As a form of collagen induction therapy, microneedling is a treatment that requires time and consistent repetition to give results. It’s a great treatment because it’s so versatile and it uses the skin’s natural processes to your advantage, but you need to be prepared to commit to a series of treatments to achieve the effects you want.
Still, it’s not uncommon for clients to notice an improvement after just a single session, especially with professional microneedling, which is far more intense than the at-home version.
Let’s see what differences can emerge with microneedling before and after 1 treatment.
Can Microneedling Before and After 1 Treatment Make a Difference?
Actually, yes, but only in the case of professional microneedling which uses long needles and causes a much more intense reaction than at-home microneedling.
Many clients claim to notice a difference after 1 session of microneedling, and no, this is not just a placebo. A single treatment really can give an improvement in the texture of the skin, and while it won’t solve the skin issue you’re working on, it does give some improvement, an instant confidence boost, and assurance that the (sometimes long) microneedling journey will be worth it.
After a treatment, your skin is red for a few days. This is a normal response to the needles penetrating its surface and the microchannels healing, and it’s actually a good thing – it means the blood flow in the area is increased. But within 7 days, the redness will go away and your skin will get a healthy glow.
To understand what can happen with microneedling before and after 1 treatment we need to understand the processes that happen in the skin in the days and weeks after a treatment.
Image source: Instagram @madre.secret.spa
How Does Microneedling Work?
When you microneedle over an area of the skin, you create controlled trauma to it in the form of microchannels. These microchannels allow products to penetrate the skin deeper and do their magic, but they also trigger the regeneration process.
When the skin is injured, the body starts producing growth factors – elastin and collagen – which form fibers that patch up the injury. The collagen that’s built into the new tissue assures it grows healthier, firmer, and imperfection-free.
The elimination of imperfections takes several sessions, as the amount of collagen and elastin can’t be built up sufficiently to eliminate a condition in 1 go, but their levels do increase after just 1 session.
And What Does That Do?
As soon as extra collagen is produced in the skin, its structure is improved! The skin is re-energized and looks better.
What Happens to Signs of Aging After 1 Session of Microneedling?
The difference microneedling before and after 1 treatment can give in terms of signs of aging can be quite significant. It’s entirely possible that some of the finer, newer lines disappear, and your skin looks smoother overall.
This can happen due to new collagen and elastin, but it also has to do with the increased blood flow into the area. If there’s more blood coming into the area, the skin is plumped up from within, and its surface can be somewhat smoothed out.
There’s also the products used to supplement nutrients in the skin.
A go-to ingredient for microneedling is hyaluronic acid, which is known as the beauty industry’s favorite plumper. Hyaluronic acid can tie up to 1000 times its weight in water to itself and build it into your skin. Microneedling allows HA to penetrate the skin and reach its deeper layers, so it will fill in the lines from within.
Somewhat, because 1 session isn’t enough to tackle deeper wrinkles. The amount of collagen has to be built up with several sessions to smooth those out.
Image source: Instagram @sereen.be
What Happens to Hyperpigmentation After 1 Session of Microneedling?
1 session of microneedling can actually give quite an improvement to hyperpigmentation if it’s done with high-quality products. New skin cells will help blend the hyperpigmented cells into the rest of the skin.
The extent to which microneedling before and after 1 treatment will blend the hyperpigmentation depends on how big the difference in tone between the problematic patch and the rest of the skin is.
Image source: Instagram @queencitymedspa
What Happens to Scars After 1 Session of Microneedling?
The treatment of scars with microneedling can be more complex than treating signs of aging.
How much of a difference 1 session can make depends on how deep and how old the scar is.
The deeper the injury that resulted in the scar was, and the older the scar is, the tougher it gets. Microneedling can relax and soften the scar, gradually causing new skin to replace scar tissue, but the tougher the scar is, the longer this will take.
If a scar is thin, small, and not very old, the improvement with microneedling before and after 1 treatment will likely be noticeable.
1 session will probably improve atrophic acne scars – those that emerge in the form of hollows. A single session might start elevating the hollow and smoothing out the skin’s texture.
Image source: Instagram @goddessbeautybar.inc
What Happens to Hair After 1 Session of Microneedling?
Microneedling is often used to treat hair loss, but unfortunately, 1 session will not make much of a difference like it’s the case with the treatment of other conditions.
This is because it’s not skin that’s targeted, but the hair follicles inside the skin. It takes 3-6 months of consistent hair microneedling to notice an improvement. This is because hair needs time to grow out, and while it will grow out thicker and some of the dormant follicles will probably get reactivated, it takes some time for new strands to grow out sufficiently to make the improvement noticeable.
You might see an improvement if the skin of your scalp is dry, though. Nutrients featured in the product that’s applied with microneedling can affect the skin of the scalp in a positive way, hydrating it and soothing it if it’s irritated.
What If I Don’t See an Improvement After 1 Microneedling Session?
Just be patient and wait until your next session. Everyone’s skin reacts differently to microneedling, and some immune systems simply have a more radical response than others. That’s why it’s very difficult for estheticians and dermatologists to estimate how many sessions of microneedling you’ll need to achieve the desired results until they do a session or 2.
Cover image source: Freepik
