You know the light that finds every dip across your cheeks. SkinPen microneedling asks your skin to rebuild those hollows from underneath, softening acne scars over a course of gentle sessions.
The dentist’s chair tips back and the lamp swings over your face. For twenty minutes the only view is the mirrored ceiling tile and the shallow dips across your cheeks that concealer sinks into by lunchtime. SkinPen microneedling at Cannelle Skin Clinic in Summertown, Oxford is made for exactly that kind of light, because it asks your skin to rebuild those hollows from underneath.
| Performed by | Appointment | Course | Result lasts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our clinicians, with the SkinPen device | 30 to 75 minutes | Three to six sessions, a few weeks apart | Several months |
Most searches for microneedling acne scars begin after a moment like that, late at night, after years of concealer and careful angles. The surprise is how gentle the answer is. Nothing is burned or peeled away. Thousands of fine channels remind the skin how to make collagen again, and the surface slowly rises to meet the light.
Autumn is when this conversation tends to start. Summer’s colour has faded and the sun sits lower in the sky. That low, raking light picks out the edge of every scar in a way July never did. A course begun now settles through the winter, so the skin you carry into spring looks smoother and calmer.
Most acne scars are a change in shape rather than colour. The NHS describes how acne can leave scars such as shallow holes in your skin, the ice-pick and boxcar shapes. They sit just below the surrounding surface. Light skims across the cheek and drops into each hollow, and a shadow appears where there is no pigment at all.
That is why make-up so often makes a scarred cheek look busier rather than smoother. Foundation fills each dip unevenly, gathers at the rim and quietly outlines it. Someone who has spent a decade perfecting their base knows the pattern well. The more product goes on, the more texture shows by mid afternoon.
Rolling scars are the soft undulations that make skin look gently uneven along the jaw and cheek. They respond well to collagen work, and so do the shallower boxcar scars. Ice-pick scars are narrower and deeper. For those, a plan can widen to include a stronger treatment alongside the needling, which comes a little further on.
The SkinPen glides across the skin and creates thousands of tiny, controlled channels. Their depth is chosen for your scarring. Your skin reads each one as something to mend, and the repair that follows lays down fresh collagen and elastin. Inside a scar, that new collagen gradually lifts the floor of each hollow towards the skin around it.
The elegant part is that the same treatment loosens old scar tissue. A scar sits low partly because firm, settled tissue holds it down. Fine needles break that tissue up and new collagen fills the space. The cheek begins to sit level again, so light travels across it instead of falling into it.
The research is encouraging. One network meta-analysis of randomised trials found that microneedling combined with a chemical peel gave the strongest improvement of the acne scar treatments it compared. Redness was similar across all of them. A 2026 review found microneedling more likely than peels to bring some improvement in atrophic acne scars.
The cheek begins to sit level again, so light travels across it instead of falling into it.
Because the needles are mechanical rather than light-based, SkinPen microneedling suits every skin tone. That matters in a city as varied as Oxford. Someone with deeper skin who was once warned off a heat-based laser can begin a scar course here. The needle depth is matched to their skin from the very first pass, as the SkinPen microneedling page describes.
Scarring is seldom one shape across a whole face. The cheek near the ear may need different help from the temple. Microneedling is the gentle foundation of many scar plans at Cannelle, and two other treatments in the same building can deepen the result wherever a particular scar asks for more.
Morpheus8. This adds radiofrequency warmth to the needles, so the energy reaches deeper and firms as it rebuilds. It suits scars that sit alongside softening skin around the jaw. Our article on how microneedling and Morpheus8 differ sets out the comparison. The Morpheus8 treatment page has the detail.
UltraClear Laser Coring. This cold fibre laser lifts out micro-columns of tissue for established, deep acne scarring. Dr Mattia Parducci (GMC 7635663), our Lead Aesthetic Doctor, performs it himself. Healing takes longer than after needling, and our piece on Laser Coring for acne scars walks through that fortnight.
Many people begin with microneedling and see where a course takes them. A few ice-pick scars near the temple may still hold shadow at the end. A stronger treatment can then follow in the same room. If another route would suit your skin better from the start, you hear that early, with the reasons.
The first change is quieter than people expect. For a day or two the skin looks pink, much like mild sunburn, and then it settles. Within a week or two it looks fresher, the way skin does after a long sleep. Make-up begins to sit on the cheek rather than in it.
The scars themselves change more slowly, because collagen takes its time. A course of three to six sessions, spaced a few weeks apart, builds the clearest result. Each session adds to the one before. The smoothing gathers as the course goes on rather than arriving on a single morning.
Someone who started in October might notice something by midwinter. The light in the lift has stopped finding the dips quite so readily. The hollows look shallower, the surface reads as smoother from a conversational distance, and foundation blends where it once outlined. The fuller change keeps developing for months after the last session.
