Microchanneling 101: The “Fountain of Youth” Treatment That Works With Your Skin
What if one of the best ways to make our skin behave younger isn’t to add more products to the surface—but to remind our skin how to repair itself?
That is the concept behind collagen induction therapy, including microneedling and microchanneling.
These treatments create thousands of controlled microscopic channels in the skin, triggering a natural wound-healing response. That response activates cellular communication, growth factors and fibroblasts—the cells responsible for producing collagen and other components of the skin’s supportive matrix.
Instead of simply creating a temporary glow, we’re asking the skin to repair, rebuild and remodel itself.
That is why I sometimes refer to microchanneling as one of my favorite “fountain of youth” treatments.
What Happens When We Microchannel the Skin?
Our skin is incredibly intelligent.
When it detects an injury, even a microscopic and carefully controlled one, it immediately begins communicating that repair is needed. Chemical messengers and growth factors become involved in the healing process, fibroblasts are activated, and collagen remodeling follows.
As we age, many of these processes become less efficient. Collagen production declines, cellular communication changes and years of environmental exposure begin showing up as fine lines, laxity, uneven texture and other visible signs of aging.
Microchanneling essentially gives the skin a carefully controlled reason to turn some of those repair mechanisms back on.
And that is an important distinction:
The goal isn’t simply to injure the skin. The goal is to create the right biological signal for regeneration.
Microneedling vs. ProCell Microchanneling: What’s the Difference?
Microneedling and microchanneling are closely related forms of collagen induction therapy. Both create controlled microscopic channels in the skin to initiate a repair response.
Where they can differ is how those channels are created.
The system I use at GloWild is ProCell Microchanneling.
ProCell is a motorized device that rapidly moves extremely fine microfilaments vertically in and out of the skin. But unlike the gliding technique commonly used with many traditional motorized microneedling pens, the ProCell treatment protocol uses a linear stamping technique.
The device is stamped, lifted and repositioned across the treatment area while the motor rapidly moves the microfilaments in and out of the skin.
Why does that matter?
When a traditional microneedling pen is glided across the skin while its needles are simultaneously moving in and out, penetration and lateral movement can occur at the same time. Dr. Mitchell Schwartz has described this as producing elongated or “cat-scratch”-like injuries rather than purely vertical channels.
With ProCell’s stamping technique, the goal is different: create controlled, uniformly distributed channels while minimizing unnecessary lateral trauma to the surrounding tissue.
ProCell itself describes microchanneling as a linear stamping method designed to create uniformly distributed channels without the dragging associated with conventional gliding techniques. (Procell Therapies)
An important clarification: stamping is not exclusive to ProCell, and not every device marketed as “microchanneling” necessarily operates exactly like ProCell. Other needling devices and techniques may use stamping as well.
When I talk about microchanneling in this article, I’m specifically referring to the ProCell system and the ProCell treatment protocol that I use in my practice.
The Story Behind ProCell
One of the things I find especially interesting about ProCell is the philosophy behind its development.
Dr. Mitchell Schwartz, a dermatologist and founder of ProCell, became interested in finding a more controlled approach to collagen induction.
While evaluating traditional microneedling techniques, he observed that gliding a needling device across the skin while the needles were rapidly entering and exiting could create elongated injuries—a pattern he has compared to “cat scratches.”
Instead of assuming that more tissue injury meant better results, he questioned whether that additional trauma was actually necessary.
That thinking helped shape the ProCell approach: a motorized device combined with a vertical stamping technique designed to create precise, controlled microchannels rather than dragging needles laterally through the skin.
In his own published commentary, Dr. Schwartz has specifically contrasted the elongated scratches he observed with gliding microneedling techniques against the vertical insertions produced by the ProCell stamping technique. ProCell’s intellectual property also describes its microchanneling device as providing reciprocal in-and-out motion to its needling assemblies.
I think the philosophy behind that evolution is incredibly important:
We don’t necessarily need to create more trauma. We need to create the right stimulus.
Creating the Channels Is Only Half of the Story
One of my other favorite aspects of the ProCell system is what happens immediately after those channels are created.
The freshly created microchannels temporarily increase access through the skin’s protective outer barrier. ProCell’s professional treatment system pairs microchanneling with specialized serums containing cellular signaling proteins, including growth factors and cytokines.
These signaling molecules play important roles in cellular communication and wound healing. ProCell specifically designed its microchanneling device and professional serums to be used together as a system. (Procell Therapies)
Depending on the professional ProCell formulation being used, the treatment system may also incorporate additional skin-supportive ingredients, including DNA-repair enzymes.
So we’re doing two things:
First, we create the signal for repair.
Then, we support the environment in which that repair takes place.
That combination is one of the major reasons I chose ProCell for GloWild.
But Is Deeper Better?
This is where the conversation gets really interesting.
For years, there has been a tendency in aesthetics to associate a more aggressive treatment with a more effective treatment.
More redness.
More bleeding.
More peeling.
More downtime.
Surely that means we’re doing more…right?
Not necessarily.
Needling depth remains one of the more debated topics within professional microneedling and skin-rejuvenation circles.
Deeper needling absolutely has legitimate applications, particularly for certain types of scars and specific medical indications. But when we’re talking about general skin rejuvenation and collagen induction, there is an increasingly important question:
How deep do we actually need to go to initiate the response we’re looking for?
