Thank you for your question.
You’re basically asking and you’re stating in your question without a photo that you’re
60 and should you try a Dermapen.
And you are concerned about some sagging skin, some age spots and you are concerned about
possible infection from the small holes that are made.
Well, certainly I can give you some perspective on this question even though you did not provide
a photo and how I use Dermapen or microneedling in our practice.
A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
I’ve been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years and providing solutions
for facial aging issues and improving skin is something we do every day all day long
in our practice.
So, I think that first let’s talk about the technology about derma needling and basically
derma needling is to create fine holes in the skin that are very small and it’s basically
with the idea of something, a concept called collagen induction therapy.
Those tiny holes will elicit a healing response and what I usually do with microneedling or
frequently do is the application of platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
This is derived from your own blood and is used to help facilitate the healing and even
stimulate more collagen.
But I think before you think about derma needling specifically, think about the global concern
that you already expressed in this question.
You are talking about sagging skin which means to me, at the given age you provided, age
60, sagging skin, I don’t think microneedling is actually a good solution for sagging skin.
It’s about improving skin texture, quality and color but it will not tighten the skin
at a level that will cause a lifting effect which I think a lot of times people are looking
for when they describe sagging skin.
For that, there are other options that you can explore whether it is limited face lifting,
or suture suspension or some type of repositioning type of procedure.
If you want to avoid surgery, well you have to think about other possible thermal energy
devices to try to non-surgically tighten the skin but I’m not sure those are going to
deliver the results that you want either.
When it comes to age spots, the brown discolorations that are associated with the history of sun
exposure and that come up as people get older, there are definitely many ways to address
the age spots.
Besides microneedling, there is also any type of laser device that does something to either
disrupt the pigmentation or resurface the skin that can provide a solution for the age
spots.
So when you think about microneedling, I think it’s because you want to probably do something
that is minimally traumatic or minimally invasive and certainly will improve this texture of
your skin but understand that a single treatment is not likely to be able to achieve the full
potential of what you are looking for in the skin.
So, I think that discuss with the physician that recommended this in more detail what
the outcomes will be before you just go ahead and do this.
Again, sagging skin will not respond significantly to microneedling.
Sagging skin requires some type of device or some type of method I should say to tighten
the skin, reposition the skin or combination of both.
But when it comes to age spots, you have options.
You can do things that are a little bit more aggressive but may give you faster results
than microneedling.
At a minimum, you won’t have necessarily the same experience but you might get comparable
results depending on the type of brown discolorations you have.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.