My anti-aging journey step 2: microneedling
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
The Morpheus8 microneedling device
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
Twenty-four needles gently wound the skin as part of the microneedling procedure.
Courtesy of Kasia Manganas/ Kasia Leigh Photography
Dr. Ted Steliotis
Kristin Emery/For the Observer-Reporter
Kristin Emery undergoes a microneedling treatment.
Last week, I dared to bare my face to readers with a makeup-free photo after I had some Botox injections to combat the wrinkles in my forehead and around my eyes. That was step one in what became a three-step anti-aging journey for my skin. I wanted to write about the treatments I’ve had and share what I’ve learned, what the procedures entail and whether they really work to help turn back the clock.
As I wrote last week, I’m very pleased with my first experience with Botox, so now it’s on to step two, which involved even more needles but in a very different way.
What is microneedling?
I first wrote about microneedling a few years ago after interviewing Dr. Christie Regula, a board-certified dermatologist with Vujevich Dermatology Associates in Washington, about the procedure, which involves sticking a bunch of tiny little needles in your skin to help with issues like acne scarring, texture and fine lines and wrinkles.
Microneedling is a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that helps your skin produce more collagen by gently wounding it with tiny needles. “As the skin repairs these small injuries, it stimulates the body’s natural ability to produce collagen,” Regula told me then. “Collagen is a naturally occurring protein in our bodies that keeps the skin plump and youthful. Increasing collagen production helps to smooth fine lines and wrinkles while making it more firm, elastic and youthful.”
With microneedling, a topical numbing medication is applied to the skin for 20 minutes before the procedure. Patients feel the device on their skin and a vibration, with many patients comparing the feeling to having an electric toothbrush run over their skin. The device looks like a jumbo pen with a disposable cartridge containing the needles.
Microneedling can treat acne scarring, repair scar tissue, reduce fine lines and wrinkles and also repair sun-damaged skin on the chest or rejuvenate the look of aging skin on the back of hands. It works differently than microdermabrasion and superficial chemical peels, which help to brighten skin tone by removing the top layer of skin. However, they don’t go deep enough to stimulate collagen growth and improve deep scarring and wrinkles. Since microneedling stimulates new collagen production, it actually changes the physical structure of skin and results can be permanent.
How does Morpheus8 differ?
The microneedling treatment I had goes even further by adding some heat to the equation. The device is called Morpheus8, which uses the tiny needles plus radio frequency energy to remodel and contour the face. Morpheus8 rejuvenates skin without surgery or a long recovery period.
“You’re gently wounding the skin. What’s nice is the 24 microneedles are communicating energy between each tip,” explains Dr. Ted Steliotes of Steliotes Dental Spa in McMurray. “We wound the skin just below the surface so it’s creating collagen and elastin, histamines come in and it heals the tissue. While it’s doing that, it’s tightening over time. You can imagine like aerating soil or how spikes on golf shoes puncture the soil. There are tiny little holes that have to fill in, and it will lift and tighten. It’s actually creating your own collagen, awakening your own collagen.”
Steliotes has expanded his family dental practice to offer anti-aging procedures such as Botox and Morpheus8 and says patients have been very pleased with their results.
“What’s nice about Morpheus8 is that you get results immediately,” he adds. “The final results really take over three to four months, but you see results immediately, which is great for the consumer because they know it’s working. It just ends up getting better after the first appointment.”
Two hours before my appointment, I had to cover my face with a prescription numbing cream containing lidocaine. By the time I arrived at the office, my face was completely numb. The Morpheus8 device has the 24 needles arranged in roughly a one-inch square that Steliotes gently presses in a pattern around the face and neck. While the numbing cream certainly helped, I will tell you that this procedure does sting a bit – but not so much that I couldn’t grin and bear it. The needles and energy leave your skin red and with microscopic pinholes that heal within a day. You’re covered in a thick moisturizer before leaving the doctor’s office, and I didn’t wash my face until the next day.
Within 48 hours, most of the redness faded and it looked as if I had just a slight sunburn in certain spots. A few days later, it was all gone, and I did notice that some lines on my cheeks and neck had disappeared or were vastly improved.
“For people who are in their 40s and 50s, even late 30s, we’re correcting skin, we’re correcting sagging and wrinkles, lack of elasticity and firmness,” says Steliotes. He recommends three treatments over a few months to accomplish that plus a maintenance treatment about once a year.
“It’s a great thing to get instead of a face-lift,” says Steliotes. “It’s not going to be as corrective as a face-lift, but some people don’t want corrected; they just want healthy and firm. It’s perfect for that. Tighter, healthy, firm skin that’s getting back to the kind of skin you had when you were younger.”