When you seek to revitalize your skin to fight the effects of aging, any technique that produces effective and powerful results creates controlled micro damage to your skin to elicit a healing reaction. Your body retains the ability to create new skin tissue, but it does so only in response to an injury.
Microneedling produces a controlled and even treatment field, assuring that your skin shows only positive results without signs of damage such as scarring. In fact, microneedling is an effective way to reduce the appearance of scars.
Dermatologist and Mohs surgeon Jennifer A. Baron MD recommends a combination treatment of microneedling and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy for unmatched, all-natural skin revitalization. Let’s take a look at how your skin works to regenerate fresh, new tissue.
One of the most abundant proteins in the body, collagen plays various roles in skin health. As a component of the skin’s middle layer, the dermis, collagen forms a matrix that supports the epidermis, the skin’s surface layer.
Collagen's role is somewhat passive in the dermis most of the time. In combination with other proteins in this support layer, it gives your skin volume and elasticity.
However, collagen production becomes active in response to injury and damage to your skin. When you have a cut or scrape, your body starts a process to protect itself and rebuild the layers of the skin.
Minor injuries of this nature form scabs that stop bleeding and provide a protective covering under which healing progresses. Your skin is naturally and seamlessly returned to normal in a week or two.
When you have a more serious wound, gaps in the collagen matrix require extensive repairs. Collagen production boosts to fill these gaps. You’ll still heal, but the amount of collagen needed to close the gap can often leave a reminder of the injury.
Usually lighter than your normal skin, scar tissue can be flat, pitted, or raised, interrupting the continuous, smooth expanse of skin. Scarring is a natural result of some types of skin damage, including acne, cuts, incisions, and other skin injuries.
One contributor to aging skin is the passive loss of collagen and other skin proteins. Without a jump-start to trigger new tissue production, skin loses volume and becomes flat and lifeless.
Chemical peels, cosmetic lasers, and dermabrasion treatments can all produce a collagen-healing cascade to refresh your skin. However, depending on the technique and its intensity, you may have some serious downtime as the epidermis recovers since these methods produce significant skin damage, even when it’s controlled. Your results emerge only after a period of recovery.
Microneedling uses a device with small needles that make tiny punctures in the epidermis. While these create the micro injuries needed to stimulate new collagen production, the size and spacing of the punctures don’t disrupt the surface of the skin the way more aggressive treatments do.
New collagen forms even and orderly, without the gaps that result in scars caused by collagen overproduction. In fact, microneedling penetrates deeply enough to treat sunken acne scars, removing depth and redness.
Combining PRP with your microneedling treatment adds additional healing factors to enrich the collagen production process, enhancing results and speeding your recovery.
Find out more about microneedling and the best treatment plan for you in consultation with the microneedling and PRP specialists at D. Baron’s San Jose, California office. Call us directly or request a procedure online today.
