Up until this point I only thought of IVs as something you’d get at the hospital or joke about needing when you’re hungover. The possibility it could be used for something as vain as making your skin look dewier honestly never even crossed my mind. But because it’s 2018, and this is the future, IVs have now made their way to celebrities’ lavish bedsides, into hotel rooms, and all over Instagram.

Medical tools these are not. Clever start-ups have taken the technology out of the doctor’s office and turned them into the next luxury service. Bachelorette party got too wild? Feeling sick and need some Vitamin C? A pro can be at your door with a needle in an hour. And now it’s reached next-level: You can officially get vitamins, nutrients, and hydration delivered straight into your bloodstream, all with the promise of giving you brighter, glowier skin.

What happened to plain old skin care? Great question. Similar to celebrities’ oft-cited advice that “drinking a lot of water” is the secret to great skin, the claim behind this new generation of IV drips is that they’ll not only hydrate you enough so it shows on your face, but that they also have the ability to enrich your blood with glow-boosting vitamins. One of them is called Glutathione, according to Lily Kunin, the owner of NYC’s Clean Market, which offers the NutriDrip IV system.

“The Glow Drip that we offer is basically just glutathione, which is known as a master antioxidant,” she explains. “It works to detox your liver and kidneys. Once those are detoxed, your skin is healthier and looks refreshed. Everyone calls it the glutathione glow.”

Some IV systems, like StriveIV, which comes directly to your home, also offer more vitamins in addition to glutathione. “It’s a high-power antioxidant IV. We mix glutathione with high-dose vitamin C to fight free radicals, which [when left untreated] can break down cells and speed up the aging process,” explains StriveIV cofounder Maura Mandell. “You’re mixing the master antioxidant and the most stable antioxidant in order to help stabilize the molecules from creating further degradation in your skin. To top it off, we put in a lot of multivitamins because when your body is feeling rundown, your skin can look dull and feel dry.”

The thinking behind it? Instead of putting a vitamin C serum directly on your skin or taking a vitamin (or, you know, eating healthy), having these nutrients pumped directly into your blood stream means you get a 100 percent absorption rate. In other words: It’s supposed to be more effective.

Kunin sees the IV drip trend as a natural expansion of the Internet’s booming interest in wellness—particularly ingestibles. “There’s been a shift in beauty,” she says. “We’ve always thought of skin care as topical, and now there’s a more widespread understanding that beauty is also from the inside out. That belief is making people more interested in IVs for their skin.”

I can’t say that’s exactly what led me, a 27-year-old woman with a fear of needles, to get the treatment—twice. But the promise of instantly better-looking certainly didn’t hurt. Upon arriving at Clean Market, I checked in and sat down in a comfortable lounge chair, foot rest and all. Ellie, the R.N. who administered my IV, assured me that the needle she’d be using was pediatric-sized, so I shouldn’t have to worry about much discomfort. And she was right. I felt a tiny pinch as the IV was put in place, and suddenly my veins began being filled with a surge of glutathione.

While I questioned Kunin on the growing popularity of these treatments (she says she sees mostly women and a handful of men, some of whom even come in on their lunch breaks), my arm began to feel tingly, as if I had slept on it for too long. I tried not to look at the IV, which was connected to a bag filled with orange liquid and hanging on the wood-paneled wall—a bit more glamorous than the metal IV stand you’d see in a hospital. And although some people tend to taste the vitamins in their mouth, I was sipping a latte that successfully masked any flavor.

I sat there for about 25 minutes—roughly five minutes longer than I would with a face mask—while the bag emptied into my body, and before I knew it, Ellie was removing the IV.

The results? For starters, I had more energy, which Kunin says is one of the common results of an antioxidant drip. But upon looking in the mirror, I instantly saw that I looked more refreshed. The bags under my eyes had disappeared nearly completely, my usual blotchy redness seemed to have faded, and I didn’t look nearly as tired as I had before I walked in. Hours later the results had gotten even better, revealing the glutathione glow that Kunin told me about. Was I transformed? No, but the difference was certainly visible, at least to myself.

“Because it’s an antioxidant, it helps fight free radicals and gives you more energy,” Kunin told me. “It also acts as a defense against pollution and chemicals.” Almost like a doctor, they gave me care instructions for when I left the office: Drink at least three quarts of water (so, roughly 12 cups) throughout the day—carrying on throughout the next week. That, Kunin says, should help flush any complexion-dulling waste from your system.

Also, as with any other skin care routine, she says upkeep is key to seeing maximum results: “I say it’s similar to getting facials—you can get them regularly. I’ve had patients do them a few times a week to start, and then move on to maintenance after some time.”

Now, while I don’t personally have the funds (or the pain tolerance) to maintain a regular IV drip routine (Clean Market’s treatment is $99, while StriveIV’s is $349), I’d absolutely budget for it ahead of an event. After all, that is what they do in Hollywood.

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