The best decisions we make for our practices come from research, understanding, and knowledge.
As providers, practitioners, business owners, brand owners, and educators, it is incredibly important to us that professionals feel empowered to make decisions for themselves and are equipped with the information they need to make choices that support both their clients and their businesses.
To us, that requires transparency.
The beauty industry is no stranger to evolving terminology. Treatments that have existed for years can suddenly reappear under a new name, with new language, new positioning, and a new set of claims surrounding them. Sometimes, there is meaningful innovation behind that language. Other times, the mechanism itself is much more familiar than the marketing might lead us to believe.
That is why understanding how a treatment actually works is so important.
And few conversations illustrate this better than microneedling versus microchanneling.
A Constant in an Industry of Trends
Microneedling, also known as collagen induction therapy, has been part of aesthetic and dermatologic practice for decades. While the devices, cartridges, protocols, and technology surrounding the treatment have continued to evolve, the fundamental principle is remarkably straightforward: fine needles create controlled microscopic injuries in the skin, initiating the body's natural wound-repair response.
It has remained relevant because the biological process it relies upon isn't a trend.
Our bodies already possess an extraordinary ability to repair tissue. Microneedling simply creates a controlled stimulus that initiates that process.
If you want to dive deeper into the healing cascade itself, we recommend reading our previous article, ‘BUILT TO HEAL: Microneedling and the Biology of Repair”, where we explore what happens following controlled injury and why that response is so important to collagen induction therapy.
For this conversation, however, there is one piece of the process that matters most: When we microneedle the skin, we create microchannels.
Do you see where we’re going with this?
What’s Really Happening During Microneedling?
Let's strip away the terminology for a moment.
During any microneedling treatment, a cartridge containing an array of fine needles repeatedly enters and withdraws from the skin. Each of those insertions creates a tiny, controlled microscopic puncture. Collectively, those punctures are commonly referred to as microchannels.
With a motorized microneedling pen, the needles themselves move rapidly up and down while the provider controls how the handpiece moves across the treatment area. This may seem like a small detail, but it is one of the most important distinctions to understand in this entire conversation because two completely different types of movement are often confused when microneedling and microchanneling are compared.
To give it to you plain and simple: needle movement describes what the needles are doing inside the device. Provider technique describes what the practitioner is doing with the device.
Depending on the device, protocol, area being treated, and goals of the treatment, a practitioner may glide the handpiece across the skin, work in a cross-hatch pattern, use circular movements, perform targeted stamping, or combine different techniques throughout the treatment.
If a practitioner chooses to stamp with a motorized microneedling pen, the needles are still rapidly moving up and down. The practitioner has simply changed how they are applying the handpiece to the skin.
In other words, oscillating and stamping are not necessarily two competing technologies. One can describe the movement happening inside the device while the other describes what the practitioner is doing with the device.
And regardless of which appropriate technique is being used, those fine needles are creating tiny, controlled punctures in the skin.
Microchannels.
If Microneedling Creates Microchannels, What Is Microchanneling?
This is the golden question that inspired this article.
Microchanneling is commonly used to describe needling systems designed around the creation of controlled microscopic channels, often using a more stamping-focused application technique.
There can absolutely be differences between these devices and traditional motorized microneedling pens. For example, the device may be engineered differently. Needle or filament configurations may differ. Available treatment depths may differ. Some systems may use cartridges manufactured at predetermined depths, while other devices allow depth to be adjusted directly from the handpiece. The intended movement of the device may differ as well.
Those are definitely real differences, and we are not here to pretend otherwise.
Where the conversation becomes more nuanced is when differences in device design or treatment technique begin to be described as an entirely different biological treatment.
With microneedling, fine needles enter and withdraw from the skin, creating controlled microscopic punctures, or microchannels, and initiating the skin's natural response to that controlled injury.
With a needling system marketed as microchanneling, fine needles or filaments enter and withdraw from the skin, creating controlled microscopic channels and initiating a response within the skin.
This does not mean every device performs identically, nor does it mean that engineering differences between them are unimportant. It simply means that a different way of delivering a familiar mechanism should not automatically be confused with an entirely new mechanism.
And that distinction is exactly why we need to talk about marketing.
A New Name Does Not Necessarily Mean a New Mechanism
This is not unique to microneedling. If you've worked in beauty for any length of time, you already know how quickly our language changes.
Beauty is an industry built around innovation, and with innovation comes marketing. Treatments that have existed for years suddenly reappear as something revolutionary. A familiar protocol receives a beautiful new name. An established technique is repackaged as “next generation,” and suddenly everyone wants to know how they can add it to their treatment menu.
From a marketing perspective, it's actually brilliant.
Sometimes the thing that needed updating wasn't the treatment. It was the way we were talking about it.
There is a lesson in that for every business owner reading this. Marketing matters. The words you use to describe your services matter. The way you educate clients about what makes a treatment special matters. There is absolutely room to get creative, rethink old language, and make an established treatment feel exciting and relevant to today's consumer.
Where we have to draw the line is between creative marketing and creating a distinction that the underlying mechanism cannot support.
There is nothing wrong with developing a new device, improving an existing technology, creating a different treatment protocol, or giving consumers a more compelling way to understand a service. Innovation in engineering is still innovation.
But as practitioners and business owners, we cannot allow words like revolutionary, evolved, advanced, and next generation to do our research for us.
When you hear those words, we encourage you to get curious.
What is actually new?
Is it the biological mechanism? Is it the device? Is it the cartridge? Is it the technique? Is it the protocol? Or is it simply a new way of talking about something we already understand?
You may find that there is genuine innovation behind the claim. You may also find that the biggest innovation is the marketing itself.
