WHAT’S THE POINT OF NEEDLE WORK?

Still a little fearful of needle-based treatments? The latest procedures promise more subtle improvements that refresh and refine, says ‘tweakment’ expert Alice Hart-davis

Alice Hart-davis checks out the latest procedures that are changing the face of the beauty world

reatments involving needles are the ones I get asked about most often. They’re also the ones that people are most anxious about. Why the fear? It’s probably because we all know what bad work looks like and no one wants to end up with a frozen face or overstuffed lips and cheeks.

I first began researching and writing about needle-based treatments 20 years ago. At first, I was aghast, but pretty soon, being in my late 30s with three small children and feeling permanently exhausted, I found myself looking in the mirror and wondering: ‘Would it be that bad just to try to see what they could do?’ Since then, I’ve had scores of needle-based treatments: Botox two or three times a year; occasional fillers and mesotherapy; injectable moisture jabs, such as Profhilo; and the odd spot of microneedling.

The latest procedures involve subtle work with delicate needles, which can refresh the face without making it look drastically different. They can smooth and firm skin texture, give you a refined jawline and even balance a wonky nose or a gummy smile. No, they’re not for everyone, but here’s what’s new and worth knowing…

MESOTHERAPY

The one for glowy, plumped-up skin

Injecting a cocktail of vitamins and moisturising ingredients into the middle layer of the skin (the mesoderm) is a treatment that has been popular in France for 50 years. Many clinics here in the UK offer mesotherapy as an entry-level tweakment for firming and smoothing the skin.

What is in the injections? Usually it’s a liquid mixture of vitamins and hyaluronic acid intended to revive the skin by providing the right nutrients to encourage regeneration of collagen (for firmness) and elastin (for stretch), though there is no set formula and the ingredients vary from practitioner to practitioner.

What is involved? The most popular way of injecting the ‘meso’ cocktail is with an automated gun, which looks terrifying: it’s large and has a 3mm needle that delivers repeated jabs to get the liquid into the skin. On the plus side, each jab only feels like a pinprick as it’s so lightning-fast. It takes about half an hour to cover the whole face and, if you are up for it, lips can be treated, too. Once in the skin, the ingredients go to work. Also, each of the little wounds should stimulate the production of collagen and elastin as they heal.

Comfort level Not half as painful as you might think. Honestly? Really quite comfortable.

Does it work? The results are clear to see, even if it’s not a treatment that has received much scientific research. What you notice at first (apart from the minor redness that will go in a few hours) is how amazingly plumped up your skin is, which isn’t really surprising as there can be a whole 5ml teaspoonful of the magic ‘meso’ cocktail now trapped between the upper and lower layers of your skin. By the third day, this will have settled down into a lovely glowy smoothness (so, yes, it’s a great one to have a few days before a big event). The glow and the plumpness lasts for 10 days; if you do more sessions, the results are meant to last for longer. From £110.

PROFHILO

The one for hydrated, firmer-looking skin

One of a new genre of hydrating treatments, this runny substance made from hyaluronic acid is injected to sit just inside the skin and recondition it from within.

What does it claim to do?

Profhilo claims (and is proven) to stimulate the growth of collagen and elastin and kick-start genuine renewal within the skin.

What is involved? Ten injections are given; five on each side of the face. These look a bit alarming at first, like swollen bee stings, but they will subside over the next 12 hours as the Profhilo spreads throughout the skin to cover the whole face.

Comfort level Only minor discomfort from the pinprick injections. There’s no downtime as such, though you wouldn’t want to go to a meeting or out for supper on the same day, until the swelling around the injection points has gone down.

Does it work? It gives impressive results: skin looks healthier, bouncier and fresher. The official line is that you don’t see results until eight weeks from the first injections. I found that after five weeks, my skin was so much perkier and better hydrated that I didn’t need moisturiser. What I particularly love is the way it can give a youthful glow to skin that’s starting to look flat and dry. Dr Geoffrey Mullan (the Red beauty team’s go-to practitioner, along with his wife Dr Vicky Dondos at Medicetics) says, ‘It’s best for skin showing early signs of ageing, such as fine lines and crepiness. And it’s versatile. You can have it in your face, neck, décolleté and hands.’ From £400 per treatment.

MICRONEEDLING

The one for skin rejuvenation

If a cosmetic doctor says to you, ‘So, I’m going to work over your face with this device tipped with sharp spikes that will create thousands of tiny perforations in your skin…’ that may be as far as the conversation gets. But if you can get your mind round the concept, microneedling is a great way of stimulating the skin into renewing itself.

