Could RF Microneedling be relevant to you?
Connect with our clinical team to discuss your concern, goals, and whether this treatment belongs in your plan.
Other Treatments
RF Microneedling
Combines fine needles with radiofrequency energy delivered at controlled skin depths to stimulate collagen and help remodel scars and laxity.
RF microneedling in Vancouver
Understanding RF Microneedling.
RF microneedling works in the layer of skin where firmness and texture are actually built, rather than on the surface.
It is most often chosen for acne scarring, uneven texture, enlarged-looking pores and early loss of firmness — concerns that skincare alone tends to soften only slightly.
Because the energy is released beneath the surface rather than absorbed by surface pigment, it is often an option for patients who have been told their skin tone rules out other devices.
Concerns & Goals
Concern guides connected to this treatment.
Acne Scars
Indented, raised, or uneven skin texture left after deeper acne inflammation.
Enlarged-Looking Pores
Visible pores and an irregular skin surface often linked to oil, acne, or aging.
Loose or Crepey Skin
Reduced firmness and mild tissue descent related to aging and the decline of collagen and elastin.
Neck Laxity and Neck Lines
Loose neck skin, horizontal creases, or visible muscle bands that can reduce definition of the neck and jawline.
Stretch Marks & Surgical Scars
Changes in skin colour or texture from rapid stretching, injury, or surgical healing.
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Treatment options and technologies
RF microneedling is one of several clinically recognised approaches to scarring, textural change and early loss of dermal firmness. It is not a fixed answer, and it is not always the appropriate one.
The options available here, selected according to clinical findings:
- Secret PRO — the platform on which RF microneedling is delivered, and where the technical detail is set out
- HALO Hybrid Fractional Laser — considered where surface texture and tone are as significant as depth
- Platelet-Rich Plasma — a regenerative option prepared from your own blood, sometimes used alongside
- VAMP (PDRN Salmon DNA) — applied following a microchannel procedure to support recovery
More than one is frequently indicated, staged over several months rather than selected against each other.
The selection is a clinical decision, not one you are expected to make. Your skin is examined in person, the scar types and depths are identified, and your skin tone and healing history are assessed before any approach is recommended.
Concerns this treatment may help
RF microneedling is most often used for:
- Acne scarring, particularly depressed (atrophic) scars
- Other scars, including some surgical scars
- Rough or uneven texture
- Enlarged-looking pores
- Early or mild laxity along the cheeks, jawline or neck
- Crepey, thinning skin
- Some stretch marks
If one of those is what brought you here, there is something we can offer. Which option suits you is worked out below and settled at your consultation.
Who it suits, and who it does not
It tends to suit people with scarring, texture change or early firmness loss who want gradual improvement and can accommodate a few days of visible redness after each session.
Deeper skin tones can usually be treated, because the energy is delivered below the pigment-containing surface. Usually is not always, though: post-inflammatory pigmentation remains possible, and settings are chosen conservatively.
Some histories change the plan. A tendency to keloid scarring, recent isotretinoin, blood-thinning medication, an implanted electronic device or active breakouts in the area may mean waiting, adjusting the approach, or choosing a different treatment.
Your consultation
Your skin is assessed in person. We look at the type and depth of any scarring, your skin tone, how your skin has healed from previous injury or treatment, and what you actually want changed.
We will also ask about:
- Cold sores, if the face is being treated
- Any tendency to keloid or thickened scarring
- Isotretinoin, current or recent
- Blood thinners and bleeding tendencies
- Pacemakers, defibrillators or other implanted electronic devices — radiofrequency matters here
- Metallic implants or permanent fillers in the treatment area
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Previous energy-based treatments and how your skin reacted to them
You leave with a specific plan: the depth and settings intended, the likely number of sessions and their spacing, what recovery will look like, and an honest view of how much change to expect.
The assessment itself is free. There is no consultation charge for having your scarring or texture examined and hearing what is realistic. A booking fee is charged to reserve the appointment; it holds the time, covers the physician's time and reduces no-shows.
What a session is like
Before. Numbing cream is applied and left to take effect. This takes time, so allow for it when planning your visit.
During. The handpiece is placed against the skin section by section. Each pulse feels like firm pressure followed by a brief hot prickle. Areas over bone — the forehead, the jawline — are usually felt more than fleshier areas.
Immediately after. Skin looks flushed and feels hot and tight, much like sunburn. You may see a fine grid of tiny marks where the needle tips entered. This is expected.
