Years of Microneedling: What Changed—and What I Still Can’t Prove

SPA AND TELL · MY MICRONEEDLING HISTORY

I’m 44, and I’m happy with how my skin looks. I think it looks firm, tight, and relatively smooth. I’ve also been microneedling for years, with footage going back to the original Natural Kaos days.

It would be easy to put those two things together and say, “Microneedling did this.” But after looking back through my own videos, I can’t honestly tell you how much of what I see today came from microneedling alone.

That doesn’t erase my experience. It does change how I want to talk about it. This time, I’m looking at the history, the recovery, the other treatments, and the limits of my before-and-after comparisons.

Watch the full retrospective

Watch on YouTube to see the archive footage and hear my full reflections.

My microneedling history goes back further than the upload dates

I was already microneedling before I started my YouTube channel. My documented footage goes back to 2018, but an upload date doesn’t always tell you when the footage inside a video was filmed.

That distinction matters with my November 2023 video, 5 Years Microneedling at Home Before and After Results. It includes a retrospective I originally made in January 2021, looking back at footage from 2018 through 2021. It is not all footage filmed in 2023.

In the 2023 introduction, I also said I had mesotherapy two days earlier and hadn’t been as consistent with monthly microneedling as I wanted. Those details belong with the footage. This is a history of returning to microneedling over the years, rather than an uninterrupted monthly routine.

A prettier photograph isn’t automatically a better result

When I put older footage next to newer footage, I’m comparing years of my life. The devices changed. The products changed. Cameras and lighting changed, and so did I.

I don’t use filters in this video, but I do have a bright light in front of me. A flattering current shot next to a less flattering older shot can create a much more dramatic impression than the underlying change deserves.

Instead of asking which photograph looks prettier, I want to ask whether the comparison is fair. Here’s the checklist I’m bringing to my own updates:

• Am I comparing the same area of my face?
• Are my expression, angle, distance, and lighting similar?
• Is makeup covering texture in one image?
• Was one clip filmed just after treatment and another after recovery?
• What other treatments happened around those dates?
• Does the same change appear in several comparable photographs?

Those questions make the photos more useful, even when they make the answer less dramatic.

Recovery and long-term improvement are different questions

One of the useful things I’ve documented is what my skin looks like afterward. In this video, I revisit a day-two update showing dryness and sloughing, including skin beginning to flake around my chin.

A recovery update tells you what happened in the days after a treatment. It doesn’t establish what changed over the following months. Getting back to my usual appearance also doesn’t prove that I improved beyond my starting point.

I now want to keep three stages separate: the treatment, the recovery, and the result I hope will remain later. Squeezing all three into one dramatic before-and-after can hide information that matters.

I changed more than one thing over the years

My catalog shows different devices, different products, and some combination treatments. Microneedling also happened alongside other skincare and treatments, nutrition, exercise, and ordinary life.

If I change the pen, change the product, and have other treatments during the same period, I can’t precisely assign an improvement to one of those choices. My face reflects years of living and decisions. Microneedling is part of that history, but I can’t measure its individual share.

I’m not dismissing what I said in earlier videos. I’m adding the context I think those observations deserve.

Could microneedling have helped me maintain my skin?

This is the possibility I keep coming back to. What if the value wasn’t a dramatic transformation, but a contribution to skin I’m happy with at 44?

It’s a reasonable question. It is still a possibility, not something my videos can prove. I don’t have another version of myself who made all the same choices except microneedling. I don’t know exactly how my skin would look today without it.

I can say that I like how firm my skin looks and how few wrinkles I notice. I can’t give you a percentage of that result attributable to microneedling, or promise that the same history would produce the same outcome for you.

What the medical evidence does—and doesn’t—say about my archive

The FDA has authorized specific microneedling devices for particular uses, including improving the appearance of facial wrinkles, facial acne scars, and abdominal scars in adults aged 22 or older. That is not a blanket endorsement of every device, body area, or combination shown in my videos.

The FDA also states that microneedling devices are not approved to deliver cosmetics, topical medications, vitamins, drugs, or blood products into the skin. Risks include redness, dryness, peeling, bruising, bleeding, pigment changes, and infection. If you’re considering treatment, discuss suitability, expected benefits, and risks with a qualified provider trained in microneedling.

My older footage documents what I did. It is not an instruction to repeat those treatments or combinations.

What I’m taking forward

I still value my microneedling experience. I also want to be more precise than saying my skin looks “glowing” or “younger.” Am I talking about texture, a particular line, how my skin feels, or how it looks after recovery?

I’ve tried to keep my filming setup and color adjustments consistent over the last couple of years. Going forward, I want the photos and timing to be more consistent too. That won’t turn my life into a clinical trial, but it should make the updates more useful.

After years of microneedling, I’m happy with my skin. It may have contributed, but I can’t isolate how much. The time I’ve invested in a treatment isn’t a reason to manufacture a more certain conclusion.

Related reading and video

• My Dr. Pen M9 recovery diary — a separate look at recovery after one session.
• My Channel Pro stretch-mark video — another part of my documented treatment history.
• FDA microneedling information — authorized uses, limitations, and risks.

Device links from the video description

For readers looking for the microneedling-related links listed with the video, I’ve collected them below. These listings are not evidence that a particular device caused my results or that it is appropriate for you.

Affiliate disclosure: I may earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Codes are those listed in the video description; check the retailer’s current terms and availability.

1. Dr. Pen listing — code KAOS10.
2. Channel Pro Pen — code KAOS25.
3. Flower Head — code KAOS25.
4. Refurbished Channel Pro Pen listing.