The Microneedling Support Hub - By Nina

FACT OR MYTH?

Nano-needling is just microneedling at a shallow depth.

MYTH ❌

Nano-needling and microneedling are not the same treatment.

A nano cartridge does not use traditional needles to puncture the skin in the same way as a microneedling cartridge.

Using a needle cartridge at 0.25 mm is still microneedling. Using a nano cartridge is nano-needling.

Nano is not simply “microneedling turned down low.” 💜

🚨 THE BIGGEST MISTAKE PEOPLE MAKE AFTER MICRONEEDLING

Thinking that more products will create better results.

I understand the excitement. You have performed your treatment and immediately start wondering:

“What serum should I apply?”
“Can I use a sheet mask?”
“When can I restart my retinol?”
“What else can I do to improve my results?”

But if you remember only one thing, let it be this:

MICRONEEDLING WORKS THROUGH THE CONTROLLED ACTION OF THE TREATMENT ITSELF—not because of the serum used during it or anything applied immediately afterwards.

The treatment creates thousands of controlled micro-injuries, activating the skin’s natural wound-healing response. This begins with inflammation, followed by repair, collagen production and gradual remodelling over the weeks and months that follow.

The treatment has already delivered the message. Your skin now needs time to respond.

🛑 IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS: LEAVE YOUR SKIN ALONE

Nothing non-sterile should be applied to freshly microneedled skin.

❌ No high-street sheet masks or face masks
❌ No ordinary serums
❌ No creams or lotions
❌ No makeup
❌ No retinol
❌ No salicylic or glycolic acid
❌ No vitamin C

A product may look clean and come from a sealed bottle or packet, but that does not make it sterile or suitable for freshly microneedled skin.

Applying unsuitable products too soon can irritate the disrupted skin barrier, prolong redness and inflammation, delay recovery and increase the risk of sensitivity or pigmentation.

It will not create more collagen or make your results appear faster.

💧 WHAT SHOULD YOU DO FROM THE FOLLOWING DAY?

Your skin may feel dry, tight, slightly rough or begin to flake. This can be part of the normal recovery process.

Choose products that are gentle, soothing and hydrating:

✅ A gentle cleanser
✅ A hydrating hyaluronic acid serum
✅ A soothing moisturiser
✅ La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ if your skin feels particularly dry
✅ A gentle hydrating facial mist
✅ Broad-spectrum SPF every day

Keep yourself well hydrated, and if your skin begins to flake, do not scrub, exfoliate, peel or pick it. Keep it moisturised and allow it to shed naturally.

Retinol, vitamin C, exfoliating acids and other strong active ingredients should not be reintroduced for at least FIVE TO SEVEN DAYS—and only when the skin has completely healed.

If your skin is still red, tight, tender, dry, sensitive or flaking, it is not ready, regardless of how many days have passed. Continue using gentle, soothing and hydrating products and allow it more time to recover.

When you do restart your active ingredients, reintroduce them gradually rather than applying everything at once.

Microneedling does not need to be complicated, yet I constantly see people complicating it with more products, more treatments and more unnecessary steps.

YOUR SKIN IS NOT ASKING YOU TO DO MORE. IT IS ASKING YOU TO LET IT HEAL.

Microneedling is the treatment.
Hydration supports recovery.
Sun protection protects your results.
TIME ALLOWS THE TREATMENT TO WORK.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your skin is simply stop interfering with it.

Save this post for your next treatment—and share it with somebody who is always in a rush to apply the next product.

Nina 🥰

FACT OR MYTH?

0.25 mm is too shallow to have any effect.

MYTH ❌

0.25 mm is still a microneedling depth when used with a needle cartridge.

It can create superficial microchannels and may be useful for very shallow treatments or delicate areas, depending on the skin and treatment goal.

What it isn’t is the same as nano-needling.

Shallow does not mean pointless — it just has a different purpose. 💜

If your skin doesn’t go very red after microneedling, do you automatically think you haven’t gone deep enough?

What was the first change you noticed after microneedling?

A - Brighter skin
B - Smoother texture
C - Softer fine lines
D - Improvement in scarring
E - I didn’t notice much at first

FACT OR MYTH?

You need to see redness for microneedling to be effective.

