Micro Coring is being heralded as one of this year's best treatments for wrinkles and loose skin by several glossy magazines but, we disagree.
Micro coring is a treatment that uses needles. Not skinny needles but 22 gauge needles that are used to extract blood. Here they use them to extract micro-cores (long channels) of skin. This means about 8% of skin on the area being treated. ,The science is that these little skin channels will heal and close over a week or more and stimulate collagen in the skin. The renewing of the collagen is a response to trauma to the skin. The renewal of the collagen can take up to 6 months in some cases.
The treatment begins with lidocaine and anaesthetics injections. That in itself tells you it's going to hurt.
When you are numbed (you hope), the Ellacor device punches the skin channels out and suction the skin out. They can vary the depth of the skin to be reached. It takes around 30 minutes and most patients will require three treatments each month following. The downtime is around 3 - 5 days as you will bleed, scab and have minor bruising. This treatment is approved by the FDA.
We see on Ellacor's own website the Risks and Benefits it states "Other side effects not commonly observed with this procedure may include: itching, hyper/hypo pigmentation, hematoma, infection, scarring, skin irregularities, skin necrosis, uneven appearance of the treated regions (left and right sides of face), or anesthesia toxicity (anesthesia-related complications may include allergic reaction and possibly death)."
We don't have photographs of before and afters but look on this page. The after image is 150 days after 2 treatments and it still doesn't have the results we get with totally non surgical hifu as illustrated immediate after just one treatment.
What are they thinking? We refer to this treatment as Micro 'Goring'.
Compare this to high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat loose skin and wrinkles and there's no needles, no pain and no downtime. The neck and face are completed within 30 minutes and most clients doze while the treatment is done.
HIFU reaches deeper than micro coring without the damage and it's guaranteed to renew collagen in the deepest layer of the skin, the SMAS. We see changes immediately and It peaks around 4 - 6 months after the treatment. Then it can last up to 10 months. Some clients need a second treatment to get the result they want but there's no pain, little damage to the skin and little side effects.
Our advice? Don't do micro coring.
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