Something felt weird about that Harley Street clinic. The door handle was sticky. Paint peeling off the walls. The receptionist looked bored out of her mind.

I’d already transferred £150, though. My skin was doing my head in. Seemed stupid to walk away. Wish I had.

Why I Booked This Nightmare

Instagram kept showing me these incredible transformation photos. Pitted acne scars are turning into baby-smooth skin. One treatment. Magic results.

My left cheek looked like the surface of the moon. Three years of fighting acne scars. Expensive creams that did absolutely nothing. Chemical peels that burned like hell. Those LED masks that make you look like a robot.

Microneedling seemed legit. Medical procedure. Proper science behind it. Reviews on Trustpilot were mostly good.

Famous last words.

My Face Before This Disaster

My left cheek was covered in shallow dents from teenage spots. Not horrific. Just annoying enough to ruin my confidence. Makeup never sat right over them. Certain lights made everything look ten times worse.

These marks had been following me around since sixth form. Eight years of feeling self-conscious. Fed up of wearing foundation every single day.

Morning photos show typical scarred skin. Red bits. Bumpy texture. Standard acne aftermath that millions of people deal with. I had no clue what was coming.

The “Treatment” That Wrecked My Face

The girl doing the treatment looked fresh out of college. Probably learned microneedling from YouTube videos. She rattled through the process like she was reading from a script.

“We’ll go 1.5 mm deep,” she said, loading up some scary-looking device. “A bit uncomfortable, but nothing major.”

Uncomfortable? Felt like someone was stabbing my face with tiny knives. The numbing cream might as well have been moisturiser. I was gripping that treatment bed like my life depended on it.

Fifteen minutes of absolute agony. My face looked like mincemeat when she finished. Blood dots everywhere. Swollen beyond belief.

“Perfect!” she said, way too cheerfully. “Results in three weeks!”

Handed me this pathetic little tube of cream. The size of a lip balm. That was supposed to heal my entire face.

Should’ve demanded my money back right there.

Day One: Warning Signs I Ignored

Woke up looking like I’d been hit by a truck. Face twice its normal size. Bright red. Throbbing constantly.

Everyone online said this was totally normal. “It gets worse before it gets better!” they all chanted. “Trust the process!”

So I trusted. Like an idiot.

Days Two and Three: Reality Hits

Swelling hadn’t gone down by day two. Little bumps started appearing across my cheeks. Not healing bumps. Angry, infected-looking lumps.

Day three brought proper panic. My face was burning nonstop. That tiny cream tube was already empty. Tried calling the clinic. Straight to voicemail. Every. Single. Time.

Started googling “microneedling gone wrong.” Big mistake. Horror stories everywhere.

When Everything Went Properly Wrong

The first week was absolute hell. The inflammation was getting worse daily. Those bumps multiplied like some kind of skin disease.

This wasn’t normal healing. I’d researched microneedling for months before booking. Expected redness. Maybe some peeling. Not this war zone on my face.

The scarring was spreading. New marks appear every day. My skin felt like sandpaper. Areas that were smooth before treatment were now completely ruined.

Friends stopped asking how I was. Just stared in horror. My mum nearly cried when she saw me. “What have they done to you?” she kept saying.

Microneedling damaged my skin beyond anything I could have imagined.

Also Read: Mounjaro Side Effects

Emergency Dermatologist Visit

Three weeks in, I was desperate. Booked with Dr. Williams in Knightsbridge. Private appointment cost me £300. More than twice what I’d paid for the original disaster.

She took one look at my face and went quiet. Not a good sign.

“Who did this?” she asked, getting her magnifying light out. Her expression said everything.

Diagnosis was brutal. Infected puncture wounds everywhere. Scarring from needles that went way too deep. Skin barrier completely destroyed by rubbish aftercare.

“Whoever treated you had no business touching skin,” she said. “This is going to take months to sort out.”

Months. Felt like a death sentence.

The Expensive Recovery Process

Dr. Williams put me on antibiotics immediately. Strong ones. Prescribed proper moisturisers that cost more than my weekly shopping. Banned me from the sun completely.

“Nothing active on your skin for six weeks minimum,” she warned. “It’s too damaged for anything harsh.”

Antibiotics helped with the infection bit. But the scarring stayed. Worse than my original acne marks. My left cheek now looked like a relief map.

Four months later, still dealing with the fallout. Some inflammation has calmed down. But I’ve got new scars. Deeper ones. Thanks to that fifteen-minute nightmare.

What Actually Went Wrong

Looking back, red flags were everywhere. Bargain basement price at some dodgy clinic. Girl with zero proper training. Aftercare that was basically non-existent.

1.5 mm needles are serious business. Hospital-grade equipment. Should only be used by actual doctors or qualified surgeons.

The aftercare was a joke. One tiny tube of basic cream. No instructions about cleaning. No follow-up booked. Nothing.

They never even checked my skin properly beforehand. Didn’t test for infections. Never discussed my skin type. Just stabbed away and hoped for the best.

My Before and After Reality

Before: manageable acne scars. Annoying but fixable with patience.

After: original scars plus loads of new damage. Infected holes that made their own scars. Dark patches from inflammation. Skin barrier that’s still rebuilding.

The gone wrong: microneedling before and after 1 treatment photos are genuinely shocking. My skin is definitely worse than when I started. That £150 treatment has cost me over £2000 in fixes so far.

What I Learned From This Mess

Never book treatments based on price. Cheap microneedling is cheap because they’re cutting corners. Proper treatments cost more because qualified people do them.

Always check who’s actually doing the procedure. Ask about training. See certificates. Look at their real work, not stock photos.

Understand aftercare before you book. Real microneedling needs weeks of careful management. One tube of basic cream won’t cut it.

Know the risks. Microneedling can permanently scar you if done wrong. Infection is always possible. Some people’s skin just doesn’t handle it well.

Eight Months Later

My face is slowly getting better. The infection cleared up completely. Some redness has faded. But the extra scarring is permanent.

Working with Dr. Williams on a proper plan now. Professional peels. Prescription treatments. Maybe laser when my skin can handle it.

Long process. Expensive. Frustrating. But at least I’m with someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

The Brutal Truth

Good microneedling can work wonders. But only when done by people who know what they’re doing. My story is what happens when you go cheap.

Those gone wrong: the microneedling before and after 1 treatment photos I’ve got now are expensive reminders. Sometimes saving money costs you everything.

My advice? Save up properly. Go to a real dermatologist. Your face is worth more than a bargain treatment.

Learned this lesson the hard and expensive way. Don’t make my mistake.