Beauty Buzz: Sharp Relief

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Let’s get straight to the point. Sometimes anti-aging creams don’t cut it, and you need a little extra oomph to fight wrinkles or diminish scars. Starting Sept. 15, Bella Santé gets into the ring, offering micro-needling at its Boston, Lexington and Wellesley locations. It’s a treatment that reads a little like a torture ritual: Twelve 32-gauge needles, ranging in length from 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm, stamp hundreds of “micro-injuries” into your face, neck and chest. A numbing agent is applied to temper the moderate ouch factor, and then a SkinPen-wielding pro glides the device over your skin. The purpose of all those pinpricks? To stimulate elastin and collagen production to build new, stronger tissue.

“Everything with skin rejuvenation calls upon the body’s wound-healing response,” says Kristen Gilbert of SkinPen manufacturer Bellus Medical, who is training the spa’s technicians to perform the treatment. “Micro-needling does it in a way that creates less inflammation, but with great results…. There’s no chance of post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation that you find with heat lasers, so it can be used on any skin type.”

The treatment takes about an hour; although there’s no actual downtime, that day your skin will be puffy and sunburn red, and you can’t exercise or wear makeup. While some people see glowing skin after just one visit, the recommendation is three to six treatments (spaced four to six weeks apart). With a price tag of $350 per session, that can add up. But with results that can be effective for up to a year, it might be a jab well done.


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