Everything You Wanted to Know About Microneedling

As we age, scars, wrinkles, and other skin imperfections can cause a self-conscious feeling. Sometimes we feel the need to turn to plastic surgery to erase the passage of time. A variety of treatments are available for correcting the appearance of wrinkles or scars. Microneedling is one such treatment.

What Is Microneedling?

Microneedling is a process that is designed to jump-start the skin’s own healing process. Using multiple tiny needles, the doctor pricks the skin, causing micro-punctures that are precisely placed to stimulate collagen production. The microneedling tool looks like a handheld drum or pen.

Don’t worry, the procedure doesn’t leave scars. It jump-starts dermal remodeling. This process is the skin’s natural healing process. There will be inflammation at first, followed by collagen production. This procedure must be repeated a few times over the course of a couple of months to get the desired results.

Is Microneedling Safe?

Generally speaking, microneedling is considered a safe procedure. It’s performed on an outpatient basis with very little, if any, downtime. People who are generally healthy can consider microneedling.

There are some people who aren’t good candidates for the procedure. The procedure isn’t recommended during pregnancy. People who use some acne medicines are not good candidates for microneedling either.

Benefits of Microneedling

Microneedling is beneficial for treating stretch marks, acne, and wrinkles. It can also help skin regain the elasticity we all lose as we age. There has been some success treating alopecia (hair loss), dark spots, and sun damage using microneedling techniques.

It’s more affordable than standard laser treatments. In some cases, like with people who have darker skin tones, microneedling is preferred over laser treatment. Why is microneedling better for darker skin? Simply, it doesn’t use heat like laser treatments do.

Risks of Microneedling

As with any medical procedure, microneedling has some risks involved. The risks are typically minimal, but they should be mentioned for a thorough discussion. The most common side effect is red skin and pain at the procedure site.

During the healing process, there can sometimes be some skin peeling. The depth of the needle punctures dictates the length of healing time. While unusual, an infection can occur after having a microneedling procedure. After all, the needles leave small holes in the skin that can allow germs to enter during the healing process.

Conclusion

Microneedling is a procedure that is used to treat a variety of skin afflictions. The procedure isn’t very invasive and tends to be less costly than traditional laser treatments. In some instances, doctors prefer to use microneedling over laser treatments.

The procedure itself is minimally painful. The process of using multiple needles to puncture the skin results in increased collagen flow to the area. The collagen production jump-starts the internal healing process of the skin.

Microneedling is generally considered to be safe for healthy patients. However, it isn’t a one-and-done procedure. Typically, patients must have multiple treatments to achieve the desired results.