What is Microneedling?
Microneedling is a noninvasive treatment with little downtime that can provide dramatic repairing and rejuvenating results to the skin.
Tiny needles will create small channels in the skin to stimulate new and beautiful collagen. Essentially, it remodels and stimulates the growth of collagen.
What is Collagen?
Collagen is what gives our skin its youthful fullness and bounciness. As we age, we lose collagen, our skin starts to fall, and we start to see fine lines and wrinkles. Collagen is the essential protein fiber in the skin that provides support and fullness.
Collagen also plays a huge role in scarring. Scar tissue–whether it be from surgery, injury, acne, or pregnancy–is what happens when the skin has to repair itself quickly. The collagen produced during this time is not the same collagen we have on un-scarred areas.
Microneedling can stimulate the production of more collagen in one treatment than the skin will create in a year! It can also be used to completely remodel to the point of removing old scar tissue.
Imagine collagen as the stuffing in a pillow. As the pillow ages, the pillowcase starts to appear looser and wrinkled. You can replace the pillowcase with a new one, but the problem isn’t with the size of the pillowcase–it is the stuffing that has become flat. With microneedling, we are putting more stuffing back into the pillow so it returns to its plump and youthful state.
What Can Microneedling Do For the Skin?
Microneedling can treat the following skin concerns:
Fine lines and wrinkles
Deep wrinkles
Acne scars
Old scars
Surgical scars
Stretch marks
Hyperpigmentation
Large pores
Rough and uneven skin texture
What Are the Benefits of Microneedling?
A series of microneedling treatments will produce rejuvenated and healthy looking skin with very little down time. Downtime for microneedling typically includes the remainder of the day of treatment and 1-2 days after. The skin will only be mildly sensitive and may appear red or pink.
Microneedling treatments are very safe and effective. This treatment can be done on all skin types. Unlike laser treatments, microneedling does not use heat, so it is safe to do on medium to deep skin tones without risk of hyperpigmentation.
Microneedling is very natural and noninvasive. Microneedling stimulates your skin to create its own collagen so it is 100% natural to your body! Fillers are foreign substances that the body will eventually attack and break down over time–and for this reason, your results with microneedling will last exponentially longer than filler.
Microneedling is also more cost efficient than filler. One microneedling treatment may cost the same as one filler appointment, however, the collagen produced with microneedling will last much longer than the filler. With filler, you have to keep getting injected to maintain your results. With microneedling, once you’ve achieved your results, your results are yours to keep for years and years.
Microneedling is a very safe and effective treatment, and a great alternative or companion to plastic surgery. After a few microneedling treatments, you may no longer consider getting a face or eye lift. And for our clients who have gone under the knife, microneedling is a great treatment post-procedure
to help treat scarring left behind. And because microneedling can be done anywhere on the body, we have treated clients with scarring after tummy-tucks, breast augmentations and reductions, knee replacements, and other surgical procedures.
What Can You Expect with Microneedling?
Numbing: A topical anesthetic is applied to the area we are treating to make you as comfortable as possible during your treatment.
Treatment: The precision of our device, the SkinPen, creates millions of controlled microchannels in the skin to elicit your body’s natural wound healing cascade. The healing process works at the site of treatment to remodel the tissue resulting in new collagen and elastin.
Post Treatment: After treatment is complete, your skin may appear pink or slightly red, resembling a mild sunburn. It may feel warm and tight, but these sensations subside within hours of treatment.
How Does Microneedling Feel?
The numbing cream we use is very effective, most clients feel no sensation on more fleshy areas like the cheeks, and a mild pin-prickly sensation on the forehead.
Am I a Candidate for Microneedling?
Let's find out!
I am not currently having an acne breakout.
I am not on blood thinners.
I am not allergic to lidocaine.
I am not a hemophiliac or have any blood clotting disorders.
I have not been on accutane within the last year.
I am not a chronic user of topical steroids.
If the answer was “yes” to all of the questions, you are a perfect candidate for microneedling!
How Do I Prepare for Microneedling?
At Sanctuary Skin, we like to prepare the skin in a way that will ensure optimal results. The preparation is customized to each individual, but in general we like to recommend at least 2-3 DMK enzyme treatments prior to microneedling. This is necessary to ensure the “collagen factory” is up and running at peak effectiveness and the skin is well conditioned for the more intense treatment of microneedling.
You wouldn’t run a marathon without conditioning and training first, we don’t recommend microneedling skin that is in an unhealthy state.
When Will I See Results from my Microneedling Treatment?
Everyone and every body is different. That being said, the biggest factors that determine how quickly you will see results are: how quickly your body creates collagen, and how quickly you are satisfied.
We have seen two clients with very similar skin concerns receive a different amount of
treatments to achieve the same level of satisfaction. For example, both clients may have stretch marks on their stomach. One client may want to treat the area until no trace of the scarring remains. The other client may simply want to soften the appearance of the stretch marks and not remove them entirely. They would require a different number of treatments, but both are satisfied with their results.
With that being said, most clients see results within 30-40 days and continue to see improvements for up to 2 months after treatment.
Results will be apparent after only one treatment, but for best results we often recommend 3-6 treatments. Treatments can be spaced a month apart, or can be alternated with other facial treatments or DMK enzymes.
The skin has the ability to remodel and rebuild itself, and microneedling is an amazing tool that can stimulate the skin in a way to produce incredible collagen production with very little downtime. Are you ready to have the skin you’ve always wanted? Contact us today to get started on your journey!