7 Surprising Microneedling Benefits for Your Skin

Smiling lady flawless skin touching her cheeks

Microneedling is one of the quickest and easiest ways to get more youthful looking skin, and there are many other microneedling benefits that you may not be aware of.

Not only does it rejuvenate your skin but it can also treat acne, help reduce scarring and even reduce oil production and black heads!

If you are considering a microneedling treatment, here are some of the benefits you could expect after your procedure.

What is Microneedling?

Microneedling is a procedure designed specifically to invoke the healing response in your skin by causing microtrauma in a targeted way.

We use the latest generation Dermapen 4, with its 16-needle cartridge, it delivers 1,920 puncture channels per second. It vibrates at high power, and at a certain depth, to pierce the superficial layer of your skin thousands of times per second.

Play Video about Demonstation of dermapen on face

Video shows the vibrating pen in action. Note that while it does sting it doesn’t cause intense pain and for this reason using numbing cream is optional.

These small and controlled piercings go into your epidermis and even the upper layers of the dermis. They stimulate the healing response in your skin which results in increased collagen formation and elastin formation.

But what does that mean for you?

It means that your skin becomes more plump, more textured and smoother in the process.

But beyond these basic microneedling benefits, it also offers several other VERY beneficial side effects that you can take advantage of.

These range from healing acne, reducing scar formation and even helping you look 5+ years younger!

We will talk more about before and after pictures below, but first let’s talk about the other potential microneedling benefits:

See our detailed page on microneedling for everything you need to know about the treatment.

Microneedling Benefits

#1. Improves the quality and texture of your skin (immediately)
The microneedling procedure takes about 1 hour. In order to get the best results, it should leave the skin with some pin point bleeding (yes some blood is a GOOD thing).

The pinpoint bleeding and the slight redness occurs for up to about 1 – 1.5 days. Afterwards, you will notice an IMMEDIATE improvement in the texture and quality of your skin.

How does this happen?

The pinprick needles actually stimulate remodelling of existing collagen and promote formation of new collagen and revascularization (blood vessels) in the skin.

Collagen and elastin are the two components of your skin that give your skin the normal “plump” look every woman wants.

And starting at around age 30 this collagen starts to degrade naturally (other things can even make the degradation happen more quickly as well). This is when women start to notice slight changes and sagging in their skin.

The good news is that this healing process starts almost IMMEDIATELY after the procedure.

Which is why you notice a soft texture to your skin immediately afterwards.

Even the day after the procedure it just looks like you have a light sunburn from the redness. Nevertheless, you can definitely go to work or out on a date the following day if necessary.

#2. Reduces pock marks and scarring
Another huge microneedling benefit is that skin needling (or microneedling, they are both words for the same procedure) helps reduce acne scars which are notoriously difficult to treat.

So how does microneedling help with scarring?

When you have any sort of scarring on your face (or anywhere on your body) your body naturally undergoes a process known as fibrosis.

This is good when healing, because it makes everything stick together. However, beneath the skin the glue is so strong that it can literally pull the skin down. This is what creates the pock marks or scarring on the surface of the skin.

Serial photographs of a 24 year old female treated with microneedling

In the above photos, you can see an example of the pock mark scarring treated with microneedling. The before and after pictures are throughout 5 visits over 5 months. It works well with heavy scarring and light scarring as well.

The “rough” surface of the skin can occur with mild but persistent acne over time. The skin just looks rough and not as refined as it once was. However, over the course of 5 treatments you can clearly see that the skin starts to look young, smooth and refreshed again.

The microneedling procedure helps to “break up” all of the glue and fibrosis underneath the skin. This allows the skin to “let go” of the tenting and release the surface of the skin.

Naturally this results in a smoother surface for your skin.

The best part?

Studies have shown that you can see results almost IMMEDIATELY after doing microneedling and in as little as two procedures.

Microneedling tends to work best on scars that are small, result in tenting of the skin or pocking of the skin.

It doesn’t work as well for large lacerations (like the kind of scars that require stitches).

This procedure is also great if you have a slightly uneven texture from years of acne, but not overt scarring (like the pock marks mentioned above).

#3. Reduces black heads
This is another pretty cool side effect of microneedling and is especially helpful for women who suffer from LOTS of black heads (especially those who have PCOS, or hormonal acne).

The controlled trauma and thousands of needle pokes actually liberate and knock out black heads during the entire procedure.

Immediately after you will notice a reduction in the total volume of black heads on your face (especially on your nose, but be careful because the nose is sensitive!).

You will also notice that your pores are smaller in size for about 3 – 4 weeks after the procedure due to the healing effects and revascularization that occurs.

The reduction in black heads doesn’t last forever though! It usually only lasts around 3 – 4 weeks which is right in time for when you would need to do the procedure again.

You can further reduce black head and pore size by using the right kind of aftercare and Vitamin C serum.

#4. Treats acne and cystic acne
Not only does microneedling help treat acne scars, but it can also help treat and stop acne.

How exactly it helps acne is not well understood. But it seems to be due to the fact that microneedling results in a reduction in sebum production and makes the skin less oily.

Reducing oil production on the skin and reducing black heads likely plays a role as well…

Either way, studies have shown that microneedling does indeed help treat acne.

This is mostly helpful because it means you can still get the treatment done if you are having active breakouts.