One of the people who has had a major influence on that conversation is Dr. Lance Setterfield.
The Doctor Who Literally Wrote the Book on Dermal Needling
Dr. Lance Setterfield is considered an influential educator in the field of dermal needling.
He was one of the earlier physicians in Canada to incorporate medical needling into his practice, beginning in 2005. His particular area of interest became cell-to-cell communication and the effects of needling on both the epidermis and dermis.
And he quite literally wrote the book on the subject.
His The Concise Guide to Dermal Needling, originally published in 2010 and subsequently expanded into additional medical editions, explores needling science, treatment depths, product selection, treatment intervals, patient variables and protocols.
One of the ideas Setterfield became particularly known for was challenging the assumption that deeper automatically means better.
The 0.5 mm Question
This is where Setterfield’s work gets especially interesting.
Setterfield has advocated a more conservative approach to needle depth for many rejuvenation treatments, with approximately 0.5 mm often discussed as sufficient to stimulate the dermal-epidermal region involved in regenerative signaling and collagen induction.
Why is that significant?
Because historically, collagen-induction treatments were often performed considerably deeper under the assumption that greater injury would create a greater collagen response.
Setterfield challenged that thinking.
His approach focuses heavily on cell-to-cell communication at and around the dermal-epidermal junction and on achieving the desired regenerative response without creating unnecessary inflammation or trauma. His educational materials emphasize selecting needle length according to the condition being treated rather than simply choosing the deepest setting a patient can tolerate.
This doesn’t mean 0.5 mm is the correct depth for every person or every condition.
That distinction is important.
Skin thickness varies depending on the area being treated. Treating general photoaging is also very different from treating deep acne scarring or other specific concerns. Appropriate depth should always depend on the treatment goal, the tissue being treated and the individual.
Setterfield’s work should therefore be understood as an influential clinical philosophy within the needling community—not proof that deeper needling never has a place.
But it raises a very important question:
If we can initiate the regenerative response with less trauma, why would we automatically choose more?
More Inflammation Does Not Automatically Mean More Collagen
Some inflammation is necessary.
We are intentionally creating a controlled wound-healing response, after all.
But inflammation isn’t an all-or-nothing process, and more visible inflammation does not automatically equal a better biological result.
Redness, pinpoint bleeding and downtime are signs of tissue response. They aren’t a scoreboard telling us how much collagen we’re going to make.
This is one of the concepts that has changed the way many practitioners think about collagen induction.
Instead of asking:
“How aggressive can we make this treatment?”
I think a much better question is:
“How much controlled stimulation does this skin actually need?”
And that philosophy aligns beautifully with why I chose ProCell.
The Glow Is the Bonus. Remodeling Is the Goal.
One of the things I always want people to understand about regenerative treatments is that the best result isn’t necessarily what you see tomorrow.
Yes, skin can look beautiful after microchanneling.
But collagen remodeling takes time.
The biological processes we’re initiating continue long after you leave the treatment room. That’s why a series of appropriately spaced treatments can create progressive improvements in the appearance of fine lines, texture, firmness and overall skin quality.
We’re not simply trying to make the surface of the skin look better for a few days.
We’re trying to improve how the skin functions and repairs itself over time.
Why I Chose ProCell for GloWild
The more I learn about regenerative aesthetics, the more strongly I believe that effective skincare doesn’t have to mean unnecessarily aggressive skincare.
That is one of the reasons ProCell fits so naturally into my treatment philosophy.
I love the combination of a motorized device, extremely fine microfilaments, controlled treatment depths, a precise stamping technique and professional cellular-signaling serums.
Rather than chasing trauma, we’re chasing a biological response.
Create the signal.
Support the repair.
Respect the skin.
Maybe the fountain of youth isn’t about forcing our skin to look younger.
Maybe it’s about giving our skin the right signals—and allowing its own incredible repair mechanisms to do what they were designed to do.
Lanae Dostal
GloWild Regenerative Skin Studio
Sources & Further Reading
Lance Setterfield, MD — Dermal Needling
Setterfield’s professional biography, educational resources and The Concise Guide to Dermal Needling. Dr. Setterfield began incorporating medical needling into his practice in 2005 and has focused extensively on cell-to-cell communication and the effects of dermal needling on the epidermis and dermis. (Dermal Needling)
Setterfield, Lance. The Concise Guide to Dermal Needling.
Originally published in 2010 and subsequently expanded into medical editions addressing needling science, treatment depth, protocols and safety. (Open Library)
ProCell Therapies — Professional FAQs and Treatment Information
Manufacturer information regarding ProCell’s linear stamping technique, microchanneling protocol and professional growth-factor/cytokine serums. (Procell Therapies)
Schwartz, Mitchell, MD — Commentary on Microneedling Technique
Dr. Schwartz discusses gliding microneedling, elongated skin injuries and ProCell’s vertical stamping approach. (RealSelf.com)
ProCell Therapies LLC — Micro-Needling System Patent
Patent documentation identifies Mitchell Edward Schwartz among the inventors and describes a microchanneling device providing reciprocal in-and-out motion to the needling assembly. (Google Patents)
