The science · Tap Pen

The device is a depth system, not a speed setting.

A technical record of the re:tones Skin Rejuvenation Tap Pen Device: what is specified, how each figure is stated, and what has not been measured.

Specifications · formulations · provenance

Units and conventions

Concentration
Stated in ppm and as percent by weight. 10,000 ppm = 1%.
Length
Needle diameter in micrometers (µm). Depth in millimeters (mm). 1 mm = 1,000 µm.
What a concentration is
The amount present in the sealed vial. It is not a statement about how much crosses the barrier.
Mass figures
Where a mass in grams is given it assumes a density of about 1 g/mL. The manufacturer has not published a density, so every mass here is an estimate from volume.
01

Two independent controls

Depth and rate are set separately, and conflating them is the most common misreading of an absorption device. The collar sets how far the needle travels. The intensity setting sets how often. Neither moves the other.

Distance and frequency are not the same axis.

Depth and rate, drawn apart

The device is specified at 6,000 RPM, which is one full pass every 10 ms. The window below holds ten of them.

NEEDLE DISPLACEMENT VS TIME 6,000 RPM = 100 passes per second = one pass every 10 ms SURFACE mm 0 0.5 1.0 1.5 DEPTH 0.5-1.5 mm COLLAR RANGE 10 ms ONE FULL PASS 0 20 40 60 80 100 ms TIME · RATE SET BY INTENSITY Needle diameter 8 µm. Depth drawn at an example 1.0 mm collar setting. Waveform is schematic. CONTROL 1 · INTENSITY · SIX SETTINGS LOWER HIGHER RATE CHANGES DEPTH HELD Relative only. Per-setting rates are not published. CONTROL 2 · DEPTH COLLAR 1.5 mm 0.5 mm DEPTH CHANGES RATE HELD Depths to scale, three to one. Period identical.
Depth and rate are separate controls. The collar sets how far the needle travels, continuously from 0.5 to 1.5 mm. The six intensity settings set how often it travels, not how far. The device is specified at 6,000 RPM, which is 100 passes per second, or one full pass every 10 ms, so the 100 ms window above holds ten of them. The waveform is a schematic of reciprocating motion, not a measured displacement trace, and the depth here is drawn at an example 1.0 mm setting. Rate figures for individual intensity settings are not published, so the intensity inset compares settings relatively rather than numerically.
02

One seat, two geometries

Three cartridges ship in the box: two PRO-5D Nano and one PRO-R Nano. They are different jobs, not a ranking. Both seat on the same device and both travel the same range.

The two cartridge plates

Plan and elevation. The needle count per array is not published, so the pattern indicates an arrangement rather than a count.

PLAN VIEW PRO-R NANO Round plate PRO-5D NANO Square plate PATTERN LIMIT GAUGE 15 µm Heavier gauge, 15 ÷ 8 = 1.9× IN THE BOX 1 cartridge USE Start here Close to the eyes PATTERN LIMIT GAUGE 8 µm Needle diameter IN THE BOX 2 cartridges USE Everyday Everywhere else Needles are drawn only to the right of the pattern limit. The count per array is not published. SIDE ELEVATION DEVICE Same seat Either cartridge The cartridge geometry changes. The depth range does not. SKIN SURFACE 0.5 mm 1.5 mm TRAVEL Same on both Plan and elevation are schematic. Needles are indicated, not counted. Not to scale.
The two cartridge geometries in plan, drawn as schematics and not to scale. PRO-R Nano is the round plate carrying the 15 µm needle: one in the box, the one to start on, and the one for working close to the eyes. PRO-5D Nano is the square plate carrying the 8 µm array: two in the box, and the everyday one. The needle count per array is not published by the manufacturer, so needles are drawn only to the right of a marked pattern limit in each panel. That pattern indicates an arrangement, not a count. The gauges themselves are drawn to their true ratio: at 15 µm against 8 µm the PRO-R Nano needle is 1.9 times the diameter of the PRO-5D Nano one. Below, in elevation: whichever cartridge is fitted seats on the same device and travels the same 0.5 to 1.5 mm. The geometry changes. The depth system does not.
03

Coupled, not sequential

The ampoule is released from the cartridge at the moment the needle meets skin. That is one movement. Needling first and applying afterwards is two.

The formula and the road arrive together.

Where the ampoule enters

A section through the device nose, the cartridge and the ampoule reservoir. The internal geometry is schematic.

