Oh I do everything myself. Thought I’d covered it in another thread on skincare a while back.

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I could not find it @medaura. What is the RF microneedling device you are using?

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Whatever it was-I need some! You look fantastic!

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You’re too kind. My theory re: skin rejuvenation in particular is that it takes a controlled demolition of the status quo and good nutrition to rebuild it right. By the former I mean some sort of trauma, usually heat induced, or mechanical (RF and microneedling being great examples of each) and good nutrition / supplements to make sure it gets rebuilt right. I have historically put little stock in topicals as they don’t penetrate well and most cosmetic formulations are meant just to feel good, not as a transdermal drug delivery systems. I used to make my own cosmetics for private consumption which were based on patents and research papers on the latter. Think micro emulsions, nano emulsions, liposomes, but it was such a pain in the ass that I shifted focus on procedures instead. As @scta123 noted upthread, it takes time for this sort of thing to yield results. The first 3 times I did it there was zero difference after. The 4th time I could see something and the 5th I was really sure it was working.

I also use a Q Switched ND YAG laser for the lips as that’s an area not to be micro needled. It’s based on this study where the results look amazing:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14764172.2022.2120620

Scroll till you see the before and after photos. I’ve only done about 3 sessions so far and my results are modest but I’ll keep going and hope to see the same change as they do in the study after a few months. My results so far:

IMG_7630
IMG_9285

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Also the conditions under which I self administer the laser treatment are comical or borderline insane, as I have to literally blindfold myself with safety goggles and just use my sense of touch to feel where the laser is hitting my lips. In my old country we have an expression, the cognate of getting hoisted with one’s own petard, “don’t end up gouging your eyes out when you go plucking your eyebrows.” I need to take precautions to not LITERALLY end up doing that, burning my eyes while trying to improve my skin and soft tissues. After a while I got used to it though and now I can laser myself blindfolded like a pro :laughing:

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@medaura you mention your general list of equipment you’ve tried in this post: Biohacking Devotees Spending Hundreds of Thousands—Even Millions—to Enhance Their Homes (WSJ) - #13 by medaura

But not the specific brand/source of the RF microneedling device. Can you please share the name and cost?

It seems the professional ones are in the $30K to $70K price range used:

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Every single one of my devices is from AliExpress. The RF microneedling one costs $350-400 and the disposable treatment heads + tubes are around $5-7 per treatment. A single treatment at the dermatologist office costs almost the same as the machine around where I live. So the price is right for me. If you want me to find the actual product I can do that better in front of my computer tomorrow.

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Oh man, it makes me nearly physically sick to think people pay such prices. The market is really inefficient! It makes me want to start a business of curating great beauty equipment and selling it at a decent though not exorbitant markup + educational materials for the home use folks. But my heart is not into it.

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@medaura I would really appreciate if you could post the list of devices you use. I tried to search AliExpress, but there are so so many options and mostly prices are much higher than you mentioned. You seem to have done a lot of research on this.

Yes, I was doing the same. First stared buying branded topicals, but I thought it was just a rip off and started mixing my own preparations, but topicals get messy, when you put what in what order etc. I stopped all that and settled with tretinoin some 10+ years ago. It serves me very well. I would want to avoid typical starting procedures like fillers and botox, I have seen so many faces ruined. I really like your DYI approach to procedures and machines.

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In using the search string “mtor rebound”, I found the study below:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006291X19306667

Rebound pathway overactivation by cancer cells following discontinuation of PI3K or mTOR inhibition promotes cancer cell growth

Using the search string “fasting, refeed, skin ncbi” yields the following study.

The skin results are remarkable. As earlier commented, you look exceptionally good. But we need to hunt down the causative mechanism, so we can replicate your success.

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One sort of prosaic explanation for your vacation-associated dewrinkling might just be the shift from catabolic to anabolic: you ate more, got a little juicer, a little fatter, maybe upped your collagen production.