What does it claim to do? By making thousands of tiny wounds in its surface, the skin is kick-started into producing growth factors and collagen to repair the damage, resulting in a fresher, smoother, firmer complexion (it can help scars, too, by stimulating repair in the skin’s deeper layers). Brutal, but straightforward. Also, making holes through the tough, protective outer cells of the epidermis means that any skincare product applied immediately afterwards can get direct access into the skin, so if that’s a high-tech clinical serum with skin-repairing benefits, it will be more effective.

What is involved? The practitioner uses either a small roller covered in tiny sharp spikes or a motorised device tipped with a grid of tiny sharp needles to punch thousands of very small holes in the skin.

Comfort level I can’t lie. It’s not comfortable. Just how uncomfortable depends on the length of the needles that are being used. If you’re just having a light going-over with a 0.5mm needle, that is enough to make you wonder why on earth you voluntarily submitted to have his procedure done, but you don’t need anaesthetic cream for it. If, on the other hand, you’re having a more intense session with longer needles, where the practitioner is looking to create pinprick bleeding, you’ll definitely want plenty of anaesthetic cream.

Does it work? Many studies have shown the benefits of microneedling, though debate rages as to just how long the needles need to be to give a decent result. Some experts swear that short needles or even home-use microneedling (see page 108) will rejuvenate the skin; practitioners who offer deeper microneedling say that only using the longer needles will lead to genuine rejuvenation.

‘WHAT YOU NOTICE IS HOW AMAZINGLY PLUMPED UP YOUR SKIN IS’

‘MICRONEEDLING IS A GREAT WAY OF STIMULATING THE SKIN INTO RENEWING ITSELF’

A QUIET WORD ABOUT HOME MICRONEEDLING

Using a spiky microneedling roller at home (they can be bought cheaply online) is becoming increasingly popular as a way of stimulating the skin. The tiny punctures also allow skincare products to penetrate more deeply. However, many dermatologists are concerned, saying it causes unnecessary trauma and that they often see patients whose skin has a scratched surface from erratic treatment. Bombing the product deeper into the skin through needle holes might sound like a good idea, but it may well cause a reaction, especially if the product contains fragrance, so it’s a high-risk strategy. If you must use a microneedler at home, do it lightly and not very often.

WHAT’S NEW WITH BOTOX?

Aside from what you might call its ‘standard’ use, for softening lines on the forehead and around the eyes, Botox and other wrinkle-relaxing toxins are being put to work in other areas of the face. If you have a ‘pebbly’ chin, for example, which bunches up towards your lower lip, a small shot of Botox will poleaxe the muscle that is pulling it upwards for a few months. This softens the bunching and smooths the look of the chin.

Injections of toxins work just as well for disengaging the muscles that can pull the corners of the mouth downwards into a permanently grumpy look and, if you don’t love your ‘gummy’ smile, where you show lots of the gum above your upper teeth, Botox can help here, too. A small injection into the muscle that pulls the upper lip upwards relaxes it, so that when you smile, the lip doesn’t rise as high.

Botox is even being used for refining the look of oily pores. If the toxin is injected superficially (not deep into the muscles, but just into the skin), it reduces oiliness, which in turn makes pores appear less obvious. Yes, it’s an icing-on-the-cake sort of treatment, but just so you know… prices start from £150, depending on the amount of Botox needed.

Filler reimagined

They have a dubious reputation, because we’ve all seen what happens when famous – and infamous – faces end up overstuffed, hamster-cheeked and duck-lipped thanks to fillers. But far from filling out deflated areas in the centre of the face, the latest way to use fillers is all about adding structure to the ‘frame’ of the face. What that means is injecting small amounts of filler right down by the bone in areas such as the chin, the points of the jaw and on the outer edges of the cheeks, either to give us the cheekbones and jawline definition that Mother Nature forgot to hand out or to replace what she has begun to take away (we can start to lose bone mass from our facial skeleton in our early 30s). The other increasingly popular use for fillers is for non-surgical nose reshaping. You wouldn’t think that adding filler to a hooked, droopy or otherwise wonky nose would make a difference to its shape, but just three judicious jabs placed where the nose meets the eyebrow, on the bridge of the nose, and in the tip (and sometimes a fourth injection beneath the tip, too) can alter its proportions. If you’re struggling with the concept, take a look at the Instagram feed of a nose expert, such as Dr Ayad Harb (@drayadharb). From £400, depending on how much filler is needed.

‘BOTOX IS BEING USED TO REFINE OILY PORES’

A FEW PRACTICAL TIPS

Any procedure will hurt more if you are tired, hungover, dehydrated, stressed or coming up to your period. In my experience, procedures hurt more the first time; I presume because it is hard not to be apprehensive about something new. I don’t bother with numbing cream before needle-led procedures, not even when having lip fillers – though I would if I was having serious microneedling. If your practitioner is any good with needles (as they should be, if you have chosen wisely), then you will barely notice the needles slipping in.