SECTION THROUGH THE COUPLING, AT CONTACT SCHEMATIC · NOT A MANUFACTURING DRAWING Stratum corneum 15-20 µm * Epidermis Dermis SKIN SURFACE 0.5 mm 1.5 mm DEPTH RANGE Set on the device DEVICE NOSE Section through the nose CARTRIDGE Mounts on the nose at the seat AMPOULE RESERVOIR Fed from the 50 mL ampoule Internal arrangement not published FEED PATH Reservoir to the needle tips DRIVE Motion indicated only SEAT Cartridge mounts here NEEDLE PLATE 8 µm diameterDashed outlines mark internal arrangement, which the manufacturer has not published. Not to scale. * Stratum corneum 15-20 µm is a literature reference figure for facial skin, not a measurement made here. Tissue bands are drawn for legibility. At this depth scale an 8 µm needle is thinner than its own drawn line. THE SEQUENCE ONE MOVEMENT, THREE POSITIONS1 · APPROACH Plate travels down inside the cartridge. Nothing released.2 · CONTACT Needle enters and ampoule releases at the same instant.3 · WITHDRAW Plate returns. The opening in the skin closes behind it. WHEN THE TWO EVENTS HAPPEN This compares timing. It does not compare amount. COUPLED needle enters the skin ampoule released SAME INSTANT AFTERWARDS TWO STEPS needling pass serum applied Both rows describe the order of two events. Neither describes how much of anything crosses the skin.
Section through the device nose, the cartridge and the skin, drawn at the moment of contact. The internal arrangement of the cartridge, the reservoir and the feed path is schematic: this is a mechanism diagram, not a manufacturing drawing, and the manufacturer has not published the internal geometry. Every outline drawn dashed is inferred rather than published. The figures that are published are the 8 µm needle diameter, the 0.5 to 1.5 mm depth range and the 50 mL ampoule. The 15-20 µm stratum corneum is a literature reference figure for facial skin, not a measurement made here, and the tissue bands are drawn for legibility rather than to the depth scale. The three states below the section, and the two rows below those, describe when the needle enters and when the ampoule is released. Coupled, those are one instant instead of two. That is the whole of the claim: nothing here shows or implies how much of anything crosses the skin.
04

The neck behind the tip

The ampoule does not sit in a chamber and wait. It passes a neck on the way out.

The manufacturer's engineering document specifies a 50 µm orifice inside the cartridge, set 0.8 mm behind the needle tip. Every dose crosses it.

A neck that narrow meters the release. What leaves the tip is set by the geometry, not by how much you poured into your hand.

It also drops the pressure of the fluid as it accelerates through. A pressure drop across a constriction cools what passes it.

The dose is metered by geometry, not by your hand.

The document states that drop as 2.3 °C at the tip. It is a figure about the fluid, stated by the people who built the part.

It is not a figure about your skin. re:tones has measured neither one, and the row stays open in the ledger below.

The document goes on from there into what the cooling does on a face. This page stops at the fluid.

The cartridge nose

Orifice
50 µm, inside the cartridge, 0.8 mm behind the needle tip
What it does
Every dose passes it, and the geometry meters what comes out
Fluid velocity
Stated to rise from 0.3 to 4.2 m/s through the neck
Pressure
Stated to fall from 101 kPa to 89 kPa across it
Temperature at the tip
Stated to fall by 2.3 °C. A figure about the fluid, not about skin
Verification
The neck geometry is stated to be checked on a scanning electron microscope for every production batch
Basis
Manufacturer's engineering document. Calculated and bench figures, not a third party test
Measured by re:tones
None of it. Nothing in this table is our measurement
What it does not state
Nothing about how a session feels, and nothing about skin after one
05

8 µm is a manufacturing problem

A needle diameter is easy to print and hard to hold. The figure is a manufacturing outcome before it is a specification.

Molded polymer needles have a floor. The same document puts it at about 70 to 100 µm, below which molding stops holding a consistent tip.

So the array is not molded. It is made the way semiconductor parts are made.

Photolithography, then deep reactive ion etching, in an ISO Class 5 cleanroom. Verification is by scanning electron microscope, in house.

Below about 70 µm, molding stops being the method.

The document also states how the diameter was chosen. A finite element study covered 14 diameters, from 3 µm to 120 µm, across more than 200 geometries.

The bottom of that range has a mechanical limit. Below about 5 µm the needle buckles under the force needed to enter.

The document gives a reason for the top of the range too. That reason is about sensation, and sensation is a Not claimed row here, so it is not repeated as one.

