Death by a thousand needles... Who knew that this would be the world's favorite beauty treatment overnight. Well, Botox is everyone’s favorite but Microneedling has to be a close second. Both have many similarities: no pain, minimal downtime, and fabulous subtle natural looking results with extremely low risks for side effects.
We’ve always known that aerating our grass gives us a beautiful healthy green lawn, because punching holes in the dirt allows air and nutrients to get to the roots. Similarly, the overlying thick dead skin layer and unstimulated blood supply in and around the skin and hair follicles prevents the skin from being revitalized. Makes sense, right? Although we may never know the real reason it works, the literature tells us that the tiny micro-injuries created by the tiny needles activates healing. This involves production of growth factors, cytokines, and other factors that cause collagen induction over time. But, I think it’s easier to think of it as a way to aerate your face.
After 3 treatments, 3-4 weeks apart, people really notice a change in the health, vibrancy, skin turgor, and texture of the skin. Some people also notice reduction in pigmentation abnormalities and improvement in small scars. But don’t be fooled by some of the dramatic photos circulating around on social media. Every dramatic before and after I have seen on a social media page is a photo I have seen before in old CO2 marketing information. Microneedling isn’t CO2 or deep Erbium Resurfacing, but it is a safe, almost no downtime procedure that can make noticeable improvement in skin brightness and skin thickness over time. Of course, younger patients always see faster and better results than those over 50 years old, but almost everyone seems to benefit.
Adding PRP, once known as the Vampire Facelift, adds little benefit. There are no credible studies showing any significant anti-aging benefit of adding PRP to the treatment. For those of you who do not know what PRP is, it is a process where blood drawn from your arm, is put in a centrifuge and the platelets are separated from the rest of the blood and reinjected into the treatment area. Platelets live for 30 days and then are replenished by the bone marrow. So, your platelets are always less than 30 days old. Young cells have more potent stem cells and cytokines. In theory, injecting these new growth factors and cytokines into the skin should offer an even more rejuvenating effect. Although some benefit of PRP has been seen in orthopedics in regenerating cartilage in the knees and in dermatology in helping grow hair, there really has been a lack of evidence in rejuvenating the skin. But, since when has no convincing data stopped anyone from advertising the benefits of a cosmetic procedure? So, get this treatment if you feel compelled to try it. The only downside is the loss of money from your wallet. At our practice, we offer it because people ask about it, we discuss with the patient that there are no good studies showing an added benefit.. We do use it for hair growth and it seems to be effective for some.
In conclusion, give microneedling a try. I think you will love it. It is a low risk procedure to try if you are just getting into the anti-aging treatments.