Microneedling at Home or in a Clinic: What’s Different

• Same name, two different things: a microneedling product sold for home use may act only on the surface or may puncture the skin; its name, shape and number of needles do not tell you which.
• Risks at home: infection, scarring, irritation and changes in skin colour or texture are possible, especially when too much pressure is applied or the device is overused.
• Equipment: for medical devices, a new needle cartridge is used for each person and each session; cleaning a cartridge does not make it reusable.
• Before you start: an infection, a herpes outbreak, eczema, pregnancy, difficulty healing or a current or recent prescribed acne treatment taken by mouth are reasons to wait, to decide against it or to ask for advice.
• If your skin reacts badly: pus, yellow crusts, pain, warmth or fever require medical advice right away.

You have seen microneedling rollers and pens sold to the general public, and you are wondering whether at-home microneedling could replace a session in a clinic. The tool has the same name in both cases, but what it does to the skin, the risks it carries and what is planned if the skin reacts badly are not the same.

Microneedling is a medical treatment that uses tiny needles to puncture the skin. When it is done properly, the skin responds by closing these punctures and producing collagen, the protein that supports its tissues. A puncture is still a small injury that the skin has to repair: this is what links the intended effect to the risk.

CARE MD, in Sainte-Thérèse, on Montreal’s North Shore, offers microneedling for the face, neck and upper chest. The starting point of the assessment is what you want to change; your health, your treatments and how your skin heals are also taken into account. During the assessment, you can ask your questions about the expected result, the number of sessions and recovery; neither a result nor a timeline is guaranteed.

Two kinds of products are sold under the name microneedling. Some do not penetrate the living layers of the skin, the epidermis and the dermis, and claim to act only on the surface; in the United States, they are generally not considered medical devices. Others are medical devices that puncture the skin, and on some motorized devices, the person performing the session sets the depth and speed at which the needles penetrate.

Whether it is a facial microneedling roller or a needle pen, the shape, the number of needles and the trade name do not tell you how deep it goes or what the risk is. A product sold for home use can therefore puncture the skin, while another will only graze its surface.

A professional setting does not guarantee the result you want or the absence of side effects: most side effects appear shortly after the session and go away. Some persist for a long time or can be permanent. What is different is the means available to reduce the risks and to respond.

A product intended for home use can still puncture the skin, which opens the door to infection or scarring. Facial microneedling at home can also spread warts, herpes and other viruses from one area of the skin to another.

Too much pressure can damage the skin and leave scars or change its colour or texture. Overuse irritates the skin, makes it uncomfortable and can worsen the problem you wanted to correct. Darker spots or paler areas, in other words changes in pigmentation, are also among the risks described for this procedure.

The at-home microneedling trend on TikTok was the subject of a Radio-Canada report (in French): many young people copy the technique at home, without supervision or a sterile environment. A video is no substitute for the skin examination that comes before the procedure in a professional setting, or for a plan in case of complications.

For medical devices that use a needle cartridge, a new cartridge is used for each person and each session, even for the same person. Reusing a cartridge is not safe, even after cleaning, and using it on more than one person can transmit infectious agents. The cartridge and the rest of the device therefore do not raise the same issue: the cartridge must be new for each session; for the device, ask how it is cleaned between people. Cleaning a cartridge does not make it safe to reuse.

A serum designed for intact skin is not necessarily suitable for punctured skin. In fact, in the United States, microneedling devices are not authorized to deliver cosmetics, topical products or vitamin solutions into the skin. A rare inflammatory skin reaction, called a granulomatous eruption, is possible after microneedling with a vitamin C serum. The ingredient responsible may remain unknown.

Tolerating a cosmetic product well every day, such as a vitamin C cosmetic product, does not tell you how your skin will react if that product is introduced through the punctures. Adding a serum to microneedling does not guarantee an additional benefit.

Before any microneedling, including microneedling you would do yourself, certain situations are reasons to wait, to ask for advice or to decide against it.

Never change how you take a prescribed medication on your own initiative. If you are taking, or have recently taken, a prescribed acne treatment by mouth, say which one and when: the doctor checks the waiting period that applies to that treatment. If any of these situations applies to you, microneedling at home is not an option; an assessment is an opportunity to determine whether the procedure, adapted or postponed, is still possible.

Wherever microneedling is offered to you, these questions let you compare answers rather than promises:

• What is assessed before the procedure: your health, your medical history, your prescribed treatments and how your skin heals?
• What training does the person performing the procedure have, and what is their experience with microneedling?
• Is a new cartridge used for each person and each session, and how is the device cleaned between patients?
• The equipment looks clean, but how is its sterility checked?
• Is the device licensed by Health Canada, and is there an information leaflet for patients?
• What written instructions should I follow after the session?
• Whom should I contact, and how, if my skin reacts badly?
• What happens if a complication occurs, and who manages it?
• What are the risks in your situation, and what can you reasonably expect from the treatment?

Also mention what you have already tried at home. You can decide to wait or decide against it: not having any treatment is one of the options. If your goal is mainly to care for intact skin, simple facial treatments are another option to discuss, without puncturing the skin.