None of this is a result. A fabrication method says how a part is made and nothing else, and it is graded that way in the ledger below.

How the array is made

Method
MEMS fabrication. Photolithography, then deep reactive ion etching
Why not molding
Molded polymer needles are stated to hold about 70 to 100 µm at their finest. 8 µm is below that floor
Cleanroom
ISO Class 5
Verification
Scanning electron microscope, in house at the manufacturer
Needle surface
Amorphous silicon nitride, about 120 nm thick, stated to ±5 nm
How the surface is applied
Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition
What is under the surface
Not stated. The document names the surface and not the material beneath it
How the diameter was chosen
A finite element study across 14 diameters, from 3 µm to 120 µm, and more than 200 geometries
Lower limit
Below about 5 µm the needle buckles at the force needed to enter
Basis
Manufacturer's engineering document, covering work dated 2024 to 2026. Not verified by re:tones

The cutting edge, in three facets

A tip is not one angle. The document specifies three, ground in sequence behind the point.

FacetAngleWhat it is for
Primary15°First contact with the outer layer
Secondary25°Widens the channel behind the tip
Heel45°Smooths the entrance into a funnel

Angles as stated in the manufacturer's engineering document, ground on a five axis machine. The same document attaches performance figures to this geometry, measured against products it does not name. Those figures are not printed here. This site prints a comparison only where the other side's own published specification can be named.

Bench conditions

Instrument
Instron 5943 micro tester, 5 N load cell
What was measured
The force to insert one needle
Figure
0.008 N per needle
Calculated alongside
0.038 N compressive strength per needle, which the document states as a buckling margin of 4.75 times
Substrate
Not stated in the document
Provenance
Bench work at the manufacturer. re:tones did not operate the instrument
What it does not state
Nothing about how a session feels. A force on a bench is not a sensation

Device specification

Platform
re:tones 5D Nano-Needle Array / TDDS Platform
Needle diameter, PRO-5D Nano
8 µm
Needle diameter, PRO-R Nano
15 µm
Needle fabrication
MEMS. Photolithography and deep reactive ion etching, not molding
Needle surface
Amorphous silicon nitride, about 120 nm, applied by vapor deposition
Depth range
0.5 to 1.5 mm, continuously adjustable
Depth control
Collar dial, no clicks
Intensity
Six settings, separate from depth
Stroke rate
6,000 RPM, which is 100 passes per second
Cartridges included
Three. Two PRO-5D Nano, one PRO-R Nano
Cartridge life
Sterile, single use
Cartridge nose
A 50 µm neck, 0.8 mm behind the tip, that every dose passes
Battery life
About 3 hours of use per charge
Charging time
About 1.5 hours
Cadence
Once a week
Classification
Cosmetic device
Model as certified
INSKIN-M1
Made in
South Korea, to re:tones specification
Origin
Made in South Korea. Sold by Idenbrick LLC, United States
Compliance documents
Four. FCC, CE for EMC, RoHS, and a Korean self-declaration. Numbers below
Not published
Needle count per array, battery capacity in mAh, weight, and the material under the needle surface

Micrograph conditions

Instrument
Scanning electron microscope
Accelerating voltage
5 kV
Vacuum mode
High vacuum
Scale
The plate the manufacturer supplied carries the instrument's own 10 µm bar. Measured against that bar, that plate's frame is about 58 µm across. The view printed here is a closer one of the same array and carries no bar of its own
Magnification
Not published. The figure printed on the supplied plate does not agree with that plate's own scale bar, so we did not carry it over. A magnification is only true at one reproduction size, and this frame is resized by your browser. A scale bar stays true at any size, which is why the scale above is given as a field width
Specimen
PRO-5D Nano array as supplied. No conductive coating was applied for imaging, and the image has not been retouched beyond cropping and resizing for the web
Provenance
Plate supplied by the manufacturer, and the copy we hold is a low-resolution crop, which is why the field width above is given as an approximation. re:tones did not operate the instrument.

