Wiesbaden: Cosmetic institutes and dermatologists have long been able to meet customers' demands for special beauty treatments.

They've been known to offer botox shots during the lunch hour and an assortment of laser treatments and peelings using cumbersome appliances.

Now, manufacturers are offering devices that could take over private bathrooms everywhere. Beauty tools such as the ultrasound skin buffer and the electric pimple killer are expected to find a place in bathrooms alongside creams and sprays.

Plastic surgery and operations such as face lifts and tummy tucks are no longer solely a privilege of the rich and beautiful, and the beauty industry is just following suit, said Cordula Schott, marketing director of the cosmetic company Nobilis Fragrances GmbH in Wiesbaden.

"Treatment methods borrowed from medicine are taking hold in perfumeries."

The makers of the new devices are generally not cosmetic companies, rather electronics companies.

The Collagen Booster Light 590 made by the French company Talika makes the skin look younger and smooth out wrinkles, Talika says, by using light beams.

A similar effect is promised by the skin buffer Beautiful Skin made by the German company Scala.

However, it uses ultrasound as opposed to light.

Experts view household versions of such devices sceptically.

"An ultrasound device whose wavees penetrate deep enough to be effective would cost far too much," said dermatologist Christoph Liebich of Munich. On the other hand, special peeling processes - known as microdermabrasions - are indeed effective and scientifically recognised, he said.

Microdermabrasion is a mechanical peeling technique that uses low pressure to spray sterilised micro crystals made of aluminium oxide onto the skin. They are immediately sucked up with the loosened dead skin cells they remove.

The procedure helps stimulate cell renewal, which slows down as people age and as they are exposed to pollutants. It's also slower in people who smoke and spend a lot of time in the sun.

Until now, such treatments had to be carried out by a specialist. But now the skin care companies such as Neutrogena and Rividerm have brought out appliances that can be used at home to conveniently remove dead skin cells on the outermost layer of skin - known as exfoliation - and thereby spur on cell renewal.

"A rich cream then can be easily worked into the skin," said Horst Kirchberger, star make-up artist in Munich, citing one of the advantages of using such a peeling device. It's important not to over do it.

"Such a treatment should be done only once every six weeks," he said.

Liebich actually advises people against trying the do-it-yourself devices.

"If a microdermabrasion is to be really effective, a lay person must be careful," the dermatologist said. "In the worst case, it can leave chemical burns on the skin."