MYTH ❌

Redness can happen after microneedling, but it is not a requirement for a successful treatment.

Some people become very pink, while others barely change colour at all. Skin type, circulation, depth, pressure and the area being treated can all affect how much redness you see.

Don’t keep adding passes just because the skin isn’t red enough.

Your endpoint is controlled treatment — not chasing redness. 💜

EXOSOMES IN SKINCARE — EFFECTIVE OR JUST MARKETING? 🧬

Exosomes are suddenly appearing in everything from professional treatments to everyday serums and creams — but putting “exosomes” on a skincare label doesn’t automatically mean you’re getting the same benefits.

Exosomes are tiny extracellular vesicles involved in cell-to-cell communication. Research into their use for skin rejuvenation is certainly interesting, with potential effects on inflammation, repair and collagen-related processes. However, human clinical evidence is still developing, and products currently vary enormously in their source, formulation, concentration and processing. (PubMed)

So what about your everyday exosome serum or cream?

The biggest issue is delivery.

Your skin barrier is designed to keep substances out, so simply applying an exosome-containing cosmetic to intact skin does not necessarily mean those exosomes are reaching the deeper areas where the marketing may suggest they are working.

That doesn’t mean every exosome skincare product is useless — there is early research into topical use — but at the moment I would be cautious about paying a premium for a product purely because the word EXOSOMES is printed on the bottle.

Where they become more interesting is alongside professional procedures such as microneedling, where controlled microchannels temporarily alter the skin barrier and may enhance delivery. A 2026 systematic review found promising results when microneedling and exosomes were combined for concerns including skin ageing, pigmentation, enlarged pores and scarring — but importantly, the authors also concluded that larger and longer-term studies are still needed. (PubMed Central (PMC))

So my view?

✨ Exosomes themselves aren’t a gimmick.
✨ Exosome research is genuinely interesting.
✨ But “exosome skincare” is currently very marketing-heavy.
✨ I wouldn’t buy an everyday serum simply because it contains exosomes.
✨ Their use alongside professional treatments is far more interesting — although we’re still waiting for stronger long-term evidence.

And remember: an exosome cosmetic serum and a professional exosome product intended for use with microneedling are not automatically the same thing.

As always, look beyond the buzzword on the front of the bottle. 💜

Nina💜

🎓 Training

If you’ve recently trained in microneedling… do you feel confident treating clients, or do you feel you still had a lot to learn afterwards?

👇 I’d love to hear your honest experience.

💜

💜 Facebook has activated subscriptions for The Microneedling Support Hub by Nina.

I’ve created a separate private subscriber group for those who would like a little extra support, guidance and exclusive content.

Subscribers receive:

✔ Access to the private subscriber group

✔ Exclusive content

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Subscriptions are currently available from just 99p per month.

Thank you for your continued support. 💜

subscribing here: ⬇️

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Does 0.5 mm Microneedling Stimulate Collagen? Let’s Look at the Evidence.

This morning, a member submitted a post request in the Dr Pen Microneedling Group challenging the idea that 0.5 mm microneedling can stimulate collagen/CIT, and then gave her own depth breakdown to support that view.

Rather than approving the post as written, I thought it would be more useful to turn her statements into an educational post here in the Hub and go through them individually.

I put a lot of research into the information I share here, and I am very careful not to present something as fact unless I have looked at the evidence behind it first — especially when it comes to microneedling depth and safety.

Once information like this is presented confidently but inaccurately, people can easily take it as fact and start believing that deeper automatically means better, which is exactly the misconception we are trying to move away from.

⸻

HER STATEMENT:

“I’M GENUINELY CURIOUS WHAT BASIS ANYONE HAS TO CLAIM MICRONEEDLING AT 0.5 MM DEPTH STIMULATES COLLAGEN/CIT.”

MY RESPONSE:

There is an anatomical and biological basis for saying that microneedling at around 0.5 mm can stimulate the processes involved in collagen induction and remodelling.

Microneedling does not have to reach deeply into the reticular dermis before collagen remodelling can occur.

The wound-healing response involves signalling molecules and growth factors that influence dermal fibroblasts — the cells responsible for producing and remodelling collagen and other components of the extracellular matrix.

