Skin Health Magazine Issue #10 / Winter 2019 | Page 33

Q &A A Ask Julie fter touching on the subject in our last issue, our resident aesthetic nurse, Julie Morris, reveals more about what happens during one of her most asked-about in-clinic procedures: micro-needling What happens during a micro-nee- dling treatment? The procedure starts with your face being anesthetised with a topical numbing cream, to prevent any discomfort during the treatment. After a detailed assessment of your skin, the micro-needling device is applied to the skin along with a highly concentrated serum or cocktail of ingre- dients to hydrate, repair and nourish the skin. A session can take anything from 20 to 40 minutes to complete, so micro-needling is the ideal treatment to have in your lunch hour, plus there is no real downtime. Usually, a cooling and soothing mask is applied to the skin afterwards to mini- mise any inflammation, and your skin will start to regenerate itself almost straight away. However, the most dra- matic results aren’t usually seen until after the second or third treatment, and the final results might not be noticeable until you hit the three month mark, as boosting collagen and elastin within the dermis takes time, so it’s important to manage your expectations. Ideal for treating the signs of ageing, a course of micro-needling treatments can improve skin’s firmness, texture and also the appearance of scars and stretch marks, but avoid it if you have acne, rosacea or hypersensitive skin. ISSUE #10 | 2019 | SkinHealthMagazine.com 33