The Mistake that’s Sabotaging Your Skin Needling Results - By Lia Trebilcock

You adjust your depth settings, track pinpoint bleeding, and aim for a controlled response. But are you actually hitting the correct endpoint, or are you needling too deep, missing your target cells, and triggering unnecessary inflammation? This mistake is everywhere.

Skin Needling is one of the most powerful treatments in skin therapy, yet many therapists focus on the wrong clinical outcomes and miss the treatment’s true potential. Depth dictates results; if you’re not working in the right layer, you’re not achieving the best possible outcome for your client. Let’s set the record straight.

Treating Pigmentation? Stop Drawing Blood

When treating pigmentation, blood shouldn’t be on your radar. Pigment sits in the epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, so if you’re treating melasma, post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, or sun damage, the aim is to stimulate growth factors without compromising the dermis.

The deepest point your needles penetrate should be the Basal Cell Layer. If you’re drawing blood, you’re in the dermis, shifting the skin’s healing focus away from melanocyte regulation and toward dermal repair. Instead of clearing pigmentation, you could create more inflammation, worsen post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, and work against your intended results.

An effective epidermal needling treatment requires precision, realtime observation, and a refined technique. When done correctly, the skin releases growth factors exactly where they’re needed to regulate pigmentation: Melanocyte Growth Factors (MGF) to prevent new pigment formation, Keratinocyte Growth Factors (KGF) to support skin cell turnover, and Epidermal Growth Factors (EGF) to accelerate healing while maintaining pigment balance. If your needling is too deep, these growth factors redirect their focus to dermal repair instead, limiting their effectiveness in correcting pigmentation.

Where Most Therapists Go Wrong

To stimulate collagen production, you must target fibroblasts—the cells responsible for producing new collagen and elastin. Most therapists don’t realise that 70% of fibroblasts are in the Papillary Dermis, not the Reticular Dermis.

The Papillary Dermis, the upper layer of the dermis, contains the highest concentration of fibroblasts, meaning this is where the strongest collagen response occurs. If your needling is causing readily visible petechiae or excessive pinpoint bleeding, you’re working too deep, stimulating the Reticular Dermis instead. While fibroblasts exist throughout the dermis, collagen production slows in the deeper layers, meaning you won’t get the same level of collagen stimulation.

The Exception to The Rule

The Reticular Dermis is the only place visible petechiae or pooling should be expected, but only when treating scar tissue or excess capillaries. If you’re working on concerns like pigmentation, collagen stimulation, or general skin rejuvenation, deeper is not better. Every needle depth must be intentional and aligned with the desired outcome.

Precision Over Protocols

Getting the right endpoint is not about following a preset depth or generic protocol. It’s about knowing what you’re treating, which layers and cells you need to stimulate and how to adjust your technique in real-time. This level of precision is what separates Skin Needling experts from those simply performing treatments.

Is It Time to Reconsider Your Approach?

If your needling depth isn’t intentional, your results won’t be either. Understanding how skin layers, cellular responses, and growth factors work together will transform your treatment outcomes.

This is exactly what I teach at Skin Education International because when you understand why you’re doing something, not just how, you gain the confidence to treat every skin with absolute precision.

Enrol today at www.skineducationinternational.com @skin_education_international_