Knowing the difference is what allows you to make an informed decision.
Empowering Estheticians in the Treatment Room
This is where the conversation becomes much more personal for us.
Herbal Skin Solutions was developed by practicing licensed estheticians. We understand what it feels like to stand in the treatment room, assess the skin in front of you, and make educated decisions about how you want to approach that individual treatment.
We don't believe professional technology should be designed around the assumption that educated practitioners cannot be trusted to make those decisions. We believe the answer is better education.
That philosophy played a significant role in why versatility became so important to us with the CIT Pen.
The CIT Pen gives trained practitioners control over treatment depth directly from the device. Rather than the cartridge predetermining the depth of the treatment, the provider can adjust the depth on the handpiece according to the protocol, treatment area, intended outcome, and, of course, what is permitted within their individual scope of practice.
It also gives the provider flexibility in technique. You aren't limited to one universal movement for every face and every concern. Depending on your protocol, you may use traditional passes, cross-hatching, circular movements, targeted stamping, or a combination of techniques.
And with dedicated cartridges for microneedling and nano-infusion, one device gives professionals the ability to offer different treatment approaches without purchasing an entirely separate piece of equipment.
That is what empowerment in the treatment room looks like to us. It doesn't mean ignoring protocols, scope of practice, contraindications, or safety. It means giving educated practitioners a capable tool and then providing the education necessary to understand how to use it.
Because the more you understand your device, your client's skin, and the treatment you're performing, the more intentionally you can customize the experience in front of you.
Your Device Is Also a Business Investment
There is another side to this conversation that is incredibly important to us: overhead.
As business owners, we are always looking for ways to lower overhead without cutting corners or sacrificing safety, efficacy, education, or quality. And this is another place where understanding what you're actually being sold becomes incredibly important.
A device isn't only a treatment-room investment. It is an ongoing business expense.
The initial purchase price is only the beginning. What do your cartridges cost? How many different cartridges are you expected to keep in inventory? Are different depths tied to different disposable tips? Are proprietary products required? What needs to be replenished for every service? How many different treatments can the device perform?
Those numbers add up quickly.
For example, when treatment depth is determined by the disposable cartridge rather than the handpiece, offering multiple treatment depths may mean purchasing and stocking multiple depth-specific cartridges. If different needle configurations are also recommended for different protocols, your inventory grows again.
Compare that with a device where depth is controlled through the handpiece itself. The practitioner can use the compatible microneedling cartridge and adjust the device according to the treatment being performed rather than purchasing a separate cartridge simply because a different depth is needed.
That distinction may sound small when you're looking at a device brochure. When you're performing treatments week after week, it can have a very real impact on your cost per service.
This is another reason we chose to keep the CIT Pen system simple. Our 12-tip microneedling cartridges are $12 individually, and purchasing 100 brings the cost to $10.80 per cartridge through our bulk pricing. Depth is controlled through the device, so the practitioner isn't required to purchase separate cartridges simply to access the different depths available through the pen.
And because the same handpiece supports both microneedling and nano-infusion with their respective cartridges, your initial device investment can support more than one treatment offering.
That versatility matters not only clinically, but financially.
The lower your appropriate cost per treatment, the more room you have within your margins. The more services you can thoughtfully offer with one investment, the greater opportunity you have to build revenue from that technology.
This is why we encourage providers to look beyond the purchase price when comparing devices. Calculate the treatment, not just the machine.
What About Needle Count?
Needle count is another place where it can be tempting to assume that more options automatically mean more capability.
Microneedle arrays are influenced by a mechanical concept often referred to as the Fakir Effect. The easiest way to visualize it is the classic bed of nails. A person's weight placed over one nail would create tremendous pressure at that single point. Spread that same weight across hundreds of closely positioned nails and the force is distributed among them.
A similar principle can become relevant when considering microneedle arrays: as the number and density of contact points increase, the force available at each individual point can change. Needle count, spacing, geometry, sharpness, motor performance, and the resistance of the skin all play a role in actual penetration.
This is why we don't believe the conversation should simply be “more needles equals better.”
At Herbal Skin Solutions, we have intentionally standardized our microneedling protocols around an ultra-fine 12-tip cartridge. It gives our providers one microneedling cartridge configuration to understand, stock, and trust rather than building protocols around an ever-growing collection of unnecessary needle counts.
And that simplicity circles right back to both of the things we care about here: provider confidence and responsible overhead.
You don't need a drawer overflowing with cartridges to provide a customizable treatment. You need to understand the technology you're working with and know how to use the controls and techniques available to you.
Know What You're Buying
Ultimately, this conversation isn't about declaring microneedling “good” and microchanneling “bad.” It isn't about criticizing the technology another professional chooses to use, and it certainly isn't about suggesting that every needling device is identical.
It's about learning how to look beneath the language.
When you encounter a new device or treatment, understand what physically touches the skin and what it is doing once it gets there. Understand how the needles move, how the practitioner moves the handpiece, how treatment parameters are controlled, what consumables the system requires, and what biological response the treatment is intended to create.
Then look at the business behind it. Calculate your cost per treatment. Understand what you'll need to continually repurchase. Consider how much flexibility the device gives you and whether that flexibility makes sense for the clientele you actually serve.
Marketing will continue to evolve, and we hope technology continues to evolve right alongside it. There will be genuinely exciting innovations in our industry, and there will also be familiar ideas introduced to us through smarter, fresher language.
Our job is not to be cynical about either one, but rather to know enough to tell the difference.
When you understand what you're being sold, you're able to make a decision based on your education, your treatment philosophy, your clientele, and your business rather than the loudest claim on the market.
And that is exactly how we believe professional technology should be chosen.