This is important because some procedures (like dermaplaning) shouldn’t be done if you have active pimples.

Generally microneedling shouldn’t be the ONLY treatment you use for acne. But it’s something you should definitely explore. This is because not only will it help stop acne but it will also treat any texture changes or small scars in your skin.

#5. Exfoliates the skin
Pretty much any treatment that mechanically disrupts the epidermis will result in some exfoliation.

Exfoliation refers to removing the upper surface of the epidermis, usually the stratum corneum (which is the upper most skin layer).

This is important because your dead skin cells are on this layer and removing this layer of the epidermis makes your skin look fresh and smooth almost instantly.

This procedure isn’t as good as dermaplaning for exfoliation, but it still works!

#6. Makes you look younger by reducing fine lines and wrinkles
This might be the single best and most important microneedling benefit…

That it can actually help you LOOK younger and reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

How does microneedling make you look younger?

It has been shown that the small pin holes created by the thousands of needles, break into the upper levels of the dermis. This causes the release of growth factors to “repair” and “heal” from the micro-damage that has been caused.

Basically your body is overreacting to the small trauma thinking that there is a BIGGER trauma and this healing process results in the release of growth factors that increase collagen and elastin levels.

In addition to the stimulation of collagen the micro-trauma also results in the formulation of tons of little blood vessels which supply blood, oxygen and nutrients straight into the dermis.

The combination of these changes results in a reduction in wrinkles, healing of photodamage and tightening of existing skin – all of which makes you LOOK younger.

Keep in mind that 90% of the reason we look older is because of sun damage (AKA photodamage). But the good news is that it is actually reversible with the right treatments!

#7. Reduces hyperpigmentation and evens skin tone
Finally, microneedling also helps with your skin tone and can reduce hyperpigmentation.

Hyperpigmentation refers to the slight changes in your skin that can occur from inflammation, pimples, black heads, white heads, etc.

Basically any sort of skin problem results in changes in colour to the underlying skin which doesn’t match the surrounding skin.

This leaves the skin looking blotchy and uneven.

So how does microneedling help?

It is speculated that the microneedling increases expression of matrix mealloproteinases which reduces hyperpigmentation.

It is also believed that the microneedling procedure reduces the growth of keratinocytes, but scientists don’t know for sure!

In addition microneedling can (and should) be combined with Vitamin C serum. This will help the healing process and Vitamin C serum has been shown to balance melanin levels as well.

So really the combination of microneedling and Vitamin C serum is what you should be aiming for.

It’s also worth mentioning that microneedling is actually preferred over laser treatments of hyperpigmentation in women with darker coloured skin (Fitzpatrick IV and V skin types).

The reason is because some women react with WORSENING pigmentation if using lasers and microneedling doesn’t have that problem.

Microneedling Before and After

The before and after picture below is after just 1 round of microneedling.

The client was struggling with some pregnancy acne (hormones imbalances).

The picture immediately after shows the pinpoint bleeding and this is a good thing and what it is supposed to look like.

You want to make sure you are getting some pinpoint bleeding, but the blood shouldn’t be dripping off of your face.

Before (left) and immediately after procedure (right)

See our detailed page on microneedling for more before and after photos of specific conditions that were treated using Dermapen 4.

Numbing Cream vs No Numbing Cream

Remember that if you decide to get microneedling done that the procedure can be painful…

After all you are getting about a thousand tiny little poke holes into your epidermis.

Because of this it’s generally recommended that you use some sort of topical numbing cream.

If you let topical numbing cream sit on the face for about 20 minutes before the procedure then the pain is VERY minimal.

You will still likely feel some of it, but it should be around a 2 – 3 out of 10 on a pain scale.

If you are pregnant you can’t use the numbing cream but you can still have the procedure done (as long as you can tolerate the pain!).

Boost your Microneedling Results with These Tips

If you want to get results you need to make sure that you are following a couple of rules.

FIRST you want to make sure that your therapist is going deep enough.

Some of the cheaper dermapens only go to about 0.25 to 0.5mm.

In most cases this is not enough to stimulate the collagen production we want or result in pin point bleeding.

In most cases you will need at least a depth of 1.0mm and even up to 2.0 or 2.5 in some areas.

A good gauge to make sure you are going deep enough is if you have pinpoint bleeding after the procedure.

If you are bleeding slightly then you are on the right track.

In addition to the depth you can also boost your results by using Vitamin C serum.

Make sure to use a Vitamin C serum AFTER your procedure
Vitamin C serum is another big deal when it comes to microneedling.

Most of the studies linked above used a combination of 20% vitamin C serum (in the L-ascorbic acid form) along with microneedling.

Adding Vitamin C serum to microneedling results in even more collagen formation, even better skin tone and a reduction in your healing time.

Wrapping it up

Bottom line?

Microneedling is one of our favourite procedures because it’s quick and provides significant and long lasting results.

It’s a go-to therapy for women who want to look younger, for younger women with acne, or with women who have hormonal problems.

Just remember to use Vitamin C serum with your aftercare for even better results!

Book your free microneedling consultation today

Microneedling is an advanced treatment. There are many factors to consider and it is not suitable for everyone. Before booking your treatment, we advise you to pop in for a free consultation first where we can assess your skin, discuss your concern and together decide if the treatment is right for you.