Treatment guide
Microneedling uses fine needles to create controlled micro-injuries in the skin. The healing response that follows lays down new collagen and elastin over the following months. It improves texture, fine lines and some scarring. Results are cumulative across a course rather than immediate.
A device passes fine needles into the skin to a set depth, many times, in a controlled pattern. Each puncture is a tiny wound. The skin responds as it does to any wound: inflammation, then proliferation, then remodelling. The remodelling phase lays down new collagen, and it runs for months after the appointment.
The important consequence is that microneedling is a slow treatment. What you see in the first fortnight is hydration, mild swelling and improved light reflection, all of which are pleasant and none of which is the point. The structural change appears from around three months and continues to about six.
Judge microneedling at three months against a photograph, not at three days against a memory.
Needle depth is set according to the area and the target. Thinner skin around the eyes tolerates far less than the cheek. Depth influences results and risk in the same direction, so deeper is more effective and more likely to cause a problem.
Practitioners generally work shallower on the forehead, temples and around the eyes, and deeper on the cheeks for scarring. A practitioner who uses one setting across the whole face is not tailoring anything.
Home rollers use short, often blunt needles that cannot be sterilised reliably and are dragged across skin rather than stamped into it, which tears rather than punctures. They carry a real risk of infection, scarring and pigmentation, and they do not reach the depth that produces collagen remodelling. If you already own one, the sensible advice is to stop using it.
Microneedling is a good match for:
It is a poor match for:
Numbing cream is applied and left for around thirty minutes. The device is passed over the area systematically. The sensation is a strong vibrating scratch, tolerable on the cheeks and sharper over bone such as the forehead and jaw. Treatment usually takes twenty to thirty minutes after numbing.
Pinpoint bleeding is normal and expected at working depths. Immediately afterwards the skin is red, warm and tight. A calming serum is usually applied, and only sterile, appropriate products should touch the skin for the next day.
Ask what is being applied during and after treatment. Skin with thousands of open channels absorbs anything placed on it. Products not intended for that use have caused granulomatous reactions.
Practical rules for the first forty eight hours: no make-up on day one, no exercise, swimming, sauna or steam, no active skincare such as retinoids, acids or vitamin C, gentle cleansing with clean hands only, and broad-spectrum sun protection from day two once the skin tolerates it. The aftercare page covers this properly.
Microneedling combines well with a considered skincare routine, with courses of superficial peels alternated rather than stacked, and with injectable skin boosters that work on hydration from within while needling works on structure.
Convention is to leave around two weeks between microneedling and botulinum toxin or filler in the same area, and to complete acne treatment before beginning scar work. Sequencing is part of the plan and should be discussed at the consultation rather than improvised.
Microneedling is performed both by aesthetic therapists and by medical practitioners, and either can do it well with the right training and device. What you are checking is training specific to the device, single-use sterile cartridges, a recorded skin type assessment, a course plan with review, and appropriate handling of anything applied to the skin.
Cost varies with the device, the number of sessions, whether topical products or add-on serums are included and whether a review is built in. This site publishes no prices; see what drives cost and the clinic guide.
Common questions
Three to six spaced four to six weeks apart for general skin quality. Acne scarring usually needs six or more and often other techniques alongside.
With numbing cream most people find it very tolerable on the cheeks and sharper over bone. It is uncomfortable rather than painful.
Usually one to three days, longer at deeper settings. Most people are presentable with light make-up from day two.
No. They cannot be sterilised reliably, they tear rather than puncture, they do not reach an effective depth, and they carry a real risk of infection and scarring.
No. Needling through active inflammatory acne spreads bacteria and worsens it. Get the acne controlled first, then treat the scarring.
It helps rolling and shallow boxcar scars over a course. Ice pick scars usually need a different approach. Expect improvement rather than removal.
Yes, and it is often preferred over laser for that reason. Depth and aftercare need to be more conservative because of the pigmentation risk.
Related reading
01
Four scar types, several treatments, and one rule: control the acne before you treat the scars.
Read
02
An umbrella term. The value is in working out which of four separate problems you actually have.
Read
03
Controlled injury with a very long clinical history. Depth and skin type decide everything.
Read
Enquiries
This site does not sell treatment and has no appointment book. What it can do is help you arrive at a consultation with the right questions, and tell you plainly when a procedure is not the answer to the thing that is bothering you.
hello@aestheticlaunchlab.comEnquiries are read and answered by Aesthetic Launch Lab, the UK aesthetics digital specialist that operates this website. Please do not send clinical details or photographs. If something has gone wrong after a procedure, contact the practitioner who treated you, or NHS 111 in Scotland, rather than waiting for a reply here.