How Long Does Microneedling Take?

 

Microneedling has so many benefits; smoother skin, improved texture, reduced wrinkles, a stronger dermis and so much more. But how long does it take to see results from microneedling? And how long does skin needling take?

These common questions are a great way to see if microneedling suits you and your lifestyle.

How Long Does Microneedling Take?

Microneedling or skin needling, as it’s often referred to as, is not a lengthy treatment.

This is thanks to the revolutionary invention of auto-microneedling pen devices , which saves you time and also helps to reduce your discomfort. If you elect to use numbing cream as part of your treatment, waiting for it to take effect is the part that takes the longest.

Another crucial step is taking the time to prepare a safe environment to perform the microneedling treatment.

Prepare the Area

Preparing a clean and sterile environment to microneedle in is a vital step to reduce risk and ensure your safety.

Sterilising every tool and surface you’ll be using with rubbing alcohol means you won't cross-contaminate and put any harmful bacteria into the freshly made micro-channels in your skin.

To keep your treatment area hygienic, we recommend applying a hyaluronic acid serum with a brush from a bowl and using medical-grade gloves. This way, you avoid adding bad bacteria to your face and your serum, or transferring any dirt from your hands.

For preparation, it takes about 10 minutes to ensure your area is clean and ready for application.

Numbing Cream

If you opt to use numbing cream, it can take between 10 to 30 minutes to feel the numbing effect.

Apply your numbing cream on the areas you wish to microneedle. To speed up the process, you can cut strips of plastic wrap and apply over the areas where you have applied the cream. Make sure to avoid covering your nostrils, eyes and mouth and make sure you can breathe at all times.

By using plastic wrap, your skin will generate heat which causes the numbing cream to activate faster.

Microneedling

So, how long does microneedling take? The process of actually microneedling your face takes about 10 to 15 minutes. This may be longer if you’re microneedling larger sections of the body.

To ensure you don’t miss any spots, and don’t go over the same areas multiple times, it’s best to work in a grid. Most people find it’s easier to work in 1-inch sections.

When passing over the area, you want to work in a cross-hatching motion. Take a small area and glide the pen vertically over that area until you have covered it all. Then take your pen and glide over the same area horizontally.

If done correctly, you will have only gone over the same spot twice. After you’ve done this, you can move onto the next section of the grid knowing you’ve covered that area of skin thoroughly.

It’s important to adjust the depth of your microneedling device depending on the area of the face you are treating. For example, the forehead requires a shallow depth, whereas a fleshier part such as the cheeks can handle a slightly deeper setting.

Mapping your face and changing the depth of the microneedling device can also take up a small amount of time per treatment. Do not rush this step. Taking your time to ensure you’re using the correct settings is imperative, you can check out our microneedling guide for the correct needle depth settings.

In total, it takes about 30 minutes to fully microneedle the face.

How Long Does it Take to See Results From Microneedling?

Microneedling results appear quite quickly.

We’ve got a full breakdown of the skin healing timeline here, so we’ll briefly explain when you get that post-microneedling glow.

Instantly after your treatment, your skin is likely to be red and inflamed, but it’ll be plumped and dewy thanks to all of the good cells and platelets rushing to the surface.

From the time of your treatment until 14 days post-treatment, your skin is sending all of its healing and protecting cells to the surface. While they’re busy healing the microchannels that the microneedles created, the cells that produce collagen have been triggered into overdrive.

From days 7 to 14 and onwards, you’ll experience the full effect of the microneedling glow. This is the perfect amount of time for the skin to fully heal and send all of that extra collagen to the surface.

Applying active ingredients and retinol shortly after microneedling is what everyone assumes will get them an even deeper, longer-lasting glow.

In reality, applying actives and retinol too early into the healing process may damage the skin, and may inhibit the skin's natural healing abilities.

Microneedling works best when you use hyaluronic acid only during the healing phase, this is an ingredient your body already naturally produces.

If you use an active ingredient too early, your body needs to take the time to stop healing to process this ingredient, and we don’t want to interrupt the natural healing process. With hyaluronic acid serums, your body appreciates the extra drink of hydration and can continue focusing on collagen production.

More Treatments That Can Speed Up Results

There are two treatments you can do in conjunction with microneedling to enhance your results and get a serious glow; microdermabrasion and LED light therapy.

Microdermabrasion

Microdermabrasion can be done 48 hours before your microneedling treatment.

This treatment will remove all of the dead skin cells and build-up on your skin for the ultimate exfoliating treatment. Microdermabrasion helps with clogged pores, uneven skin tone and dullness.

It’s a great treatment for pre-microneedling, by removing the dead skin cells you’re creating the perfect canvas for microneedling and won’t push any dirt or grime into the skin. .

LED Light Therapy

LED light therapy is a non-invasive treatment that can be done straight after microneedling.

Depending on the colour you use, you can help with inflammation, redness and soothe the skin post-treatment.

For a comfortable LED treatment, use an LED light panel. This device sits off the skin which will reduce any chance of putting germs or bacteria into the skin.

Are Microneedling Results Permanent?

Microneedling has many benefits, it helps reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, it tackles hyperpigmentation and sun damage, it reduces scarring and stretch marks, it improves tone and texture, all while strengthening the skin.

Like most cosmetic treatments, results will eventually fade away as your skin is a living, growing tissue. To maintain your results, maintenance microneedling treatments are required so you don’t lose all of the glowing skincare progress made.

Pregnancy, for example, can contribute to the development of melasma, hyperpigmentation and stretch marks. A change in medication can change our skin texture, tone and type.

Sun damage can reappear if we aren’t consistent with our sun protection and factors such as diet, hormones and bacteria can cause acne and acne scarring. There are so many factors at play that can change our skin, on top of its cell renewal process.

Microneedling once every 4 to 6 weeks will thicken and strengthen the dermis, the deeper layer of the skin, while the epidermis, the top layer, is smoothed out and has its tone improved.

Our Beauty Advisor recommends 7 to 8 treatments for all skin concerns, after this many treatments, it’s likely you’ll see significant improvement.

You may see results with fewer or more treatments, but it depends on how your skin heals and what you consider progress for your specific skin concern to look like.

How to Maintain Your Microneedling Results?

Once you’ve made progress addressing your skin concerns, you can look to perform your maintenance microneedling treatments less often. Our Beauty Advisor suggests to reduce the needle depth to maintain results, or microneedle every 8 to 12 weeks, instead of every 4 to 6 weeks.

Another treatment you can do between microneedling is nano needling. Nano needling can be done weekly and is similar to microneedling, except instead of creating microchannels, it creates nanochannels. There’s no downtime, it induces collagen production and increases product absorption too.

Nano cartridges don’t have needles like microneedling cartridges, the needles are much smaller and are tipped in silicone, they are similar to the width of one third of a strand of hair. Due to their size, you can do this treatment more often than microneedling, and use Vitamin C during the treatment.

Let’s Summarise How Long Does Microneedling Take

Microneedling takes around 30 minutes to prep the area and treat the skin.

It doesn’t take long to see the benefits of a microneedling treatment, but it may take upwards of 7 to 8 sessions to see your skincare concern transform.

Because our skin is a living, evolving tissue, microneedling maintenance treatments are needed. There are protocols you can do to continue glowing, like microneedling at a shallower depth, nano needling or microneedling less frequently.

If you have any questions about microneedling, don’t hesitate to contact our customer service team. Our in-house Beauty Advisor will help to answer your questions and get you started on your microneedling journey.