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  • What is Micro-Needling and How Does it Work?
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Micro needling is something that's really new. It's just taking off over the past few years in this country and it's been very big in Europe, I believe, prior to that. We're finding that micro needling therapy alone will stimulate new collagen and it's a non-ablative therapy, meaning it doesn't do destruction to the tissues to stimulate new collagen. It simply creates little needle marks in the skin that then trigger the raise of collagen and will help the wrinkle lines look much, much better. We found that combining that with human growth factor serums has been even more dramatic. And, the technology now for making growth factor serums has been really effective so that alone makes people look good. Micro needling enhances penetration of the growth factor serums so when we use that as well, the results have been really dramatic.

The needles for micro needling are very, very small so most people are really surprised at how little they feel. Their initial treatment would be with the small needles and getting them used to it. And then, when they come back for subsequent treatments, we'll use a topical anesthetic. We'll do more aggressive treatment with slightly longer needles, giving them better results; and even then, they're still pretty comfortable, especially if they're pretreated with a topical anesthetic.

We recommend a series of treatments a month apart, and right now, we're suggesting four monthly treatments. In addition to using growth factor serums in the office with the treatment, we send them home with a bottle of less concentrated growth factor serum that they use at home. And after their four treatments, it takes several months to really see the full effect. And then, I suggest coming in, maybe, for one treatment every six months or so. And if they keep up with using the serums at home, treatments can just last for as long as they want to keep up with it. After one treatment, we're seeing really nice results. It's dramatic reason for acne scars so the results can be after one or two treatments. Optimally, you'll go the full four treatments and then, see the effects just keep getting better with each treatment.

If you're looking for the right doctor for the procedure, you would simply want to see good before and after pictures that really accurately reflect the type of work that they're doing. Look at the environment where the work is being done, see who's doing the treatments, and be really comfortable with the person who's doing the treatments that you feel that they're someone who is competent. So, you have to have a certain rapport with whoever is treating you, that you're comfortable having them touch your skin.

What is Micro-Needling and How Does it Work?

Dr. Mitchell Schwartz discusses everything you need to know about micro-needling including how it helps, what recovery is like, and how to pick the right doctor for the procedure.