2026 US Aftercare Gap Report

Research · November 2026

1 in 3 microneedling clinics leave patients to Google or ChatGPT for their aftercare

The 2026 US Aftercare Gap Report analysed the websites of 764 microneedling providers across 20 US cities. 36% publish no aftercare instructions online, and those that do disagree by up to two weeks on the same advice.

Download the full report (PDF)Read the aftercare guide
36%of US microneedling providers publish no aftercare instructions online (33-40% at 95% confidence)
14×gap in sun advice: 46 clinics say avoid the sun for 24 hours, 40 say two weeks
75%do not tell patients online which symptoms mean they should call the clinic
90%of published aftercare is harder to read than health guidelines recommend for patients

Key findings

  • The silence problem. 278 of 764 providers (36.4%) publish no written aftercare on their website. Only 35% publish a full aftercare page or downloadable sheet.
  • Promised, not published. 24 providers say aftercare instructions will be provided, but publish none online.
  • Every city has the gap. The share with no aftercare online ranged from 27% (Denver) to 47% (Los Angeles).
  • Clinics can't agree. Advice on sun exposure ranges from 24 hours to two weeks; on restarting retinoids, from the same day to two weeks.
  • Hard to read. The typical aftercare page reads at a high-school level, above the level health guidelines recommend for patient information.

What providers publish about aftercare

Chart of how 764 US microneedling providers publish aftercare online. 278 publish none, 219 a line in an FAQ, 246 a full page and 21 a downloadable PDF.

Share of 764 microneedling providers by the most complete aftercare found on their website.

One day or two weeks? Clinics can't agree

Chart of how long clinics tell patients to avoid the sun after microneedling. 46 clinics say 24 hours and 40 say two weeks, a 14x difference.

Waiting times stated by providers after microneedling. Circle size = number of providers; yellow bar = median.

Where patients turn instead

US search interest in microneedling has roughly tripled since 2021. We put the same patient questions to five AI tools, in up to three separate sessions each. They agreed on makeup and retinoids, but sun advice ranged from 2 to 7 days of strict avoidance, and the same tool often gave different answers in different sessions.

Chart of US Google search interest in microneedling since 2021, which has roughly tripled. Chart of sun-avoidance advice after microneedling from five AI tools: Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude. Strict avoidance ranged from 48 hours to 7 days, and extra care from one week to a month.

Google Trends, United States. AI answers collected 4 November 2026 from Google AI Overview, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.

The gap appears in every city

Chart ranking 20 US metros by the share of microneedling providers with no aftercare online. It ranges from 47% in Los Angeles to 27% in Denver, against a national average of 36%.

Providers with no aftercare online, by metro area, with 95% confidence intervals. Read as tiers rather than a ranking.

What gets left out

Chart of which aftercare topics clinics cover online. The most covered are acids and exfoliants (38%) and sun exposure (37%). The least covered are swimming and sauna (18%) and when to call the clinic (25%).

Written for whom?

Chart of the reading level of clinic aftercare pages. 90% are above the recommended 8th-grade level, and the typical page reads at grade 11.

Using this data

Journalists, researchers and clinics are welcome to reproduce the charts and figures from this report. Any reproduction must include a clearly visible link to this page as the source:
https://myexosthetics.com/pages/aftercare-gap-report-2026

For interviews, high-resolution charts or the full data notes, contact info@myexosthetics.com.

For clinics

A free, fully sourced microneedling aftercare sheet, organised by time window and written for patients, is available for any clinic to adapt and hand out under its own name. Request the clinic sheet.

Methodology

Sample 1,250 clinic listings reviewed across 20 US metropolitan areas in November 2026, representing 1,025 clinic websites; 764 providers offering microneedling included.

This report is general information, not medical advice. Always follow your treating provider's instructions.