A few simple steps before and after your session will help your skin do its best work and get you the results you’re after.

Pre Care: Getting Ready

• Pause active products like retinoids and exfoliators for three nights before your session, so your skin is ready and calm for treatment.
• After your session, your skin will feel stimulated and warm and look pink to red for the rest of the day, so it’s best to keep the day and evening free of plans. Most normal activities can resume from the morning after.
• If you have Botox or injectables, please leave two weeks before your microneedling session, and seven days afterwards before your next injectable appointment.

Post Care: Getting Results

• After your treatment, give your skin the day off. No sprays, serums or creams, it’s already hard at work healing and renewing itself over these first 12 to 24 hours.
• From the next morning, ease back into a gentle routine: cleanse, aftercare cream, SPF and light makeup by day, and a gentle cleanse with aftercare cream in the evening. A nourishing oil or Vaseline can be added at night if your skin wants a little extra care.
• Wait until the fourth night (72 hours) to resume your prescription-strength retinoid, and try not to leave it any longer than that. Getting back on track quickly means you get the full benefit between sessions.
• Skip hot or sweaty exercise, saunas, hot baths and showers for the first 24, preferably 48 hours, while your skin settles.
• Keep your face out of direct sun and wear SPF daily, not just around your session. It’s one of the best things you can do for your skin, every single day.

Your Skin’s Normal Healing Response: What to Expect For The First Three to Five Days.

Every skin heals differently. Even if you’ve had microneedling before, it’s completely normal for your skin to respond slightly differently from one treatment to the next.

• On the day of your treatment, your skin will look pink or red and feel warm, tight and sensitive. This is your skin’s normal healing response and will settle over the first 24 to 48 hours, often by the following morning.

• Areas of pigmentation or active breakouts that have been treated often appear temporarily darker before gradually improving. This is a normal part of your skin’s repair and renewal process.

• Some areas of your skin settle more quickly than others. It is completely normal for a few small areas to remain pink, red or slightly darker for a little longer, or to develop a small amount of dryness or flaking while they continue to heal. This simply reflects that different areas of the skin heal at different rates.

• Skin purging is a normal part of the healing process in breakout-prone skin. As your skin’s cell turnover increases, underlying congestion that is already present beneath the surface moves through the skin more quickly and appears as small breakouts. This is not the microneedling creating new acne. It is existing congestion progressing through its normal lifecycle.

• Even skin that is not typically prone to breakouts occasionally develops a small amount of skin purging if underlying congestion is present beneath the surface.

• Skin purging is not identical after every treatment. Some treatments produce no purging, while others produce a small purge. This reflects the amount of underlying congestion present in your skin at that time, not a change in how your skin is responding to microneedling.

• Healing is influenced by many factors, including your skin’s condition on the day, stress, hormones, sleep, sun exposure, your general health, and the specific concerns being treated. It is completely normal for your skin to heal a little differently from one treatment to the next.

• In almost every case, these changes are simply part of your skin’s normal healing response and will settle with time. If you have any questions or concerns about your healing, please feel free to contact me. I’m always happy to help.