What Microneedling REALLY Does for Skin Aging

Micro needling has been exploding in popularity. It's claimed to reduce scars, wrinkles, and more. Now, it sounds a bit crazy. We're supposed to improve our skin and treat the signs of skin aging by sticking a ton of little needles into it. So, is there actually anything to this? Well, let's have a look at the clinical evidence, and then I'll share some crucial information that you need to know if you've been considering buying an atome device so that you don't get ripped off. So, back in the mid '90s, a plastic surgeon in Canada had a novel idea to improve the appearance of scars. So he used a tattoo gun to inject ink into the skin of his patients to try and hide the discoloration. So that led to a surprising discovery. So even though he'd been trying to hide the scar, he begun to notice that his patients scars were actually improving in texture and appearance. It didn't seem to be because of the ink. Instead, the tattoo needles themselves were causing the improvements. So he published an influential article in 1997 describing a method for treating scars using a tattoo gun, but without the ink. And since then various forms of what came to be called micro needling have been developed. An early product was the derma roller which was considered a head embedded with tiny needles which is then rolled over the skin. Then later developments have included stamps and pens but they all rely upon the same basic approach which is piercing the skin with a ton of tiny needles. So why is that supposed to help? Well, at first the idea does sound a bit counterintuitive. The aim is to bring about healing by causing damage. But the key here is that we want to carefully control the damage. So micro injuries caused by the needles, they stimulate powerful healing responses and the body releases growth hormones to generate new collagen and elastin which are the crucial building blocks that give our skin structure and flexibility. Moreover, when it comes to scars, the needles can break down strands of scar tissue that then stimulate the growth of new blood vessels and collagen. The technique is also increasingly being used to enhance the delivery of medications across the skin barrier. Some micro needling treatments they combine the action of needles themselves with medications delivered at the same time. Now the theory sounds plausible here that it's essentially the same mechanism for other forms like laser therapy for instance which causes micro damage to simulate the body's healing

responses. But what kind of impact do we actually see in clinical trials with micro needling and then we'll have a look at atome devices to see whether they actually work or not. So an early study seemed to confirm the basic mechanism. Researchers assessed 480 patients. was quite a large study and they had been treated through micro needling for fine lines, lack skin, scarring and stretch marks. On average, the patients reported and get this a 60 to 80% improvement. But more interestingly was what researchers found when they examined the skin samples of 20 of these patients. There was a significant increase in the production of collagen and elastin. And on the outer layer of the skin, it was 40% thicker one year after the procedure. And this was followed up by numerous subsequent studies that have tested micro needling on a variety of skin conditions. So let's dig a bit deeper into this research. We'll start with acne scarring. So this is a challenging area because the scars can be deep and difficult to improve through existing approaches. So a 2021 review included nine studies of micro needling as a treatment for this problem. So assessing the effectiveness in this area, it's a little bit tricky. It typically depends upon judgment of improvement based on a scale instead of objective measures. But all of the studies included standard grading scales with evaluations from participants and from researchers. So the included studies included different variations of treatments, but the findings were consistent across the studies. So micro needling it was effective at treating acne scars. There were also no serious adverse events reported in the included studies. And a more recent meta analysis found that the standard mean difference was about42 with micro needling in the included studies. So that indicates a real but modest improvement. Now, let's turn to addressing the signs of photoagging. So, here we're talking about things like fine lines and wrinkles. So, a 2018 study assessed how four micro needling sessions spaced 30 days apart were able to rejuvenate the skin. It included 48 participants. The researchers measured wrinkles, skin elasticity, and skin texture. They used a grading scale that relies upon expert judgment and a precision optical device that measures skin parameters. At the 150day mark after the initial treatment, researchers looked at how patients skin compared to the condition before the study began. So they used the grading scales and they saw significant improvements in wrinkles, skin elasticity, and texture. So let's put those numbers into context here. The scale used for the wrinkles ranges from 0 to 5 with zero being no wrinkles and five being very deep ones. At baseline, the average score was 3. 17, so moderately deep wrinkles, but by day 150, it was 2. 24. 24. So it had moved well into the shallow wrinkles category. The change in the other measures was similarly significant. And what's really impressive about this is the objective measurements that they took up to back up those scale-based observations. So this table shows a set of measurements in the area of patients smile lines. So it improved by as much as 57% in a metric that takes the average of the five highest peaks and deepest valleys in the skin. That is a truly meaningful impact. Another area where micro needling has been shown positive results is with skin pigmentation issues like vitiligo. So this is when patients develop patches of skin where the pigment is missing. It's an area where research has found that joining the micro needling with other therapies can often produce even stronger results. Now