Importantly, fibroblasts are present within both the papillary dermis and the deeper reticular dermis.

They do not suddenly appear once you reach 1.0 or 1.5 mm.

So the idea that we must reach the deeper reticular dermis before collagen stimulation becomes possible is not anatomically correct.

⸻

HER STATEMENT:

“0.25 MM TO 0.5 MM (EPIDERMAL LAYER): THIS DEPTH DOES NOT REACH THE DERMIS WHERE COLLAGEN IS MADE. INSTEAD, IT TRIGGERS RAPID CELL TURNOVER, SMOOTHS TEXTURE, AND CREATES TEMPORARY MICRO-CHANNELS THAT INCREASE THE ABSORPTION OF TOPICALS LIKE COPPER PEPTIDES BY UP TO 80%.”

MY RESPONSE:

This is where the first major problem lies.

A 0.5 mm setting cannot simply be classified as an epidermal treatment.

The epidermis is much thinner than 0.5 mm over most areas of normal facial skin, and histological research has demonstrated that a microneedling device set at 0.5 mm can create channels extending into the superficial dermis.

That does not mean every pen, every technique or every facial area will produce exactly the same pe*******on — actual pe*******on varies according to device, pressure, skin resistance and technique.

But it does mean that saying 0.5 mm does not reach the dermis is incorrect as a general statement.

And once we reach the papillary dermis, we are already within tissue containing fibroblasts.

Fibroblasts are responsible for producing and remodelling collagen, elastin and other components of the extracellular matrix.

They are not found only deep within the reticular dermis.

So you do not have to reach 1.0–1.5 mm before you encounter collagen-producing fibroblasts or before collagen-remodelling signalling can occur.

The separate claim that microchannels increase absorption of topicals such as copper peptides “by up to 80%” also needs supporting evidence.

Microneedling can increase transdermal delivery, but there is no single universal 80% figure that can automatically be applied to copper peptides or every microneedling treatment.

Absorption depends on the substance, molecular size, formulation, concentration, needle depth, device, technique, number of passes, anatomical area and condition of the skin barrier.

So a very specific figure such as “up to 80%” should be accompanied by the actual research it came from rather than presented as a general microneedling fact.

⸻

HER STATEMENT:

“0.5 MM TO 1.0 MM (PAPILLARY DERMIS): THIS PENETRATES THE SHALLOWEST LAYER OF THE DERMIS. IT TRIGGERS A MILD WOUND-HEALING CASCADE THAT RELEASES GROWTH FACTORS, MAKING IT HIGHLY EFFECTIVE FOR EARLY FINE LINES, MILD HYPERPIGMENTATION, AND LIGHT ANTI-AGING MAINTENANCE.”

MY RESPONSE:

Interestingly, this statement actually contradicts the opening argument.

The papillary dermis already contains fibroblasts.

When microneedling creates controlled injury, growth factors and other signalling molecules are released and fibroblasts become involved in repair and remodelling.

Those fibroblasts produce and remodel collagen and elastin.

That is part of the biological mechanism behind collagen induction.

So if her own statement accepts that 0.5–1.0 mm reaches the papillary dermis and triggers a wound-healing cascade with growth-factor release, it does not then make sense to suggest that collagen induction only becomes “true CIT” once you reach 1.0 mm or deeper.

There is no biological switch at exactly 1.0 mm where collagen induction suddenly begins.

The papillary dermis already contains fibroblasts and collagen-containing extracellular matrix.

⸻

HER STATEMENT:

“1.0 MM TO 1.5 MM (RETICULAR DERMIS): THIS IS THE TARGET SWEET SPOT FOR TRUE, ROBUST COLLAGEN INDUCTION THERAPY (CIT). IT CREATES CONTROLLED MICRO-INJURIES DEEP WITHIN THE DENSE COLLAGEN NETWORKS TO EFFECTIVELY TREAT DEEP WRINKLES, SKIN LAXITY, AND MODERATE ACNE SCARRING.”

MY RESPONSE:

This is the claim I disagree with most strongly.

There is no established biological boundary at 1.0 mm where microneedling suddenly changes from “not true CIT” into “true CIT”.

And I cannot find evidence establishing 1.0–1.5 mm as a universal scientific ‘sweet spot’ for collagen induction therapy.

