Some things people bring to a med spa need a doctor rather than a treatment room. Some things people bring to a med spa are not aesthetic problems and need a doctor rather than a treatment room. See a physician or a dermatologist, not us, if you have a mole or a mark that has changed shape, colour or size, or that bleeds, itches or will not heal; a sore anywhere that has been there more than three weeks; a rash you cannot explain; a patch of skin that is newly numb, hard or ulcerated; sudden hair loss in patches, or hair loss alongside fatigue or weight change; or swelling, heat and spreading redness that could be an infection. And if you have had filler treatment anywhere and the area becomes white or mottled, severely painful, or your vision changes, that is an emergency — telephone us immediately if we treated you, and go to an emergency room if you cannot reach somebody within minutes. We would far rather you rang a doctor and never rang us at all.
Insulated needles pass into the skin to a chosen depth, and radiofrequency energy is released from their tips into the tissue there. Because the energy is delivered below the surface rather than through it, the outer layer is largely spared while the deeper layer receives a substantial thermal stimulus. The result is a stronger collagen response than needling alone, with a fraction of the surface disruption a laser would cause.
That combination is what makes it the most useful single treatment we have for anybody with richer skin who wants what ablative resurfacing offers. Radiofrequency is not absorbed by melanin, so the risk of the pigment change that limits laser resurfacing largely does not apply. Depth is adjustable, so the same device treats fine crêping on a neck and deep scarring on a cheek at different settings.
It is more demanding than plain microneedling. Expect three to five days of visible redness and swelling rather than two, a grid pattern of tiny marks that is visible up close for several days, and genuine discomfort during the treatment despite numbing. Three to four sessions six to eight weeks apart is a typical course, and the result — like everything that works by remodelling collagen — is judged at three months rather than at three weeks.
How it compares with the alternatives
Three treatments that overlap, and how we choose between them.
Against plain microneedling
Stronger, deeper, more effective on scarring and on laxity, and correspondingly more downtime and more cost. Plain microneedling is the right choice for general texture and for anybody who cannot spare the recovery; this is the right choice for meaningful scarring and for mild laxity.
Against laser resurfacing
Similar goals, different risk profile. Ablative laser gives the better result on sun damage and on surface texture; this gives a better result on laxity and on deeper scarring, and it is far safer on richer skin. Where somebody has been turned away from resurfacing because of their skin tone, this is usually what we recommend instead.
Against radiofrequency alone
Surface radiofrequency tightening is comfortable, has no downtime and produces a modest result. This puts the same energy where it actually acts, at depth, and the difference in result is substantial. The difference in downtime is the price of that.
What none of them does
None lifts a face, removes a jowl or replaces lost volume. Every treatment on this page changes the quality and thickness of skin. Where structure has changed, the honest answer is different treatment or a surgeon, and we will say so.
The session and the week after
More demanding than plain microneedling, and worth planning around.
The session
Numbing for sixty minutes, then thirty to forty-five minutes of treatment. It is uncomfortable — a deep heat with each pass, sharper over bone. Most people find it the most uncomfortable non-surgical treatment here and manageable in the moment.
Days one to three
Red, hot and swollen, with visible swelling around the eyes on the first morning that catches people out. A fine grid pattern of tiny marks is visible up close. Sleep propped up on the first night.
Days four to seven
Redness fading to pink, the grid pattern resolving, skin dry and tight and flaking a little. Makeup from day three or four. Most people are comfortable in public from about day four.
Three to four sessions
Six to eight weeks apart, assessed before each, paid as you go. The full result is judged three months after the final session, which is a long horizon and an honest one.
Risks and reasons we decline
The microneedling risks, plus the ones that come with heat.
Burns and pitting
The risk that heat adds. Uncommon with correct depth and energy, and the reason settings are chosen conservatively and increased across a course rather than started high.
Prolonged swelling
Particularly around the eyes and in the first two mornings. Normal, and worth knowing about before you book something on the day after.
Pigment change
Much lower risk than with light-based treatment, and not zero. Sun protection for the following weeks is part of the treatment.
We will not treat
Over an implanted electrical device such as a pacemaker; over metal in the treatment area; anybody pregnant; anybody who has taken certain oral acne medication within six months; over active infection or inflamed acne; and anybody whose diary cannot accommodate five days of looking treated.
RF Microneedling in western Queens
Microneedling with heat delivered from the tips of the needles, so the repair response happens at depth as well as at the surface. Stronger than microneedling, gentler on pigment than a laser.