Who performs it. Treatment is carried out by our experienced technicians, working under the medical direction of Dr. Gidon Frame.
Results, timing and realistic limits
What it can improve: the depth and shadowing of depressed acne scars, overall smoothness, the appearance of enlarged pores, mild crepiness, and early firmness loss.
What it cannot do: lift significant sagging, remove excess skin, reliably flatten raised or keloid scars, or erase scarring altogether. Deep, narrow ice-pick scars in particular often need a different or additional approach.
When change appears: skin may look smoother and more even within a few weeks, but remodelling continues for months after a course finishes. The honest answer is that you judge the result well after the final session, not the week after it.
Series and maintenance: RF microneedling is planned as a course of sessions spaced several weeks apart, with periodic maintenance if you want to hold the result. The number is set at assessment and adjusted according to how your skin actually responds.
What influences the outcome: the type and age of the scarring, skin thickness, your age, smoking, sun exposure, how consistently you protect the skin afterwards, and how you heal generally.
Variation is real. Two people with similar-looking acne scarring can respond quite differently to the same course, which is why the plan is reviewed between sessions rather than fixed at the outset.
Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic
Looking for the right next step?
Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic can help you understand this treatment, explore related technologies and concerns, and build a plan around your goals.
Recovery and aftercare
Most people are through the visible part of recovery within three to five days, though it is worth knowing that swelling is often more noticeable the morning after treatment than on the day itself.
What helps: gentle cleansing, a plain moisturiser, daily broad-spectrum sunscreen, and sleeping slightly elevated on the first night if you swell easily.
What to avoid: makeup for the first day or so, hot showers, saunas, strenuous exercise, swimming pools, retinoids and exfoliants until cleared — and picking at flaking skin.
Contact the clinic promptly if you develop increasing pain, spreading redness, pus, blistering, or a cold-sore outbreak.
What most people experience
Expected and temporary effects include:
- Redness and a sunburn-like heat
- Swelling, often most obvious the next morning
- A fine grid pattern of tiny marks where the needle tips entered, fading over several days
- Tightness, dryness and light flaking
- Pinpoint bleeding or small scabs at the time of treatment
- Minor bruising, more likely on thinner skin
- Temporary sensitivity to skincare products
- A short-lived breakout
Less common but important risks
Less often, RF microneedling can cause:
- Burns. Radiofrequency delivers heat, and heat can injure skin where settings, technique or skin condition are not right.
- Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation — darkening after treatment, with a higher risk in deeper skin tones.
- Loss of pigment in treated areas, which can be lasting.
- Infection. The micro-channels remain open for a period after treatment.
- Reactivation of cold sores when the face is treated, sometimes requiring preventive antiviral medication.
- Prolonged redness or swelling.
- Scarring, including in people prone to keloids.
- Tracking marks that persist longer than expected.
- Rarely, changes in the fat layer beneath the treated skin, which can alter contour.
- A result that falls short of what you hoped for.
Risk rises with deeper settings, in deeper skin tones, on recently tanned skin, where aftercare is not followed, and where there is a history of abnormal healing.
When RF microneedling should wait or be avoided
Treatment may need to be postponed or ruled out if you have:
- Active skin infection, a cold-sore outbreak, or open or broken skin in the area
- Active inflammatory acne, or a flare of eczema or dermatitis where treatment is planned
- Recent sunburn or a fresh tan
- A pacemaker, implantable defibrillator or other implanted electronic device — radiofrequency energy is a specific concern
- Metallic implants or permanent fillers in the treatment area
- A history of keloid or hypertrophic scarring
- Recent isotretinoin use
- A bleeding disorder, or blood-thinning medication
- Poorly controlled diabetes or another condition that impairs wound healing
- Pregnancy or breastfeeding
- Recent laser, resurfacing or another procedure in the same area
- Circumstances that make consistent sun protection and aftercare unrealistic
This is not a complete screening list. Your full medical history, medications, implants, skin history and healing tendency are reviewed before treatment is booked.
Your at-home skincare
Skincare will not remodel a scar, but it changes how well your skin comes through treatment.
Before: a calm, well-hydrated barrier tolerates treatment better. We may ask you to pause retinoids and exfoliating acids in the days beforehand.
Between sessions: once the skin has settled, a suitable routine helps hold texture and tone, and consistent sun protection reduces the chance of post-treatment pigmentation. We will tell you when it is safe to restart active ingredients.
Technologies Used
Technologies that may support this treatment.