What the engineering document holds and we did not print

A study on people
The document includes one, run internally. No figure, endpoint or conclusion from it appears anywhere on this site
Why not
It was not a third party study. re:tones did not design it, run it or observe it, and no sentence here rests on it
Comparisons with other devices
The document compares its figures against products it does not name. We print a comparison only where the other side's own published specification can be named
Language about comfort
The document uses it throughout. Comfort varies by person, depth and area, and it stays a Not claimed row in the ledger below
Patent status
The document describes filings. Nothing about patents is printed here until an application number can be printed beside it
Figures with no method
Where a figure arrived without a method we could state in one line, it is not on this page
What we kept
Construction. Materials, geometry, angles, dimensions, and the process used to make the part
06

A figure, or nothing

Every figure on this page is a claim, and it is printed with the thing it rests on. 8 µm and 15 µm for the two cartridge geometries. 0.5 to 1.5 mm of collar travel, set by hand rather than chosen from presets. Six intensity settings. 6,000 RPM. Each of those is a device specification, labeled as one, and listed again in the ledger below with its basis beside it.

It is much easier to write a phrase that sounds like a specification than to print one. Surgical grade stainless steel is the type of phrase we mean. It reads like an engineering term and it is not one. It names no alloy, no composition, no supplier and no lot, so nobody can check it and nobody can compare two products by it. It is not on this page, and neither are its relatives.

A figure with its basis attached, or the sentence does not run.

One grade on this page is new, and it is a lower one. The manufacturer's engineering document states how the array is made, what the tip geometry is, and what the cartridge nose does to the fluid. Those are facts about how a part is built, and they are graded as a manufacturer statement rather than as a measurement. That grade sits below a test report and above a phrase, and it is printed as what it is wherever it appears.

The rule costs us as much as it earns. Needle count per array, battery capacity, charge time and weight are not here, because the manufacturer has not supplied them and we are not going to estimate them into existence. The stroke rate at each of the six settings is missing for the same reason. Every one of them is listed under Not published rather than quietly left off, which is where a figure we do not have belongs.

What is absent is as deliberate as what is printed. How long a channel stays open, and how a session feels, are both left out because we have not measured either. This is a standard we set for ourselves rather than a comment on anyone else, and the ledger below marks the edge of it instead of hiding it.

07

Four documents, and what they cover

Until now this device had no compliance file. It has one now. Four documents, and every number is printed below.

Three were issued by a testing laboratory. The fourth is a declaration we made ourselves, and it is labeled that way wherever it appears.

The documents cover two things. The first is electromagnetic compatibility, which is interference. What the device emits, and what it tolerates.

The second is restricted hazardous substances in the electronics. Lead, mercury, cadmium and the rest, against published limits.

That is the whole scope. Not one of them looked at skin. None measured absorption, depth, needle geometry, or anything on a face.

Four documents on the electronics. None of them on skin.

Three distinctions we will not blur. The FCC document is a Supplier's Declaration of Conformity. That is not an FCC certification, and there is no FCC ID.

The CE declaration is against the EMC Directive. It is not CE medical device marking. This is a cosmetic device.

The Korean document is a self-declaration under the Radio Waves Act. We declared it. No regulator tested it and no regulator signed it.

So none of this is a statement about your skin. Skin contact safety is biocompatibility, and biocompatibility is not in this file.

The file also settles something this site had left vague. The device and the ampoules come from two different manufacturers in South Korea, each building to re:tones specification.

The documents name model INSKIN-M1 and the trade mark inSkin Cell, not re:tones. That is ordinary for a device built to a specification. Both identifiers are printed here, because a certificate number you cannot match to a product proves nothing.

The certificate register

FCC, United States
Supplier's Declaration of Conformity RCT202508140304C, against 47 CFR FCC Part 15 Subpart B
CE, European Union
Declaration of Conformity RCT202508140301C, against the EMC Directive 2014/30/EU
CE, standards applied
EN IEC 55014-1:2021, EN IEC 55014-2:2021, EN IEC 61000-3-2:2019+A1:2021+A2:2024, EN 61000-3-3:2013+A1:2019
RoHS, restricted substances
Declaration of Conformity RCT202508140303C
RoHS, standards applied
IEC 62321-3-1:2013, 62321-5:2013, 62321-4:2013+AMD1:2017, 62321-6:2015, 62321-7-1:2015, 62321-7-2:2017, 62321-8:2017
Korea, KC
Self-declaration of conformity for broadcasting and communications equipment, under Article 58-2 of the Radio Waves Act
Korea, date and declarer
11 July 2025, declared by Idenbrick. Not third-party certification.
Korea, standards applied
KS C 9814-1:2022 and KS C 9814-2:2022
Korea, equipment management number
INM1-INSKIN-M1
Product as certified
Skin revitalization device
Model as certified
INSKIN-M1
Trade mark on the documents
inSkin Cell
Made in
South Korea, to re:tones specification
Applicant on all four
Idenbrick, the company behind re:tones. Sold in the United States by Idenbrick LLC.

