Radiofrequency microneedling has become extremely popular the last few years. We have tried RF microneedling around 2014, way before it became popular around 2019 and all the rage around 2022, and found it lacking, both in terms of effectiveness and especially safety. In fact, we found the treatment quite horrid and gave back the machine after a few days of training (a doctor had to come from abroad specifically for us for the training) and after trying it with a few clients. The best way to understand the reasoning against RF microneedling is real world evidence, consisting of feedback and reviews from real people in the real world, as opposed to the virtual reality of instagram, tiktok or even science papers…
Does RF cause pigmentation?
Pigmentation occurs either as a result of UV exposure (sun, sunbed) or as a result of inflammation (post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation). Treatments such as laser, radiofrequency, infrared, ultrasound, plasma skin resurfacing, radiofrequency microneedling, HIFU etc can only cause hyperpigmentation as a result of inflammation. When a treatment, such as the above, is delivered at extreme intensity, either by mistake or by design, the epidermis is burned, damaged or irritated, leading to inflammation, which quite often results in post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation…