Skin, Body & Health Renewal Branches Branches in Cape Town, JHB, Pretoria, Kwazulu-Natal 0861 SKIN SA / info@skinrenewal.co.za www.skinrenewal.co.za

Fraxel® DUAL vs Dermapen

One of the questions often asked is which rejuvenation treatment is best for your skin.

With this in mind here are some facts on Fraxel® DUAL treatment and Dermapen needling so you can make an
informed decision when choosing which one is best for you.

What does Micro-needling do to your skin?
Our skin has the ability to repair itself when there is any physical damage and this is where the concept of needling came from.

Needling the skin literally creates tiny controlled injuries to the tissue which sets off a cascade of reactions in the skin:

• It destroys old damaged tissue e.g. where there are wrinkles and scarring from acne and replaces it with new healthy tissue while stimulating the production of new collagen and elastin.
• The result is firmer, younger looking skin, while the body continues to produce more collagen.
• This is a great treatment for scarring, enlarged pores and moderate to severe wrinkling.

• It is an FDA approved treatment for pigmentation, skin tone, lines, acne scarring and poor skin texture.
• It has also been FDA approved for the treatment of pre-cancerous lesions and there is better success in treating hormonal pigmentation.
• The treatment produces thousands of tiny deep columns into the skin; one area at a time, without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
• It penetrates into the deep layers of skin (dermis) only in the targeted areas

Downtime between treatments - It takes longer between needling treatments (5 – 10 days depending on depth of treatment) than with Fraxel® DUAL treatment (3 – 4 days)

Number of treatments required for the best result - One Fraxel® DUAL treatment versus about 3-4 needling treatments for the same result. This is because the laser treatment uses controlled thermal heating as well as the ability to utilise 2 wavelengths within the same treatment, as well as the tightening effect of the heat produced by the laser.

Bleeding with treatment - Needling treatments do have some bleeding and as a result there could be some bruising where skin is thin and fragile.

With the Fraxel® DUAL treatment the heat produced by the laser immediately cauterises the skin so there is no bleeding, but there could be mild bruising in fragile areas.

Added benefit of heat - Needling devices cannot deliver a thermal injury and the heat is what gives faster results in terms of firming and tightening.

Skin tightening can be seen within 1-2 weeks after Fraxel® treatment, but it would take about 8-12 weeks for the same result with needling treatment.

Added benefit of treating sun cancers and pigmentation - Fraxel Dual not only treats fine lines and wrinkles, but also is FDA approved to treat pre-cancerous skin lesions, a must for anyone living in sunny South Africa.

Added benefit of treating pigmentation, sun damage and melisma - Fraxel dual has the added benefit of the Thullium laser which treats all forms of pigmentation including melisma.

The price per treatment - This is always an important consideration. One should consider the price per treatment versus the number of treatments needed for a great result.

So to summarise…If you want fast, effective results, minimal to practically no downtime, and you want to come in for fewer treatments, then my choice of treatment would definitely be the Fraxel® DUAL . However, if you don’t mind coming in for many treatments, and having longer downtime and bruising is not an issue for you, and you are content to take the time to get to your final results, then needling is a great treatment.