Every treatment here starts the same way: a full hour at a table in a room with no treatment couch in it, a proper medical history, your skin looked at in daylight, and then a plain statement of what we think would achieve what you described. You are told what it costs, how many sessions it usually takes, how long it lasts, what the recovery looks like and what can go wrong — on paper, to take home and read somewhere other than a treatment room. If the honest answer is a different treatment, or nothing, or a dermatologist, that is what you get instead, and it costs exactly the same.
Aesthetic treatment is elective medicine, and this page is not medical advice for you. Aesthetic treatment is elective, it is medicine wherever it breaks the skin, and nothing on this website is medical advice for you in particular. We do not diagnose disease. Every treatment here begins with a consultation and a medical history, because your health, your medication, your skin type and what you have had done before all change what is safe and what is sensible. Some people are told no. Being told no is a normal outcome of a consultation here rather than a failure of one, and it costs exactly the same as being told yes.
No before-and-after photographs, and no promised outcome. There are no before-and-after photographs on this website and there never will be. Every set you have seen somewhere else was chosen from a much larger pile, and the second picture is usually taken in different light, at a different angle, at a different time of day, often with makeup and frequently after retouching. Even an entirely honest pair shows you what happened to somebody else's face. What we publish instead is what a treatment typically changes, by roughly how much, how long it lasts, how many sessions it usually takes and how often people are disappointed. We do not guarantee an outcome, we cannot, and anybody who does is either guessing or selling.
The risks, plainly. Every treatment on this site has side effects and some carry real risks. The common ones are minor and short-lived — redness, swelling, tenderness, bruising, a day or two of looking like you have had something done. The uncommon ones matter more: burns, blistering and long-lasting pigment change from light-based treatment, which is a greater risk on deeper skin tones and on recently tanned skin; infection anywhere the skin is broken; and lumps, asymmetry and, very rarely, a blocked blood vessel from injectable filler, which is the one true emergency in this field. We screen for what makes each of these more likely, we tell you your own risk rather than the average one, and we decline to treat when the answer should be no.
What a med spa does not treat. We treat the appearance of healthy skin, hair and body. We do not diagnose or treat disease. If you bring us a mole, a changing mark, an unexplained rash, a sore that will not heal, skin that has become hard or numb, psoriasis, eczema, an autoimmune skin condition, or hair loss that came on suddenly or in patches, what you will get is the name of a doctor rather than a treatment plan. Aesthetic treatment applied on top of an undiagnosed skin problem can mask it, delay the diagnosis and occasionally make it worse. We would rather lose the booking.
Questions
RF Microneedling — the questions we are asked most
How is this different from ordinary microneedling?
The needles are insulated and release radiofrequency energy from their tips, so heat is delivered at a set depth beneath the surface. That produces a considerably stronger collagen response and adds a tightening effect that plain needling does not have. It also costs more and takes three to five days of recovery rather than two.
Is it safe on dark skin?
Yes, and that is one of its principal advantages. Radiofrequency is not absorbed by melanin, so unlike laser resurfacing it carries no additional burn or pigment risk on richer skin tones. It is usually what we recommend to somebody who has been told they are not a candidate for ablative laser.
How much downtime is there?
Three to five days of visible redness and swelling, worst on the first two mornings, with a fine grid pattern visible up close for several days. Makeup from day three or four. Plan it for a quiet week, and not the week before something that matters.
Will it tighten my jawline?
It firms skin modestly and improves its quality, which can improve the look of an early jawline. It does not lift or reposition tissue and it will not remove a jowl. Where there is genuine sagging, the honest answer is a surgical opinion, and we will give it rather than sell four sessions.
How many sessions and how soon will I see something?
Three to four, six to eight weeks apart. There is a short-lived tightening in the first fortnight from immediate collagen contraction, and the real result accumulates across three to six months. Judging at week three is judging before it has happened.
Does it hurt more than microneedling?
Yes. Numbing is applied for a full hour and the treatment is still uncomfortable — a deep heat with every pass, sharper over bone. Most people describe it as the most uncomfortable non-surgical thing we do, and as entirely manageable.
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Book a consultation
Pick a clinician and an hour from the calendar — it shows only the times each of them genuinely has free. A consultation is a full hour at a table with no treatment couch in the room, and it costs $85, or $120 with the medical director. If you go ahead, that comes off your first treatment. If we tell you the answer is nothing, or a dermatologist, it costs exactly the same.