The clinic puts the life of a course’s smoothness and glow at three to six months. Occasional maintenance sessions keep the skin looking that way. Our page on acne scarring sets out every scar treatment the clinic uses, from needling to laser, in one place.
Your first appointment begins with your scars and how they behave in different light. One of the senior therapists looks closely at their shape and depth, and the plan grows from there. For a few days before each session you pause retinol and strong exfoliants. You also keep out of direct sun, so the skin arrives calm.
On the day, numbing cream goes on around thirty minutes before the SkinPen. Most people find the treatment very comfortable, with a light scratching feel. A session takes thirty to seventy-five minutes depending on the area. You are back at work the next day with gentle skincare and sun protection.
Microneedling at Cannelle is carried out by our trained senior therapists. They work under the medical oversight of Dr Mattia Parducci, who sets the clinical standard for every skin treatment in the clinic. The team talks you through aftercare before you leave and stays on hand for questions while your skin renews.
A full-face session is from £260, and a course of three is from £665. Face and neck starts from £340, and every option is set out on the microneedling treatment page. Scarring often calls for the upper end of that three to six range, and your consultation gives the real number for you.
People come to Summertown for scar work from all over Oxfordshire, from Headington and Botley to Witney and Woodstock. A course of several visits needs a clinic close enough to keep returning to. If that ceiling light has been setting the tone of your mornings, get in touch and see what a course could change.
Book a first appointment at our Summertown clinic and leave with a scar plan built around your skin, under the medical oversight of Dr Mattia Parducci. Call 01865 537885 or message us on WhatsApp, whichever is easier.
These are the questions people bring when they are weighing up needles for scarring. If yours is missing, the team in Summertown is happy to answer it when you come in.
Yes. Scars that have sat on the skin for a decade can still soften, because the treatment works on the collagen beneath them rather than on how recently they formed. Rolling scars and shallow boxcar scars tend to respond most readily. Deeper ice-pick scars are often paired with Morpheus8 or Laser Coring, and the plan is set once your scars have been looked at closely in good light.
SkinPen is a medical-grade device with precise, adjustable depth and sterile single-use tips, so each part of the face is treated at the depth it needs. A cheek scar and a forehead line ask for different settings. A home roller offers neither that control nor the clinical setting, which is why the clinic uses SkinPen for every microneedling session it performs.
It is. Because microneedling works mechanically rather than with light or heat, it suits all skin tones, and that makes it a natural first step for deeper skin with scarring. The needle depth is still matched to your skin and to each scar, and the team keeps a close eye on how your skin settles between sessions.
Most people have a course of three to six sessions, spaced a few weeks apart, because new collagen builds gradually. Acne scarring often sits at the upper end of that range for the clearest change. Smoother texture usually shows first, with the scars themselves softening across the course and for months afterwards. Your own number is settled at your first appointment.
Both build collagen with fine needles, and Morpheus8 adds radiofrequency warmth that reaches deeper and firms as it works. Microneedling is a lovely starting point for rolling and shallow scars with very little downtime. Morpheus8 suits scars that sit alongside looser skin around the jaw. Many plans begin with one and add the other where a scar asks for it.
Numbing cream goes on around thirty minutes before the SkinPen, and most people describe a light scratching sensation rather than pain. Scarred areas feel much the same as the rest of the cheek. The session runs for thirty to seventy-five minutes depending on the area, and the therapist checks your comfort as they work across each part of the face.
Skin often looks fresher within a week or two of the first session, with a brighter, smoother surface that make-up sits on more easily. The scars themselves take longer, because they depend on new collagen forming beneath them. That change gathers across the course and keeps developing for months after the final session, so it is worth judging the result well after you finish.
Yes, and many people add them for scarring. Exosomes are applied during the session, and the open channels let them absorb deeply to support healing and build on the result. A full-face session with exosomes is from £460, or £1,175 for a course of three. The microneedling page lists every area and price.
Our clinic is located in Summertown, Oxford, just north of the city centre in one of Oxford’s most sought-after neighbourhoods. Discreet and easy to reach, we offer a premium setting for bespoke skin, aesthetic and wellness care.
We welcome patients from across Oxford city and Oxfordshire, including Summertown, Headington, Kidlington, Abingdon, Bicester, Witney and the surrounding towns and villages. Whether you’re coming for routine skin-health treatments or specialist aesthetic consultations, our location is well connected and simple to access.
Our clinic, Cannelle Skin Clinic, is just minutes from Oxford city centre and easily reached by car, bus or rail. Oxford’s mainline stations Oxford Station and Oxford Parkway are a short taxi or bus ride away, and regular services link to London, Reading, Didcot, Banbury and beyond.
By car, we’re conveniently accessed via key local routes with nearby parking options; by public transport, frequent bus routes along Banbury Road drop you within a short stroll of the clinic.
Whether you’re travelling from within Oxfordshire, further afield in the UK or internationally, our clinic offers a calm, personalised and professional environment for your visit.
