The ‘moon facial’ encouraging people to put their period blood on their face is “actually quite dangerous”.
That’s according to Dermatological Nurse Selene Daly, who wants to debunk this prevailing social media trend.
“Influencers on TikTok claim putting your menstrual blood on your face has anti-aging properties,” she told Moncrieff.
She said many people online will suggest menstrual blood contains stem cells that reduce aging and improve health.
“Menstrual blood contains red blood cells and white blood cells and they're mostly inflammatory cells due to their nature,” she explained.
“Does smearing blood on your face improve your skin? No, because your skin is a barrier so the blood you're smearing on can’t get through.”
'Vampire facial'
Ms Daly said the “moon facial” likely became popular through Kim Kardashian, who previously promoted a “vampire facial”.
“A nurse or doctor draws your blood, like they would in hospital, then they split your blood and take serum out full of growth factors,” Ms Daly said.
“It gives it a temporary full voluminous look.
“[But] without splitting the blood, this is basically smearing blood on your skin.
“Blood doesn’t have any properties that help your skin – it's only this growth factor that is part of your blood when it’s split out that can help your skin.”
Dangers
Ms Daly said it’s “really important” people don’t follow the menstrual facial treatment.
“Moon facials are actually quite dangerous,” she said.
“Where you’re harvesting the blood from is not a sterile environment... it is harvested beside our bowel where there are bacteria, there could be sweat on your groin.”
Ms Daly said there is also a risk you have an undetected sexually transmitted disease or urinary track infection, making the blood extremely dangerous to put on your skin.
“You could get herpes on your skin,” she said.
Alternatives
The best anti-aging methods are the simplest, according to Ms Daly.
“Go to your local pharmacy, buy sunscreen or lotion, factor 30 or 50, you buy that for a few euro,” she said.
“The majority of aging comes from being exposed to UV light in the sun or sunbeds.
“Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
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