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That sounds very plausible however I lost 5lb.

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Please please please share the RF microneedling device you use. Is it painful? TY

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Hi I am interested in both your laser and RF equipment. Please let us know what you are using. Where are you located in the country? Thanks for all your great input!

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I find weekly Rapamycin not ideal. Every other week makes more sense (vs mice experiments). Rapa stays in your system for ~2 weeks anyways. So every other week is giving enough time for your body take a break.

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Don’t suppose your water intake increased drastically did it? @medaura
Curious how much impact more water, sunlight and and good old olive oil can have… (assuming all three of these increased during your trip)?

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$36,000 to $60,000 for one I think most here will pass. I prefer my at least four days a week of bike riding out in the country where the air is much fresher. Seems to work for me and much cheaper.

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What’s $35,000 - $60,000?

The used professional RF micro needling devices (on ebay).

Can you please point us towards the device you use?

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OK I’m finally sitting down at the laptop and looking through my order history. Something about AliExpress that seems quite messed up to me is that contrary to Amazon, where vendors optimize ONE page for hopefully the highest conversions and then would never want to lose the link as it gains SEO momentum, on Ali product links expire all the time while the same product can pop in from the same or different vendors under the same or different price but CERTAINLY different link and SKU. So some of the products I bought have “expired” and I had to hunt them down again at the best prices I could find:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmoogB5

That’s the RF microneeding device. It comes with a handful of disposable heads but they run at around $5 beyond that. Used every 4 weeks you see the marginal cost of consumables is almost nothing. There are more heavy duty, professional devices out there, for example google “Morpheus 8” treatment and you’ll see. That device costs more and it’s more powerful but also easier to get injured by. Someone dishing out hundreds of dollars per treatment at a med spa or the like would probably wan to get more bang for their buck but I am of the opinion that it’s better to do the gentler treatment every 4 weeks for a year straight and beyond, then do a handful of Morpheus 8 treatments and run out of $$ runway. Longer down time too. But still, the super powerful device only costs near $1700, and not $35,000!

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkJV7Hz

I’d order the above if I wanted the best of the best but I am satisfied with my simpler device.

As to my Q Switched ND Yag laser, the model I have is now outdated, so I can only find the latest version. Here you go:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dl0hSmT

It’s gentle and non ablative, with different heads for 1064nm, 537 nm and another one too. I don’t know if this is what Bryan Johnson is getting for his weekly laser sessions but if his skin team is smart, it should be. My only problem has been sticking to the weekly schedule. I find excuses to not do it as often but the results on my lips are encouraging so lately I’ve been more diligent (You can’t or rather shouldn’t micro needle lips).

I own and really like this device but I found a time limited special and paid less. This is the price now and 90% of the time:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dd4qFAB

I use it on non-fibroblast mode because I have kids to pick up from school and can’t handle looking like I got eccentric tattoos on my face even for a few days. If downtime weren’t a factor I’d totally use the fibroblast mode. I use the tightening tip and the permeability enhancer heads currently and they absolutely work. I’m getting even more improvement around my eyelids. But it’s slower going, can be used every 72 hours. If money was no object, or less of an object, I would buy this device as it’s the cream of the crop and even uses genuine cold plasma with no thermal effects:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dnsv8lv

I’ve used simple RF devices in the past with good results but mostly on the body. I also had some modest improvement on the face but to be frank I just couldn’t stick with the regular weekly use I was supposed to invest in it. None of this stuff works on you by collecting dust on the counter. Around Xmas I have my eye on this device:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDo4svt

Look up TECAR / Indiba on google scholar and you’ll see why I’m interested.

Well I’m actually torn between the above and this – it’s the best high intensity focused ultrasound machine I’ve seen in the market so far:

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkZIg4n

Got a lot more devices but these are the heavy hitters for skin that I use regularly or swear I would if I owned them :wink:

I also have a red + infrared light panel that my husband might love even more than I do – gets used daily.

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