Use Your Own Platelets for Better Skin

If you follow the aesthetic world at all, you’ve heard of microneedling. These treatments use microscopic needles to creates hundreds of microscopic wounds across the treatment areas. When the body senses the wounds, as the needles penetrate the epidermis and enter the dermis layer, it assumes there has been a wound (despite the fact that the microscopic punctures heal within just a couple hours). Its response it to remodel the collagen in the area and to initiate the production of new collagen to “heal” the perceived wounds. This collagen production lasts for weeks and it firms and improves the skin.

That’s microneedling.

Now what if you could take that treatment and boost it by adding the various growth factors and healing mechanisms present in our own blood through blood platelets. We could take a blood sample, place it in a centrifuge to separate out the red blood cells. What would be left would be a dense concentration of blood platelets, white blood cells, and blood plasma — platelet-rich plasma.

At Saltz Plastic Surgery/Spa Vitoria, we combine microneedling with PRP to improve the facial skin. It’s a powerful skin improving combination.

What is platelet-rich plasma?

Platelets in human blood are amazing little healing powerhouses. We put them to work in platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Here’s how it works. We take a sample of your blood and place it in a centrifuge. We separate out the red blood cells. This leaves a concentrated mix of plasma, white blood cells, and blood platelets.

Then we perform microneedling on your target areas. After the microneedling, your skin has hundreds of microscopic channels down into the dermis, making it the perfect time to apply PRP to those areas. The PRP can make its way down into the skin, through the epidermis and into the dermis layer. This adds the power of platelets and white blood cells to the skin improvement mix.

What will I look like after microneedling with PRP?

After your session, your skin will look as if you have a mild sunburn. There will be some redness and flushing. How much of this you will have depends upon the number of passes we made over your treatment areas and the depth of the microneedle penetration. This flushing and redness usually are gone by the next day, so it’s a good idea to have microneedling done after work. Your skin will feel tight and you may have some slight swelling, but this passes after a day or two. There is no recovery time or need to restrict any activities.

How often should I have microneedling with PRP?

Since your body builds new collagen, elastin, and skin cells, you need to give it time to get down to business. Our patients like to schedule microneedling with PRP in a series of 3-6 treatments. This provides great skin firming and improved texture. These treatments should be spaced about every 4-6 weeks, as this is about the duration of the increase in collagen and elastin.

Interested microneedling with PRP at Saltz/Spa Vitoria? Call us at our Salt Lake City location, (801) 274-9500, or our Park City location, (435) 655-6612, to make your appointment.