Many women see their anti-aging skin regimens as a “to do” list that spans decades. First it’s moisturizers. Serums, botox and fillers often become add-ons. The final step, and carefully considered decision, in the cycle is often plastic surgery. But some women are bypassing the surgical knife for less invasive metal devices – acupuncturists’ needles.

Martha Lucas, a licensed acupuncturist and owner and director of Colorado Center of Traditional Medicine, in Denver, and an expert in cosmetic acupuncture, has seen a significant increase in women over 45 seeking facial acupuncture. But, she says, she’s still surprised how under the radar these procedures are.

How Facial Acupuncture Works

Acupuncture is one of the branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a 4,000-year-old system that believes that the state of your health is determined by unobstructed flow of qi throughout the body’s meridians or energy channels. Through the use of needles, the acupuncturist manipulates the energy along a channel.

“All acupuncture points are little vortexes of qi, or energy, and they respond to stimulation,” says Lucas. “Needles are the deepest way to access that qi.”

But needles can work their magic on the face, too. Lucas treats wrinkles, crow’s feet, sagging eyelids, falling eyebrows, neck jowls, and those deep dreaded nasolabial folds that make their way from each side of the nose to the corner of the mouth.

Facial needling brings more qi and blood to the muscles, fascia and skin, and to areas in the face that are energy-deficient, explains Lucas. “It’s qi deficiency that’s implicated in sagging,” she says.

And, she adds, from the Western medical perspective, facial needling may create “micro traumas,” which get healed through the body’s transporting collagen and elastin to the area.

Different Treatment Systems

Most cosmetic-acupuncture systems have been developed relatively recently, generally by acupuncturists who built facial-acupuncture practices. Lucas and a former colleague created the TCM-based Mei Zen (“beautiful person”) system – it involves needling about 15 points on the face, along with several other channel points – which she teaches around the world to physicians and other acupuncturists. 

To determine if a prospective patient would make a good candidate for the procedure, Lucas requires an initial full-body treatment to determine levels of qi. A person’s qi may be too weak, she explains, which would either not allow the needling to take, or support the results. 

Each facial acupuncture procedure runs five weeks – 10 sessions, twice a week. The package – in addition to treatments for the face, she also offers them for the neck and abdomen – costs about $1,000, excluding the first whole-body session, but prices may vary in different parts of the country.

Start Early

Lucas advises people to start facial acupuncture when they’re in their mid- to late thirties. This is when needles can help prop up the collagen and elastin structure. “It’s a lot easier to prevent wrinkles and waddles than trying to make them go away when you’re older,” she says. A person over sixty whose face is already showing some sagging may need more than 10 treatments.

The effects of her treatment typically last between three and five years, during which she recommends maintenance sessions. And, although some women see dramatic results with facial acupuncture, Lucas says most women tend to see more subtle effects. “I tell people this is not a surgical facelift.”

Lucas cautions consumers to ask acupuncturists who advertise acupuncture facelifts about their specialized training. And, she adds, be sure to ask to see their portfolios of “before” and “after” photos.

Coeli Carr is a health and fitness writer in New York City.