A comprehensive guide for skin care clinics and non-medical aesthetics businesses in the United Kingdom. Supporting practitioners to meet legal, ethical, and professional obligations.
Microneedling, also known as collagen induction therapy, has rapidly emerged as one of the fastest-growing non-surgical cosmetic procedures in the UK. With decades of evidence behind it as a safe and effective cosmetic treatment, it has become firmly mainstream and in higher demand than ever. The procedure involves the controlled puncturing of the skin with fine needles to stimulate collagen production and improve skin appearance. While minimally invasive, it carries inherent risks, making robust infection prevention, client safety, and professional integrity non-negotiable.
Yet for many SMEs and independent practitioners, ensuring the highest standards of practice is far from straightforward. Unlike some healthcare settings, there is currently no overarching regulation governing non-surgical cosmetic procedures for beauty practitioners in the UK. Licensing requirements for special treatments and skin piercing vary from one local authority to the next, and specific guidance for microneedling differs widely across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Practitioners must therefore interpret and apply existing legislation to their own context, a process that can be time-consuming and complex even for the most diligent of businesses. This is an understandable and widely shared challenge across the skin care and aesthetics industry, and one that deserves practical, informed support.
In 2025 alone, 35,000 microneedling services were performed across Dermalogica's own stores, retailer treatment rooms, and independent Dermalogica partner businesses throughout the UK, giving us a depth of real-world insight that few in the industry can match. Recognising both the scale of this growing service and the challenges practitioners face in navigating an evolving regulatory environment, Dermalogica identified an opportunity to turn that experience into something the whole industry could benefit from.
To ensure the guide carried the breadth of expertise and authority the industry deserves, Dermalogica partnered with the British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC), the UK's leading membership and awarding body for beauty and holistic therapy professionals. Together, the two organisations have combined Dermalogica's extensive hands-on experience with BABTAC's unrivalled knowledge of industry standards, legislation, and best practice to produce a resource that is both deeply practical and rigorously informed.
The result is the Sharp Standards Guide to Microneedling, a comprehensive toolkit designed to support skin care and aesthetics businesses of all sizes across the UK, providing the clarity, confidence, and resources practitioners need to deliver microneedling to the very highest standard.
Formal regulation and licensing for non-surgical cosmetic procedures cannot come soon enough, and Dermalogica and BABTAC welcome and support its introduction. In the meantime, no business should be left without guidance. The Sharp Standards Guide exists to bridge that gap, giving practitioners across all four nations a trusted, practical resource to work to the highest possible standards right now, without waiting for legislation to catch up.
"Microneedling is a treatment with a strong and well-evidenced track record, but it demands genuine competence from every practitioner who performs it. At Dermalogica, we have always believed that exceptional practice is built on knowledge, skills and a commitment to going beyond the minimum. That is why we have invested in ensuring our own staff hold regulated qualifications at Level 4 and 5, and it is why we partnered with BABTAC to produce this guide. Clear, practical and grounded in real-world experience, it gives every skin care and aesthetics business the foundation they need to deliver microneedling responsibly and to the very highest standard."
Candice Gardner, Education Manager – Learning and Content, Dermalogica UK
Lesley Blair MBE - CEO BABTAC & CIBTAC
“BABTAC & Dermalogica have always shared the common objective of raising the levels of professionalism in our industry. Like Dermalogica, in the absence of legislation currently, we self-regulate our members to ensure they hold the correct qualifications to practice and we enhance that learning with up to date best practice guidance. Dermalogica’s Sharps Standards is an excellent and comprehensive resource that provides professional practitioners with clear and practical guidance to ensure they continue to pursue excellence in their treatments. Dermalogica should be applauded for contributing such an invaluable guide to our sector and for continuing to support and promote best practice, not just for their own professional skin therapists and partners, but for the industry as a whole”
Sharps Standards Guidelines launched on 22nd April with a panel event at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster hosted by Candice Gardner and Lesley Blair MBE alongside Tweakments Guide Expert Alice Hart Davis and Jennie Hudson, Dermalogica Professional Skin Therapist and business owner of Jennie Hudson Skin based in Lydiate, Liverpool.
Availability
A downloadable guide will be available from Dermalogica at pro.dermalogica.co.uk