Secret PRO
Secret PRO is a multi-technology platform combining RF microneedling, fractional CO₂ laser resurfacing, and a Surgi handpiece for different treatment goals.
VAMP (PDRN Salmon DNA)
A topical polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) formula applied immediately after microchannel-creating procedures to aid skin recovery and quality.
Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic
Why patients choose our clinic
- A Vancouver clinic since 2001, with long experience in energy-based skin treatment.
- Treatment under medical direction. RF microneedling is performed by experienced technicians working under the medical direction of Dr. Gidon Frame.
- Settings chosen for your skin, including deliberately conservative approaches for deeper skin tones, rather than one default protocol.
- Plans reviewed as you go, so depth and spacing respond to how your skin is behaving rather than to a fixed package.
- Straight answers about limits. If your concern would be better served by surgery, a laser, or by leaving it alone, we will tell you.
FAQ
Questions about RF Microneedling.
Many people can, but expect to look visibly treated. Redness is usually obvious for a day or two and swelling is often worse the morning after than on the day itself, and you may have a faint grid of pinpoint marks. If you would rather not be seen mid-recovery, treating late in a week gives you a couple of quiet days.
Numbing cream is applied first and does most of the work. With it in place, each pulse feels like firm pressure and a brief hot prickle rather than a sharp stab. Areas over bone, such as the forehead and jawline, are felt more than fleshier areas, and deeper settings used for scarring are felt more than shallow ones.
Those are the entry points of the needles, arranged in the grid pattern of the treatment tip. They are an expected part of the treatment, not a complication, and they fade over several days. Let us know if they are still visible well beyond the timeframe we give you.
Generally no, and this is one of the reasons RF microneedling is often chosen over light-based devices: the energy is released below the layer of skin that carries pigment. Post-inflammatory pigmentation is still possible, so settings are kept conservative and sun protection afterwards genuinely matters. Your skin is assessed individually rather than assumed safe.
Tell us before anything else. Radiofrequency energy is a specific concern with pacemakers, implantable defibrillators and similar devices, and metallic implants or permanent fillers in the treatment area also need to be known about. Some of these rule treatment out; others simply change where and how we treat. The decision is a medical one.
For most of the concerns this treats, no. Collagen remodelling is cumulative, so it is planned as a course spaced several weeks apart, with the number set against your concern and adjusted as we see how your skin responds. If someone promises to fix established acne scarring in a single visit, be sceptical.
If you get them, mention it. Treating the face can reactivate the virus, and an outbreak on freshly treated skin is uncomfortable and can affect healing. Preventive antiviral medication started before treatment is a straightforward way to manage this.
The collagen built after a course does not vanish, but your skin keeps ageing, and sun exposure, smoking and time continue to work against it. Many patients return for periodic maintenance to hold what they have gained. Improvement in scarring tends to be more durable than improvement in firmness.
Coming in purely to ask questions is fine and the consultation carries no fee of its own. The cost attached to the appointment is a booking fee that holds the slot, accounts for the physician's time and helps reduce no-shows.
Reviews
What patients say about the clinic experience.
Reviews help show the human side of care, from the first consultation to comfort, communication, treatment planning, and follow-up.
Visit Our Clinic
Visit our clinic in Vancouver, BC.
Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic combines medical assessment, individualized planning, physician oversight, and a broad range of treatment options in its Vancouver clinic.
Plan your consultation.
Bring your questions, treatment history, and goals. Your provider can help you understand appropriate options, expected recovery, and realistic outcomes.
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Step into your next plan with confidence.
Use our consultation form below and the clinic can guide you toward the appropriate starting point.
HoursOpen 7 Days / Week from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Closures Announced on Google Business
Phone(604) 261-9121
Email[email protected]
Why Anti-Aging Medical & Laser Clinic?
- A medical clinic with physicians and experienced medical-aesthetic providers on the team.
- Science-informed assessment, treatment planning, and realistic expectations.
- Laser, injectables, skin, body, hair, wellness, and medical services available in one clinic.
- Complimentary aesthetic consultations are available for appropriate cosmetic and laser services.
- Personalized skincare and product consultations based on your goals and routine.
- Home-care guidance to support your skin between in-clinic appointments.
- Professional skincare products available through the Anti-Aging Vancouver shop.
- Clear guidance on treatment options, preparation, downtime, aftercare, and next steps.
- Ongoing follow-up so your plan can evolve as your needs and goals change.
