Posted on January 26, 2024
Microneedling is a great treatment to help improve collagen and elastin. It is a non-surgical cosmetic treatment that is safe for all skin types. It creates microchannels using medical grade needles to a precise depth (which varies by skin type and area on the face) to create a controlled injury to stimulate your skin to repair. When the microchannels are open, skin care products are able to penetrate to improve the skin even more. Microneedling has been shown to help with texture, pore size, pigment, firmness, fine lines, and other issues.
So who cannot do it?
Some of these will seem obvious, but it is worth stating:
- Bleeding issues. Hemophilia, blood clotting issues, or patients on anticoagulants and blood thinners like aspirin, heparin, warfarin. I would add to this to stop any herbals which thin the blood like fish oil, vitamin E, and collagen.
- Pregnant or nursing mothers.
- Any skin infections. This can be active acne, eczema, rashes, or wounds in the treatment area.
- Any systemic infections, such as Hepatitis or HIV
- Allergy to any of the things used for the treatment: topical anesthetic, stainless steel, hyaluronic acid, moisturizer, and sunscreen.
- Patients who are immunocompromised, from chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or high dose steroids.
- There can be no skin cancers, solar keratosis, keloids, warts, or scars in the area.
- The treatment is not for the eyelid itself or the mucosal membranes. (It is safe from the bony area outwards)
What do you need to do ahead of time?
- Stop medications which make you bleed.
- If you have a history of cold sores, alert your doctor. You should take antiviral prophylaxis to prevent an outbreak.
- If you have any active issue on the face- acne, cold sore, injury, rash- you should postpone your procedure.
- Do not do this close to other procedures like Botox or filler.
- We have our patients get topical numbing medication to apply 45 minutes prior to the procedure.
- Plan downtime for 24-48 hours afterwards. You may look flushed or like you have a mild sunburn. You will feel fine. We do not like you to wear makeup until after the first 48 hours.