all of this sounds great, but there are some important cautions at this point. There's a wide variety of different micro needling devices and treatment approaches. Individual trials often use different metrics to assess the outcomes as well. So it makes pulling together all of this data in metro analyses quite challenging and many of the studies are small so it's a bit difficult to get a sense of the big picture and existing studies seem to show a pattern of consistent benefit but the size of this benefit and the most effective approaches for micro needling they're less clear and it's also interesting to see for instance how micro needling compares to some of the other wellestablished treatments for countering the signs of aging so for instance one study put CO2 laser treatments up against micro needling and in this case both treatments were combined with additional topical treatments. Now, the CO2 laser was significantly more effective here compared to the micro needling and the patients were far more satisfied with the results. So, one of the questions is that if you're already getting laser treatment, is there any additional benefit to micro needling as well? And

that brings us to an important question because you can easily find micro needling products advertised online that promise a whole range of benefits for your skin. So, are they worth trying out? And is this a way cheaper way of getting significant results and not paying for expensive laser therapy? Well, one thing you need to keep in mind here is an important factor for effectiveness of micro needling devices is the needle length. So for treating skin aging for instance, the needle lengths typically range between. 5 to 1 mm and those are the ones that are recommended. For scars up to 2 mm might need to be used. So these are relatively deep needles, but products marketed for at home use, they're often a lot shorter than that. And those shorter needles, they might not reach the deeper layers of the skin. And it's the deeper layers that can stimulate the healing process that we described earlier. The problem is that the devices that can reach the deeper layers and are longer and again are intended to treat scars and wrinkles, they're considered medical devices in the USA. And the FDA hasn't cleared any of the devices for over-the-counter sale at least of October 15th, 2025. And they recommend that you go to a trained professional to receive the treatments with these medical devices. So, when we see micro needling products for sale online, at least in the USA, it's likely one of two things is happening. So, you're looking at a device that doesn't penetrate the skin very deeply, and it's not likely to produce much of an effect. Or it's a device that the FDA would consider a medical device, but it hasn't yet been tested or evaluated. And here, the effectiveness and safety, they're unknown. Deeper skin penetration certainly exposes you to risks like infection at the very least. So, let's

have a look at some of the best sellers on Amazon, and you can see what I'm talking about here. So the top seller here is Roselin Boutique Derma Roller and you can see that its needles are just 0. 25 mm. So these aren't going to penetrate to the deeper layers that can stimulate collagen production. And it's interesting because the product page basically makes zero claims about what it does. It just says it's a cosmetic beauty instrument. And if you go a bit further down the list and again a lot higher in price, you'll find Dr. Pen. And given the price and look of this product, it gives off the vibes that it's more of a medical grade device. But notice the needle length again. It's just shy of. 3 millimeters. And they clearly state it's non-invasive. And the claims are about exfoliating the skin, not improving wrinkles. This also falls into the non-medical device category. And I didn't see any products on Amazon with a needle length longer than this.

So, here's where I'm at right now with micro needling. The theory behind it seems sound, and there are some promising clinical results. Studies have generally found adverse effects to be minimal, so the safety does seem to be good. and at home devices are a potentially cheap option, but there are risks of infection and the needles are probably just not long enough to have much of an effect. Ideally, I'd like to see bigger, more rigorous trials to get a better sense of the effectiveness and how these compare to alternative treatments, but hopefully in the future we can have some at home devices that have got some longer needles because it might be a really cheap way of getting similar results compared to laser therapy. So, I get laser therapy about once every 4 to 6 months and yes, it is expensive. So, if we could use at home micro needling devices that are genuinely effective, maybe it's a way cheaper way. But again, far more research is needed before we can make any of those claims. And no matter how effective micro needling turns out to be, it's addressing a problem after it develops. It's better to delay the effects of aging through daily preventative maintenance. And when it comes to keeping my skin looking as young as possible, this is the evidence-based routine that I use. So, make sure to check out this next video here to learn all of the details.