Most people who follow the aesthetic industry have now heard of microneedling. This treatment uses microneedles on a handpiece to create hundreds of microscopic punctures across the treatment area. These punctures break down some skin texture issues, but more important, the tiny holes trigger the body to repair the area, building new collagen and elastin. This improves the skin.
At Musick Dermatology, we’ve now gone microneedling one better by adding radiofrequency energy to the procedure. This addition of RF energy delivers far more dramatic results for skin tightening and skin improvement. The procedure is called Secret RF Microneedling.
The RF difference
Microneedling has become more and more popular because it is minimally invasive (the skin heals in just a couple hours) and it delivers great results. Radiofrequency treatments have also been popular for skin tightening, but they have always had the drawback of needing to first penetrate the epidermis. This has meant that the RF energy levels needed to be toned down so they didn’t burn the epidermis.
With Secret RF, when the microneedles penetrate the epidermis they enter the dermis layer, the skin’s second layer. Once at the designated depth, the microneedles deliver a pulse of radiofrequency energy beneath the epidermis directly into the dermis. The dermis layer is where collagen and elastin work to provide the skin’s structural support. When the RF energy enters the dermis it instantly converts to heat energy. When the body senses heat in the dermis layer, it assumes there has been a wound. This triggers a response to “heal” the perceived wound, although there actually isn’t a wound and the micropunctures fully heal in just a couple hours. Still, the body’s response is to initiate production of new supplies of collagen and elastin to send to the wound area to heal it. These new collagen and elastin supplies firm the skin, improve texture, and make it look younger.
Where do you use Secret RF at Musick Dermatology?
Angela Nauman-Musick, APRN, performs our Secret RF Microneedling procedures. She uses them for improving aging skin, photodamage, fine lines and wrinkles on the face and neck, scars, acnes scarring, skin quality, and striae.
How many Secret RF treatments are recommended?
These treatments only take around 20 minutes and recovery is minimal. We recommend 3-4 Secret RF treatments in the beginning to rejuvenate your treatment areas. After those sessions, maintenance treatments every year to 18 months are great.
Want to know our secret…Secret RF Microneedling? Call us at Musick Dermatology, (618) 628-2588, to make an appointment.