Needling is a revolutionary way to stimulate normal collagen production for smoothening skin and treating fine wrinkles. The Environ® Roll-CitTM Medical Needling procedure, developed by Dr Des Fernandes, has been published in leading scientific and Plastic Surgery Journals and featured on television in the United States.
Needling procedures are unique in that unlike dermabrasion, peels or resurfacing laser treatments, the outer layers of skin are not removed and this facilitates rapid recovery and reduces the potential for complications. In fact the procedure can be performed in darker pigmented skins without significant risk of hyperpigmentation.
Two variations of the needling technique have been developed:
Micro-needling: uses needles that penetrate to a maximum of 1 mm with virtually no bruising or swelling. With micro-needling you can return to work the day after the treatment without any signs except slight redness as though you have been exposed to the sun. A series of six micro-needling sessions should be done at intervals ranging from once a week to once a month - depending on the degree of improvement that is required.
Medical needling: uses 3 mm needles to penetrate deeper into the skin. This is generally a single treatment (although may be repeated at 4-6 monthly intervals) performed in theatre under local anaesthesia and sedation. There is a significant amount of bruising and swelling which may take up to a week to resolve.
Indications
- Uneven skin and fine wrinkles of the face, upper lip lines, neck, décolleté, arms, abdomen, buttocks and legs.
- Shallow acne scars.
- Stretch marks (These are typically resistant to all other forms of therapy but can be considerably improved with needling.)
Principle
Needling causes microscopic breaks in the blood vessels immediately below the surface layer of the skin (epidermis) and this releases platelets that are important for making blood clot when a blood vessel has been opened. The platelets release a series of growth factors which promote the production of collagen and elastin amongst other things.
In order to boost this chain of events to promote as much elastin and collagen production as possible, which will tighten and smoothen the skin, vitamin A and C are required.
Vitamin A acts directly on the DNA of about 1000 genes "switching on the factories" for collagen and elastin. The version of vitamin A that you use could be the medical form, Retinoic acid (Tretinoin) or the pre-cursors of retinoic acid, which are either retinol, retinyl palmitate/acetate or retinyl aldehyde.
Environ products, which are typically used in conjunction with the needling process, have been specially formulated to supply doses of vitamin A to equate to the effects of retinoic acid without inducing irritation - a retinoid reaction.
Collagen however cannot be made without vitamin C.
Topical vitamin C is an essential co-factor used in addition to vitamin A and also stimulates the production of collagen through its action on DNA.
Maximising penetration of topical vitamin A and C can be achieved by using the combination of iontophoresis and sonophoresis. There is only one machine in the world that has this property and that is the Ionzyme DF machine which is patented to Environ. Highly trained skin care therapists will do these treatments once a week during the course of your treatment with Micro-needling.
Needling also creates multiple microscopic punctures in the skin which further facilitating the diffusion of topical Vitamin A and C.