RF Microneedling Treatments and the Difference They Make for Your Skin
Skin issues make it difficult to feel like you. Instead of feeling comfortable when you look in the mirror, you start noting all the areas you’d like to improve. If you can relate, you’re not alone. And you’re not out of luck either. Cosmetic treatments can help treat skin issues such as fine lines, wrinkles, puffiness, sagging, and even cellulite and stretch marks.
One of the most impressive treatments is RF microneedling. We use RF microneedling in our clinic to help clients of all ages address their specific skin issues so they can look great every day. In this article, we’ll explain what RF microneedling is, explore some of the skin conditions it can treat, and identify the best candidates for this approach.
What is RF Microneedling?
Like other microneedling treatments, RF microneedling uses fine needles to regenerate and revitalize your skin. It works by creating micro traumas and kickstarting your body’s natural healing process. The tiny needles lightly prick the skin and stimulate the production of collagen and elastin. These natural proteins make your skin smoother, younger, and free of common cosmetic issues.
Radiofrequency (RF) microneedling takes this process and amplifies its effectiveness. It releases radio waves which also stimulate the growth of new collagen and elastin. This can help tighten up the areas around the eyes or jawline or can break up the fat pockets that lead to cellulite build up.
RF microneedling is minimally invasive and requires little to no downtime for healing. One session can be completed in as little as 30 minutes (after topical anesthetic) and afterwards, you can resume your normal activity. Because it’s so easy to complete, RF microneedling is becoming increasingly popular. And patients are loving their results. They’re finding it helps their skin look younger, tighter, and brighter. Check out the pictures below for some real life results!
At Ethos Integrative Medicine, we use the Virtue Microneedling platform for all our RF treatments. It has an array of uses, applications, and attachments that allow us to specifically target our clients’ problem areas and deliver more focused results.
Types of Treatments
Because RF microneedling is so versatile, patients can use it to address a number of common skin complaints. With the Virtue Microneedling platform we can easily swap out attachments and tools to deliver the most targeted and effective results. Let’s take a look at these skin goals and explore the type of treatment we’d pursue for each.
Skin Tightening
We have two devices that can tighten the skin around your eyes and jawline. The first uses 36 needles to treat the entire face at once. It encourages tightening and brightening in the whole area by increasing blood flow under the skin.
The next is a new tool called Exact RF. This one uses a single microneedle, which gives us much more control over the area we need to target. We mostly use this one to target issues around the eyes such as sagging, puffiness, or drooping. We can use the single needle to target small fat pockets around the eyes that cause these issues, as well as get closer to the eye itself to tighten the skin there.
Patients have seen great results with this targeted treatment. Their eyes are more open and their skin is tighter, resulting in a brighter, younger look. Plus there’s no downtime required between treatments.
Scars and Stretch Marks
We also have an attachment called Deep RF, which uses larger needles that allow us to treat areas on the body that have thicker skin. These needles can accomplish a deeper penetration than the small microneedles used in the other attachments to treat the root of the issue on areas like thighs and buttocks.
With this tool, we can treat skin issues such as stretch marks, scars, and cellulite. The Deep RF needles can target the tissue in those areas and use heat to break it up so the body can heal correctly. When you dispel those clusters of scar or fatty tissue, you’re left with smoother, better looking skin.
Fine Lines and Aberrations
To treat fine lines, skin texture, pore size, and hyperpigmentation, we have a CO2 laser. The laser has multiple uses that can give people dramatic results without a ton of downtime.
One option is to use a heated laser to penetrate deeply into the skin. This is typically done in skin resurfacing procedures that peel the outer layers of your skin to expose the newer, smoother layers beneath it. The results from these treatments are significant, but it does require a significant amount of downtime while your skin heals—usually about two weeks for total recovery.
If you can’t spare that kind of recovery time, the laser can also do a cool peel. This procedure doesn’t go quite as deep as a resurfacing, instead focusing mainly on the surface of the skin. It can deliver similar results with the added bonus of no downtime. You’ll be ready to carry on with your day as soon as you leave the office.
Laser treatments and cool peels often give the most dramatic results. Patients enjoy smoother, brighter skin that looks young and healthy. And without significant downtime, they can easily repeat the treatment as needed to maintain their glow.
Combining Approaches
Our patients aren’t limited to just one type of treatment. In fact, pairing RF microneedling treatments with a cool peel or CO2 laser procedure often produces more dramatic results more quickly than using either of them alone.
Your doctor can help you select the procedures that will give you the best results based on your goals and how much downtime you’re willing to accept. Many patients looking for drastic results tend to choose a combination approach because it allows us to target deeper layers of the skin to create a more even, tighter, and brighter appearance.
Is RF Microneedling Right for Me?
RF microneedling can work for a range of different age groups and situations. It’s most utilized by women in middle adulthood who want to improve their skin texture or overall appearance. In these patients, the Exact RF is a great fit because of how it can target specific areas and give fast results.
Cool peels tend to work best for people who want significant results with little downtime. This might be an older woman with a busy schedule or even a young woman preparing for a major event like a wedding. These treatments help to greatly improve the look of your skin, making it brighter, smoother and more beautiful.
At Ethos Integrative Medicine, we’re happy to offer a variety of RF microneedling services to our clients. If you’re ready to start looking better, schedule a consultation with us today. We can help assess your needs and match you the right treatments to meet your goals.
