Dermapen, also known as skin needling, is a very popular treatment that we perform here at Chantal Louise Skin. Skin needling is designed to help encourage skin renewal and repairs most skin types.
What is Dermapen Skin Needling?
Skin needling is where we pierce the skin with small (micro, in fact), sterile needles to produce controlled skin injury. This starts an inflammatory response within the body.
When you have a wound or a cut in your skin, your skin naturally creates new skin cells, new collagen and elastin, and new hydration to heal that wound. So, skin needling kind of fabricates that experience to generate that collagen and elastin, but the “skin injury” is far more controlled with skin needling. This means that the healing process is much quicker, but you still get all of those lovely benefits.
Dermapen specifically, is the brand of skin needling we use. It’s the best skin needling device on the market as it allows us to change the depth of needles for different areas of the face. This ability means each skin therapist can achieve the right endpoint result, allowing us to give you the very best results possible.
The Dermapen has also been designed to be a quick process. The actual needling portion of the treatment takes just five to ten minutes. Then, because of the speed that the needles go in and out of the skin, it actually becomes a far more comfortable experience.
Having a skin needling treatment with the Dermapen brand means that you are receiving the best and safest product available for this treatment.
We’ll also provide a beautiful cooling mask to reduce redness, downtime, avoid irritation or reactions, and maximise those lovely results for your skin.
Here's how it can work for different skin conditions
Scarring
The Dermapen is great for acne scarring because it helps to rebuild the skin by stimulating the cells, creating new collagen and elastin which helps to plump out the skin, reducing any scarring.
Depending on the depth of the scarring we would always suggest at least six treatments to minimise the appearance of those scars.
Acne
Each kind of acne will have a different treatment plan.
If the acne is presenting itself as cystic, nodules, or whiteheads, we would always suggest doing other treatments first. This is because we want to reduce the majority of bacteria and inflamed pimples or spots first.
If we don’t reduce that bacteria and inflammation first, we run the risk of further spreading the acne through skin needling.
On the other hand, if the acne presents itself in congestion (tiny bumps underneath the skin), then Dermapen skin needling works amazingly for this kind of acne.
We’re basically piercing the congested bumps with these tiny needles, which help push oxygen into the skin. That oxygen kills bacteria and helps heal and remove those tiny bumps.
Pigmentation skin
Dermapen helps gradually break up pigmentation on the skin’s surface. This speeds up the skin’s cell turnover process and allows fresh new cells to replace those old damaged and pigmented cells.
We always recommend at least six sessions of the Dermapen skin needling treatment, however, more sessions may be required depending on the severity of the pigment. The pigment’s cause — hormonal or sun-induced — also plays a part here.
Ageing skin
Dermapen is amazing for driving your collagen and elastin production. It does this by stimulating your fibroblast cells — the cells responsible for collagen and healing. Fibroblast cells are the most common type of cell found in the dermis layer (the inner layer of your skin).
To build on that, fibroblast cells secrete collagen proteins to help build your collagen and elastin. But, because these are also responsible for the skin’s recovery from injury, you’ll find that any fine lines and wrinkles will soften.
Using tiny needles to gently puncture the skin, Dermapen causes the skin to go into an inflammatory response.
This response aids in skin repair and increases hydration levels, breaks up pigmentation, repairs sun-damaged skin, rebuilds collagen and elastin, and reduces scarring as well as stretch marks.
How many treatments should I need?
It depends on your skin! We recommend at least three to six treatments every four to six weeks. A skin consultation is essential prior to this treatment to ensure your skin is prepared.
We recommend this as it’s really important for us to ensure your skin barrier is healthy enough to benefit from the treatment.
How does it feel?
The actual Dermapen skin needling portion of the session takes a maximum of five to ten minutes.
We describe the feeling as a bit more of an intense microdermabrasion feeling. You can feel it slightly, more so on bony areas such as the forehead — but it’s over so quickly and the results are so worth it!
What is the downtime?
The skin will appear with a slight redness, like a sunburn, after the treatment. This usually goes down the night of your treatment or the following morning.
A couple of days later, you may experience some small flaking, dryness, roughness or purging (breakouts) of the skin — this is also a normal process and lets you know it’s working.
Around the 7-10 day mark is when most people start to see and feel a difference in their skin.
How do I get started?
We like to give our clients the best experience we can while providing the skin goals that they are looking for. So, before we start any Dermapen treatment, we do a thorough skin consultation and go through certain products that the skin needs prior to the needling treatment to get the ultimate results.
We’re big on giving your skin the very best treatment we can. So, we prefer for our clients to be prepped at least two to four weeks in advance with Cosmedical-grade skincare. This ensures the best health for your skin and encourages cell turnover and repair ahead of your session — allowing us to achieve the best possible results.
If for some reason you don't have good quality skincare in your everyday routine for home, you can risk the chance of not achieving your skin's best potential result.
How do I prepare my skin for Dermapen skin needling?
It is essential to be prepped on vitamins A, B, and C and of course, use a good quality SPF to protect your skin from further damage.
Vitamin A increases cellular turnover and cellular repair of old damaged cells. So this is really beneficial, as your Dermapen treatment will bring those new healthy skin cells up to the surface.
Vitamin B helps to strengthen your skin barrier function and hydrate your skin.
Vitamin C is a tyrosinase inhibitor. It basically means that it suppresses your melanin production, preventing it from going into overdrive as well as free radical damage of the cells.
SPF protects from UV damage while the skin is in the process of recovery.
Using these active skincare products ensures we have the right health for the skin and that we know it’s functioning properly — so we can avoid any adverse responses. Having the right skincare products for your skin also helps it recover quickly with maximum results.
If you would like to start your Dermapen treatment, book your skin needling consultation first so we can get your skin ready for some amazingly glowy results!