RF Microneedling vs. Chemical Peels - Get the diagnosis right! (Ep. 66)

Dr. Jason Hall 0:20

Welcome to the Trillium show where each week we discuss different tips to help you improve your mind your body in your life. I'm your host board certified plastic surgeon and medical director of Trillium plastic surgery and Trillium aesthetics Dr. Jason Hall. The other day, I overheard two women talking about surgery. One was really wanting to get her gallbladder removed. The other commented that she'd heard that gallbladder removed was a great surgery. But it had a friend who had had both a heart bypass and her gallbladder removed, obviously at different times, and that she really thought she felt a whole lot better after her heart surgery than she did after her gallbladder operation. She thought the heart surgery was a much better choice than having a gallbladder removed. So it brings up the question, which is the better treatment having your gallbladder removed, or having a heart bypass? If you're sitting here thinking, well, it kind of depends on what's wrong. You're absolutely right. If you have cholecystitis, or any number of gallbladder problems, removing your gallbladder addresses your issue, where a heart bypass not only won't fix your problem, but puts you at the risk of a whole host of complications that you otherwise would not have been exposed to. In the same vein, if you're having a heart attack, getting your gallbladder out, won't do a thing to fix your problem. Now, the second related story from the operating room, and this one really happened. And this happens every day, both in real life and online, you may have even had this kind of discussion yourself with friends over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee. I was doing a case of local children's hospital the other day, and in between cases, some of the nurses were discussing cosmetic treatments, which happens a lot when there's a plastic surgeon working around it. The nurses were discussing micro needling and we're talking about going to get treatments. One said it was great, the other had heard it didn't work. And she'd heard that a chemical peel was a lot better treatment. At this point, I just couldn't help myself. I knew all the nurses in question. So I had to jump in the conversation and offer my two cents. And so they asked me, which was better micro needling or chemical peel. And what I told him is like you're comparing trying to compare apples and oranges. I couldn't really answer the question without getting a whole lot more detailed. What were the goals? What were they looking to accomplish? What did their skin behind their mask look like that they wanted improved. And after we kind of went through this whole exercise, it dawned on me that this is the way that most people look at skincare and aesthetic treatments. Everything they know is based on hearsay and whatever kind of garbage you pick up on the internet. Hopefully this isn't that kind of garbage that you pick up on the internet. Acidic skin treatments are not viewed by most people as medical procedures, which they absolutely are. What that means is that like every other medical treatment, you have to have the right diagnosis before you can hope to pick a treatment that works to accomplish your goals are a little story at the beginning about choosing between a gallbladder operation and a heart bypass a great example. It depends on the diagnosis. The difference for you the patient, between aesthetic and non aesthetic medicine is that in non aesthetic medicine, if you get the diagnosis wrong, you get the treatment wrong. You can have complications and will end up either severely injured or dead is a physician in non aesthetic medicine or physician extender, Pa nurse, nurse practitioner, whatever. If you get a diagnosis and treatment wrong in that world, you end up with a malpractice lawsuit in esthetics on the other hand, if the diagnosis and the treatment recommendations are incorrect, you as the patient end up spending a bunch of money on treatments that don't work and grumbled to your friends and whoever treated you your treatment didn't do anything. And it was a big waste of money and everybody's unhappy. On the flip side of that on the doctor, nurse PA, whatever side, we end up, if we get the diagnosis wrong and get the treatment wrong, we end up with unhappy patients or somebody who goes around looking weird, because they got a treatment that didn't do what it was intended to do. Because the diagnosis was wrong in the first place. And it wasn't ever going to work to accomplish your goals. And if it did work, it was kind of a crapshoot as a 5050. And that's why it is vital that you whoever you See for cosmetic treatments, whether it's surgery or not surgery, you know, micro needling chemical peels, lasers injectables, that that person, get the diagnosis right? Before choosing a treatment, it is vital that you, as the patient, come in with an open mind, looking for a diagnosis and asking for a diagnosis of why things look the way they do. And then have an open mind to whatever treatment recommendations that whoever you're seeing, recommends that you may not be even be aware of that may be something that your friends hadn't used, hadn't thought of hadn't had done. aesthetic medicine, medicine, aesthetic medicine is not like Burger King, as much as we want to get you. As much as we want you to get it your way right away. Sometimes the treatment you're looking for isn't the right treatment for the issue that you'd like to see improved. So that kind of brings us back to the nurses in their little second story. Do chemical peels or laser peels work? Absolutely they do. Do RF microneedling or traditional micro needling work? They absolutely do. It all depends on what goal you're looking to accomplish. Chemical peels, chemical peels and laser peels are awesome at smoothing fine lines and wrinkles, improving pigment that's at the very surface of the skin. RF microneedling. And micro needling in general are good for improving skin texture, such as in large pores, acne scars, things like that, and doing mild skin tightening for crepey skin or sagging skin, especially even the neck and jawline. And just before we kind of get off on a tangent here, as a surgeon, I can tell you with 100% certainty that radiofrequency microneedling, or any energy treatment, laser, whatever it is, is not a substitute for a facelift, or necklift. You can watch my video up here about how our faces age, you can understand why that doesn't work and why skin tightening alone will never replicate a facelift. And anybody that tells you otherwise, is lying. They're trying to sell you something. Anyway, I digress. peels and microneedling do different things and can be used in combination to give you a very nice overall skin quality improvement and even a little bit of skin tightening. We just have to establish what the issue is first, and make sure the treatment that we choose is the right one for the problem that we've identified. So circling back around to wrap things up, when you are looking for any aesthetic treatment, it is important that you and whoever you're seeing, make sure number one, that you have a specific goal and you don't just say I want to look better, that's too broad, too general. And looking better means different things to different people. The second thing is that your goal is rooted in reality, meaning that what you are seeing is actually there and is achievable is something that we can hope to accomplish. You know, giving giving you skin that's smooth as a baby's but for most people isn't achievable. But we can make nice improvements. And then third, that the treatment that you're asking for will accomplish the goal that you want to treat. If it won't, then it is up to the person you are consulting with to go over that with you discuss why it won't work, and then recommend the appropriate treatment or treatments to get you where you want to be. So just remember, aesthetic medicine is still real medicine. And we have to get a diagnosis right before we can choose a treatment that is going to work to accomplish your goals. As always, thanks for listening. If you enjoy the show, please leave a review on Apple podcasts that helps other people find the show and it's how we get found. If you have an idea you'd like to see made into a show or have a question you want answered, send me an email media at Dr. Jason hall.com or drop me a DM on Instagram or x at Dr. Jason Hall. You can also on Instagram, leave a voicemail and be anonymously featured on the show by leaving a voicemail in the link in the bio. Thanks again and we'll see you on the next show.