What skin care is safe after needling?

After a needling session, what goes on your skin is the decision you control. A reader in Dexter, Michigan can take it in the order the sources give it.

Start with what your dermatologist gives you

aad.org names the first product: "To soothe your skin in the meantime, your dermatologist may recommend applying a post-treatment aftercare cream." The source points to a cream recommended after treatment, not one picked from a shelf.

Then dryness

my.clevelandclinic.org covers the second case: "Some people also have dry, flaking skin that improves with moisturizer." That makes moisturizer the named answer when dryness and flaking appear.

Where this falls in the sequence

Aftercare cream comes first and moisturizer comes if dryness follows. Anything beyond those two is a question for the treating clinic, because the products it allows are its call.

What to gather

• The aftercare cream your dermatologist recommends
• A plain moisturizer for dry skin
• A list of the products you use now, to review with the clinic

The next step

Check the clinic's answers against the research. Three places to start are a retrospective study of fractional carbon dioxide laser against microneedling radio frequency, a meta-analysis of microneedling versus chemical peels for atrophic acne scars and a comprehensive review of microneedling in dermatology.