What these documents do not cover

Efficacy
Nothing here measures a result on skin. No absorption, no depth, no time to result.
Biocompatibility
Skin contact safety is not in this file. It has not been measured.
Sterility
Cartridge sterility is not in this file either.
Needle geometry
The 8 µm and 15 µm figures come from the manufacturing specification, not from these documents.
Medical status
CE for EMC is not CE medical device marking. This is a cosmetic device.
FCC status
A Supplier's Declaration of Conformity is not an FCC certification. There is no FCC ID.
Korea status
A self-declaration is our own statement. No regulator tested or signed it.
Words we do not use
We do not write safety tested or safety certified. These are emissions and materials documents.
What compliance means here
The electronics meet emissions and materials limits. Nothing beyond that is stated.

Evidence grades

Substantiated
Traceable to a manufacturing specification, a supplier ingredient statement, or the physical product.
Manufacturer statement
Stated in writing by the engineering team that specifies and builds the device. Not a third party test, and not verified by re:tones.
Reference figure
A published literature value used for scale, not a re:tones measurement.
Not published
The manufacturer has not supplied it. Listed rather than estimated.
Not claimed
re:tones has run no consumer panel and no clinical study, so no efficacy percentage and no time to result appears anywhere on this site.

Claims ledger, this device

Every figure this page uses and what it rests on.

Claim What it rests on Status
8 µm needle diameter, PRO-5D Nano Manufacturing specification Substantiated
15 µm needle diameter, PRO-R Nano Manufacturing specification Substantiated
0.5 to 1.5 mm, continuous Device specification Substantiated
Six intensity settings Device specification Substantiated
Battery life and charging time Manufacturer specification Substantiated
6,000 RPM Device specification Substantiated
MEMS fabrication, not molding Manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
Silicon nitride needle surface, about 120 nm Manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
Tip ground in three facets, 15°, 25° and 45° Manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
50 µm cartridge neck, 0.8 mm behind the tip Manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
2.3 °C cooling of the fluid at the tip Manufacturer's engineering document. A figure about the fluid Manufacturer statement
0.008 N to insert one needle Bench measurement in the manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
Buckling margin of 4.75 times Calculated in the manufacturer's engineering document Manufacturer statement
Micrograph field about 58 µm across Measured off the 10 µm scale bar on the plate the manufacturer supplied Measured by re:tones
Material under the needle surface Not stated in any document we hold Not published
Patent status No application number supplied Not published
Micrograph magnification Withdrawn. The figure printed on the plate was not consistent with its own scale bar, and a magnification is only true at one reproduction size Not published
What the cooling does on skin Not measured by re:tones Not claimed
Per-setting stroke rates Not supplied by the manufacturer Not published
Needle count per array Not supplied by the manufacturer Not published
How long a channel stays open Not measured by re:tones Not claimed
Comfort or sensation Varies by person, depth and area Not claimed
FCC, RCT202508140304C Supplier's Declaration of Conformity, 47 CFR FCC Part 15 Subpart B Substantiated
CE for EMC, RCT202508140301C Declaration of Conformity, EMC Directive 2014/30/EU Substantiated
RoHS, RCT202508140303C Declaration of Conformity, IEC 62321 test series Substantiated
Korea KC, INM1-INSKIN-M1 Our own declaration under the Radio Waves Act Self-declared, not third-party
Manufacturer of record Named on all four compliance documents Substantiated
Biocompatibility Not covered by any document we hold Not measured
Sterility assurance level Not covered by any document we hold Not measured

Every figure on this page names its own basis.

Back to the science index

At the skin

What actually happens, in four steps.

The band across the middle is your outer layer, the part that decides what gets in.

  1. 1

    It stays on the surface

    On unbroken skin, most of a serum sits on top and comes off on a towel.

  2. 8 µm

    2

    The needle opens a way through

    8 µm across, finer than a hair. The collar sets the depth, 0.5 to 1.5 mm.

  3. 3

    The ampoule goes in with it

    It releases as the tip lands, so it arrives while the way in is still open.

  4. 4

    The surface closes over

    The opening shuts behind the needle, with the ampoule already underneath.

This is what the device does, drawn for reading rather than to scale. It is a description of the mechanism, not a promise about a result. The re:tones Skin Rejuvenation Tap Pen Device is a cosmetic device, not a medical one, and how any individual's skin responds varies.