Needling Your Way To Better Skin

Photo: Henry Leutwyler

When it comes to beauty, suffering seems to know no limit. And with beauty buffs seeking out “new” skin for a new year, they’re willing to be prodded and lasered—and now, pricked.

Spurred by celebrity reports, microneedling is poking into territory dominated in recent years by lasers. (Dr. Shirley Madhere, a plastic surgeon based in New York City, traces the recent interest in needles to Angelina Jolie, who reportedly has used a handheld roller studded with tinyneedles to prick her skin). And some doctors are claiming its positive effects—scar reduction, less lines, taut skin courtesy of collagen stimulation—come without the risk of hyperpigmentation and minimal downtime.

Ready to sign up? Not so fast. Microneedling comes under several guises. As a general overview, though, the 30-minute service seems practically medieval. Between 12 and 25 fine needles are bunched together in a pen-like device, which the plastic surgeon or dermatologist will run over problem areas. The needles actually cause micro-injuries, which lead to purported benefits because the skin will try to heal itself.

With microneedling being the service du jour, doctors are eager to brand their own signature versions. For one, Dr. Madhere uses microneedling to inject a multi-vitamin serum, which she calls Vitaglow. (Prices range from $750-$2,200 per session.) The needles create micro-tunnels, allowing the serum to penetrate more deeply, she said, leading to that covetable glow. Plus, unlike lasers, “the service can be totally painless,” she claimed. Even so, most patients are treated with a layer of numbing lidocaine first.

Still more exotic but in the same thought bubble, Manhattan dermatologist Dr. David Colbert performs his $2,500-and-up microneedling procedures, which he calls Picotage, with added Restylane (for the hyaluronic acid) or the patient’s own blood platelets (a.k.a. the vampire facial). Kim Kardashian famously underwent the bloody facial last year, which requires a blood draw from the patient’s arm, and, predictably, documented the experience on reality television. But it’s not just for gore factor; including either additive is better than microneedling alone, Dr. Colbert said, because they expand the tissue and draw in moisture.

Dr. Kenneth O. Rothaus, an Upper East Side-based plastic surgeon, isn’t so convinced. He teaches a class called “Hot Topics” for the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and many doctors have been asking him about microneedling, he said. But he’s skeptical of whether microneedling alone or with added serums has any long-term effects. “Show me a peer-reviewed study,” he said.

Instead, Dr. Rothaus is participating in the fad via a recent launch: the FDA-approved EndyMed Intensif Micro-Needling device, which arrived at doctor’s offices in June. The difference with the EndyMed Intensif is that the needles (25 gold-plated ones) are used to channel radio frequency waves, which have been proven to tighten skin, he said. (Dr. Madhere said radio frequency is indeed gaining in popularity for that purpose.) The needles, in this case, allow the waves to penetrate through 25 columns of heat instead of one. Also, Dr. Rothaus thinks the device is complementary with his practice. “Endymed can be used in areas that a facelift might not address, such as the clavicle,” he said. And unlike laser, if you’re prone to hyperpigmentation, you don’t have to schedule all your appointments during the winter. “I can even use it on African-American patients or those of certain Asian-American groups that never could do laser before,” he added.

For the best results, Dr. Rothaus recommends patients undergo three treatments (for the series, prices start at $3,500). Turns out, even guys are up for going under the needle. Kevin Dooley, 63, a patient of Dr. Rothaus since the early ‘90s, recently finished two EndyMed Intensif sessions for severe acne scarring and liked the results. “There’s been some smoothing out of the scarring and the pores around my nose has gotten smaller,” he said. He has tried lasers in the past with some noticeable improvement; he’s hoping the EndyMed will really break up the remaining scar tissue. But don’t buy into the brochure wholesale, Mr. Dooley warned. He experienced a few days of redness. Plus, “each prick is as painful as a laser, but then there’s 25 of them,” he said. “But managing the pain, well, as they say, not for nothing.”