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Heroine In Heels is a top 10 London lifestyle blog aimed at the modern day woman. Covering things to do in London, restaurant reviews, hotels as well as where to go in the world when you want to escape London

Everything You Need To Know About Microneedling

Wednesday 7 December 2016

Microneedling seems to be the it treatment of the beauty world right now. I keep seeing all these odd looking rollers on Facebook that are spiky that claim to transform your skin. To be honest I’m a bit sceptical of them, but the actual clinical procedure? That had my intrigued.

As I’ve said before I don’t have bad skin, I just want to rejuvenate my skin and simply keep it looking healthy rather than repairing damage.

So when Book Your Lifestyle Skin kindly invited me to try their services, I jumped at the chance to try microneedling. As it’s such an unusual procedure, I’ve covered everything you might want to know about Microneedling. 

Booking and the clinic

I found a clinic that did Microneedling through a new beauty site called Book Your Lifestyle where you can book your salons and spas 24 hours, 7 days a week. The idea is, is that because we are generally just so busy, we don’t always have time to faff about trying to source, locate and book appointments. With hundreds of salons and spas on their books, you can search for what you want and book online straight away. I searched for exactly what I wanted, in London and when, and then clicked book. It took me less than 5 minutes to book and after an email confirmation came through that was it. Job done.

Through them I found the Leadenhall Skin Clinic, which is located in the Leadenhall Building, or more comonally known as the Cheesegrater. The Leadenhall Skin Clinic is an aesthetic clinic offering clinical treatments in The City of London with over 10 years of aesthetic experience. 

Now the clinic is actually tiny. They recently moved into the Leadenhall building to be closer to their City clients, but I’m guessing rent is astronomical there, so the clinic is actually just one room which surprised me. On first impression I was a little taken aback and thought maybe I’d made a big mistake. But don’t judge a book by its covers. 

Whilst it doesn’t have the luxury of other clinics- no offer of any drink, not even water- and yes being just one treatment room (“Reception” is a desk in the corner) my experience was very good and I’d recommend to my friends (and you guys!)


What exactly is Microneedling?

Microneedling (also known as collagen induction therapy) is a minimally invasive treatment to rejuvenate the skin. This is done using a device which has fine needles, which punctures in to the top layer of the skin, to create a controlled skin injury, which triggers the body to create new collagen and elastin. Don’t worry these needles are mm long so the “punctures” are teeny tiny.

The benefits are to improve the firmness and texture of skin, as well as reducing pore size and fine lines.

The huge draw is for people who suffer from acne and scarring, as it has been proven to improve the look and texture of these. I don’t have these so was after the more subtle results, but for anyone with scars, that’s where the dramatic results are seen.

Are there risks?

Like with any procedure, there are always some. Microneedling is invasive- you are piercing the skin. So start off with a light, small version for the first time. I had Endo Care Advanced Facial, which is Microneedling but only 1mm long, so there is no bleedling and basically no down time afterwards. More advanced ones with needles of 3mm long can cause bleeding and the skin will react more and so you might want to just go home, where as I went straight to work (sans make up of course).

If you have very sensitive skin, then I wouldn’t recommend as you will probably find it much more painful and you might react more heavily. 


The Procedure

First my face was cleansed to make sure there wasn’t any leftover makeup or grime on, and then the first step is a light course of Microdermabarasion to remove any clogged skin and rough patches, so the needles and penetrate properly. If you are interested in Microdermabrasion, you can read my blog post about it here.


After my skin was smoothed out, it was time for the needles. First a layer of growth serum is applied to the face which is pushed into the skin by the needles. The needles are applied in the same way as Microdermabrasion; a sort of pen like device hooked up to a machine that rolls needles across the face that penetrate into the skin.

Did it hurt? Not really no. It felt tingly, and a bit like a very mild pins and needles but really nothing at all to be worried about- and I was a little worried about the pain! 

After the treatment, a soothing face mask is applied and left on for 10 minutes to help reduce any immediate irritation. All in all, the whole thing took about 50 minutes. 


The results.

Microneedling is a little different than most other facials. The results are not immediate, as the skin needs to start to repair itself which whilst the body is amazing, it takes time. So usually after 1 week, skin texture and look changes. After one week, skin starts to feel plumper and the texture should even out more. For scaring, these should be less apparent, and softer in feel.

Whilst from the photos it’s quite hard to see immediate results as the lighting wasn’t the best and to be honest it’s always tricky to pick up those kind of details on a camera, but my face was red and a little bumpy afterwards which was to be expected. It sort of looked like I had been sunburned. It also felt for the rest of the day quite tight and dry. I kept wanting to stretch my face- again, a bit like when it’s sunburned.

For 24 hours you cannot wear makeup and for 48 hours they recommend you only wash your face with warm water. So maybe don’t book in an appointment on the day of your Christmas party. Maybe plan a day or two ahead at least. 


Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Also this is the view from the clinic, so that's pretty awesome! (Yes I had a sunrise facial)

Make sure you sign up to Book Your Lifestyle now as this Christmas they have a new competition on everyday where you can win treatments. Now that's a happy Christmas. 

1 comment:

  1. A very interesting post. I also had a hyperpigmentation treatment but I opted chemical skin peels and it also gave good results in improving my skin tone and texture.

    ReplyDelete