the most important things you need to know about it. And before you exit this page later on, don’t forget to share this article on your different social media sites to get your family and friends introduced to this kind of gory treatment, too.

Blood is Actually Involved

No, the vampire facial is not called as such because it’s carried out by blood-sucking practitioners when the clock strikes twelve. It’s referred to that way because it entails the use of blood — your own blood.

It goes without saying that a little blood will be drawn from your body before you undergo the vampire facial. Blood obtained from you will be placed inside a centrifuge, which is a spinning machine that is designed to separate the different components of a liquid.

The goal is to obtain what’s referred to as the platelet-rich plasma or PRP, which is the one that’s applied on your face during the treatment proper. So in other words, those blood spatters you see across the faces of celebrities undergoing the vampire facial is PRP obtained from their respective blood.

Paired With Another Facial

The vampire facial is actually a combination of either microdermabrasion or microneedling and the application of PRP. No, you cannot expect to see results simply by having your PRP smeared on your face.

In order for PRP to be absorbed by your skin so that it can carry out its various jobs — optimize cellular health, increase collagen synthesis and flood the skin with antioxidants — the skin needs to undergo microdermabrasion (the skin is sprayed or scoured with tiny bits of crystals) or microneedling (the skin is pricked with a lot of tiny needles) beforehand.

These days, some facial clinics also inject PRP into the skin just like botox or fillers.

A Day or Two of Downtime

Based on the descriptions of microdermabrasion and microneedling above, it’s apparent that you will surely have to stay away from everyone’s view for about a day or two after paying for the vampire facial.

Once the cosmetic treatment is through, it’s not unlikely for your face to appear a little red and feel warm — pretty much the things you experience if you sit under the sun for several hours. Definitely, for the next couple of days your face should be protected from the sun with the help of sunscreen. No makeup should be applied while you’re recovering.

The area where your blood was drawn may bruise a little, but that’s perfectly normal. Bruising may be expected, too, if your PRP is administered via injections.

Multiple Sessions Needed

Sadly, undergoing one expensive treatment is not enough for you to obtain dramatic results. The vampire facial needs to be carried out for a number of times, typically once a month.

Experts who offer such beauty procedure say that you can benefit a lot from it if you have sun damaged skin or you are beginning to show signs of premature skin aging. You may also opt for it if you simply want to be spotted with a more radiant looking complexion.