Published literature instead adjusts needle length according to the indication and anatomical area.

For example, reviews describe around 0.5–1.0 mm as commonly used for ageing skin and wrinkles, while greater depths such as 1.5–2.0 mm are more commonly used for acne and other scars.

That is an important distinction.

A deeper acne scar may require greater depth because the condition being treated is deeper.

But that is completely different from saying that normal facial rejuvenation requires 1.0–1.5 mm in order to stimulate collagen properly.

Acne scarring and general facial rejuvenation are not the same treatment objective.

Depth should match the indication.

A deeper condition may require a deeper treatment.

That does not mean:

deeper = more collagen

or

deeper = better results.

⸻

DR LANCE SETTERFIELD AND DEPTH

This is also where the work and teaching of Dr Lance Setterfield is relevant.

Setterfield has spent many years studying and teaching microneedling and has challenged the assumption that increasing injury automatically means a better regenerative response.

His teaching supports the principle of creating the appropriate biological stimulus rather than simply creating the deepest injury possible.

He has also discussed published research in which longer needles were used while much of the observed neocollagenesis remained within the more superficial layers of the skin.

That raises an important question:

If the required regenerative response can occur more superficially, what are we gaining by creating considerably deeper trauma unless there is an actual indication for doing so?

This supports a principle many experienced practitioners teach:

Use the depth required for the indication — not the maximum depth the device allows.

⸻

HER STATEMENT:

“1.5 MM TO 2.5 MM (DEEP DERMIS): TYPICALLY RESERVED FOR CLINICAL OR MEDICAL SETTINGS. THIS DEPTH IS USED SPECIFICALLY FOR SEVERE ACNE SCARS, DEEP SURGICAL SCARS, OR THICK BODY SKIN (LIKE STRETCH MARKS).”

MY RESPONSE:

Greater depths can certainly have appropriate indications, particularly for certain scars and thicker body areas.

However, this is still her depth classification, and it should not be treated as a universal rule.

No simple chart can tell everybody that one particular depth will automatically be correct.

Skin thickness varies considerably between anatomical areas and between individuals.

Actual needle pe*******on can also differ from the number displayed on the device.

So even where deeper microneedling is appropriate, the depth should still be chosen according to:

* the anatomical area
* the condition being treated
* the thickness of the tissue
* scar depth where relevant
* the device and cartridge being used
* the individual skin

Not simply because a chart says:

collagen = X mm

or

scar = X mm.

⸻

THE IMPORTANT DISTINCTION

The problem with this depth breakdown is not that deeper microneedling never has a place.

It absolutely does.

The problem is presenting the idea that:

0.5 mm = essentially epidermal / not true collagen induction

while

1.0–1.5 mm = the “true” collagen-induction depth.

That distinction is not supported by the anatomy or by the biology of wound healing.

Microneedling does not work according to a simple formula of:

0.5 mm = a little collagen

1.0 mm = more collagen

1.5 mm = loads of collagen

The evidence does not establish collagen induction as a simple linear relationship with needle depth.

The aim is to create an appropriate controlled stimulus that initiates repair and remodelling while avoiding unnecessary tissue trauma.

Growth factors and other signalling molecules are released.

Dermal cells respond.

Fibroblasts participate in repair and extracellular-matrix remodelling.

Collagen and elastin are produced and reorganised over time.

And importantly:

Fibroblasts are already present within the papillary dermis.

You do not have to drive a needle deep into the reticular dermis before collagen biology becomes possible.

⸻

THE TAKEAWAY

0.5 mm cannot simply be classified as epidermal.

A 0.5 mm setting can reach the superficial dermis.

Collagen-producing fibroblasts are present within the papillary dermis as well as the reticular dermis.

The papillary dermis participates in collagen production and remodelling.

There is no established 1.0 mm threshold where “true CIT” suddenly begins.

1.0–1.5 mm is not an established universal sweet spot for collagen induction.

Deeper depths have a purpose when the condition being treated requires them.

And most importantly:

Deeper does not automatically mean better.

Good microneedling is not about seeing how deep you can go.

It is about understanding why you are microneedling, what tissue you are targeting, and using the appropriate depth and amount of controlled injury for that indication.