Your skin is your body’s largest organ, weighing anywhere between 7.5 to 22 pounds, and covering 5 to 6.5 square feet of total surface area. But unlike your internal organs, when your skin isn’t at its healthiest, it shows. Acne, scarring, enlarged pores, and wrinkles are all signs of unhealthy, damaged skin.
At Vitality Medical Wellness Center, we are here to deliver holistic care that improves your health and enhances your beauty. Here, we’ll talk specifically about how to improve your skin using radiofrequency (RF) microneedling in Belle Meade, TN. We’ll cover what to expect for an RF microneedling appointment, what treatments pair well with this service, and much, much more.
How It Works
RF microneedling combines two of the most popular aesthetic treatments to multiply the benefits for your skin. The device uses microneedles that create small channels within the surface of your skin, also known as the epidermis.
While we adjust the depth depending on your specific treatment area, the needles can reach as deep as 4mm into the skin. Simultaneously, the device emits radiofrequency, commonly referred to as “RF,” to send thermal energy into these channels, reaching even further into your skin to amplify the rejuvenating effects. RF microneedling is a versatile device that can address several areas of the body, providing benefits for both your face and body.
Whether you use RF microneedling on your body or your face, this treatment helps improve your skin by increasing collagen and elastin production. Collagen and elastin are two proteins your body naturally produces to keep your skin, muscles, and other tissues strong and flexible.
You make the most collagen and elastin when you are young, but your body slows production starting around your 20s. RF microneedling makes your body believe it has been injured, stimulating a healing response that increases your body’s production of these two proteins. These proteins work to “heal” your skin to smooth wrinkles and scarring, correct hyperpigmentation, and much more.
RF Microneedling for the Body
The skin covering areas of your body is substantially thicker than that of your face, so it makes sense that you would want the needles to go deeper into the skin to remain effective. However, the needles will never go deeper than 4mm, where your epidermis ends and your dermis begins.
The dermis is where the blood vessels and your nerve endings live, and RF microneedling leverages this knowledge to deliver the most effective treatment without causing much discomfort.
When used on the body, you can both tighten skin and melt fat with RF microneedling in Belle Meade, TN. This is because when used at the maximum depth (4mm), the heat from the RF energy reaches twice as deep into the skin, passing through the dermis and the epidermis to break down fat cells located in the subcutaneous layer of skin.
This subcutaneous fat is often responsible for those stubborn areas that resist traditional weight loss efforts, commonly found in the abdomen, flanks, upper arms, and thighs. The heat essentially destroys these fat cells, which shrinks the area to create a smoother, slimmer silhouette.
RF Microneedling for the Face
When it comes to your face, the skin is thinner and more delicate. Because of this, your provider will typically adjust the device’s settings, limiting the depth of needle insertion and the intensity of the RF energy.
These adjustments help preserve the valuable fat in your face. While some may prefer to lose facial fat, we aim to keep as much facial fat as possible. Your facial fat keeps your cheeks and under eyes full, contributing to a more youthful appearance and your overall facial structure. Targeting that fat could leave you with a more sunken, hollowed appearance. However, you can improve a variety of common skin concerns using RF microneedling in Belle Meade, TN.
The RF Microneedling Process
While we personalize every aspect of your care at Vitality Medical Wellness Center, you can expect some general steps when you visit us for RF microneedling in Belle Meade.
Consultation
You first meet with one of our experienced providers for a one-on-one consultation. They listen carefully while you talk about what concerns you would like to address, and they ask you clarifying questions about your goals, your medical history, and more. This helps them understand your needs so they can recommend treatments that would be most effective. They talk to you about your best options for care, explaining each option in detail. They also make sure to answer any questions you may have, so you have a clear understanding of the treatments and services involved in your care. Together, you create a treatment plan that will help you improve your skin’s health. If RF microneedling is right for you, we schedule your appointment and share any advice we may have to help you prepare your skin ahead of time.
Treatment
On the day of your RF microneedling appointment, we ask that you arrive with clean skin that is free of makeup and other products. Your provider cleanses your skin and then applies a topical numbing cream to keep you as comfortable as possible during your treatment session. For about 60 to 90 minutes, your provider runs the handheld RF microneedling device slowly across your skin, ensuring treatment is administered evenly. They check in regularly during your treatment to ensure you are comfortable and have everything you need. Once they finish administering RF microneedling, they apply a protective gel to your skin, give you post-care instructions, and help you schedule the next appointment within your full RF microneedling series. After your sessions, you can even visit us for PRP, growth factor, or exosome treatments to further improve your results!
Results
Most patients see the best results with anywhere between 4 to 10 sessions of RF microneedling in Belle Meade. However, you and your provider determine the ideal number of treatments for your individual needs. Furthermore, your provider can recommend at-home skincare to help you maintain your results and keep your skin healthy and glowing. The results of RF microneedling typically last about 6 to 10 months, but can last much longer with proper use of at-home skincare products as well as healthy lifestyle habits, such as wearing sunscreen regularly and drinking plenty of water. Based on your skincare habits and the severity of your initial concerns, your provider may talk with you about setting up a maintenance schedule so you can continue to enjoy your healthy and refreshed-looking skin.
Paired Treatments
We customize your care to your needs, but after years of helping others improve their skin’s health and appearance, we have noticed that we can take patients’ results even further by combining treatments. Here are the treatments we most commonly pair with RF microneedling in Belle Meade, and why they boost your overall results.
PRP Injections
PRP injections use platelet-rich plasma to heal and enhance your skin. Platelets are cell fragments that form blood clots to stop cuts or wounds from bleeding, facilitating the healing process. When isolated from our blood and re-injected into our skin, they can dramatically improve the cellular structure of our skin, repairing damage and increasing our natural production of collagen and elastin to create healthier skin. When paired with RF microneedling, it enhances the duration of your results so you can enjoy healthy, beautiful skin for longer.
Infrared Sauna
We can attribute much of our skin damage to the toxins, pollution, and debris we face in our environment. Our skin protects the rest of our body from these pollutants, but in doing so, it instead takes on the damage itself. The infrared sauna uses O3 gas and infrared light to detox your body, removing the toxins from your skin and the rest of your body. As a noninvasive detox method, the infrared sauna helps to prolong the results of RF microneedling by essentially hitting the reset button on your skin.
Emface Facial Contouring
Patients also enjoy pairing Emface with RF microneedling in Belle Meade, TN. Emface combines the heat from RF energy with high-intensity facial electrical stimulation (HIFES) to improve muscle tone and increase collagen and elastin production. These two treatments complement each other well because Emface is extremely effective at “lifting” your features to reverse wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging skin. Meanwhile, RF microneedling also stimulates collagen and elastin production to repair your skin and correct issues deep within your skin, delivering long-lasting results. Basically, they boost each other’s results, so you can multiply the benefits for your skin.
Healthy Skin is Happy Skin
Your skin tells you when it is not feeling its best, and RF microneedling is an effective yet minimally invasive method to repair and heal your skin. If you think you’d benefit from a series of RF microneedling sessions, then we encourage you to reach out and request an appointment with one of our providers at Vitality Medical Wellness Center. If you’d like to explore other options before making a decision, we also offer a holistic treatment planning tool. This complimentary tool will help you discover and explore the best options for treatment based on your individual needs, and give you the tools to take the first step towards healing your skin.
