295 replies to this topic

[Hope112]

Thanks to everyone who put this together. It's a great resource!

I'm looking to purchase a dermaroller for daily use and I was wondering what's the most effective needle length. I see .5mm and .75mm on ebay. Which one works better? Any recommendations?

This is for better absorption of topical creams like terproline. What's too long to use on a regular basis?

[Emilion]

I have done two dermarolling sessions with a Dr Roller 1.5 mm. I have used Envirion Original Essentia Oil on my skin every night. It is rich with vitamin a, e, c and beta carothene.

My problem is that i get very good results in about 2-3 weeks after each treatment, but after a while my skin goes back to it's normal state. I have saggy skin on my nose and scars on my checks and forehead. I get a good tightening effect some weeks, but then it goes back to the way it was before.

So I'm just wondering, why? Is dermaroller just another "temporary" way to treat scars? Should I buy a roller with longer needles?

[Tara1245]

Enough time has passed that I can definitely say some of my scars are worse from dermarolling. I wanted to post exactly why I think this happened, so you guys can learn from my idiocy.

Don't press so hard when you roll that some of the needles get stuck and the roller drags. The roller should always move smoothly over the skin. If the roller moves while the needles are stuck to far into the skin the drag can cause wider holes than what is necessarry and create worse scars.

I find that I can use fairly light pressure and still bleed quite a lot, I just make sure I move the roller evenly and smoothly and I've had no further issues with scarring. I decided to avoid my worst scars around my cheek area for now. I want to try tca cross for these. The rest looks great.

Is it a bad thing to use retin a after a roll? Could this make scarring worse?

[member]

Enough time has passed that I can definitely say some of my scars are worse from dermarolling. I wanted to post exactly why I think this happened, so you guys can learn from my idiocy.

Don't press so hard when you roll that some of the needles get stuck and the roller drags. The roller should always move smoothly over the skin. If the roller moves while the needles are stuck to far into the skin the drag can cause wider holes than what is necessarry and create worse scars.

I find that I can use fairly light pressure and still bleed quite a lot, I just make sure I move the roller evenly and smoothly and I've had no further issues with scarring. I decided to avoid my worst scars around my cheek area for now. I want to try tca cross for these. The rest looks great.

Is it a bad thing to use retin a after a roll? Could this make scarring worse?

So the scars that you pushed too hard on, turned out worse but the ones you did correctly, it had alot of improvement?

[Tara1245]

I have enlarged pores that look a lot better. I use tazorac right after I dermaroll so it could be that the improvement is caused by the tazorac penetrating so deeply. The only acne scars I have are on both my lower cheek areas and I'm going to avoid using the roller on these for now and try the tca cross instead.

[Billie Jean]

I'm thinking of going on the roller. I have some questions though:

What happens if I'm out in the sun after I've rolled my face? Is it really that bad?
What should I use on my face after every rolling session?
If I get a 1,5 mm roller, how often should I use it?

[PraisethelordforacneNOT]

Does anyone know if the results from dermaroller on acne scars are permanent, or does it only make the scars better as long as you roll?

[Jonah]

I just posted this in the "Ok guys.." dermarolling thread started by Lamarr, but given the pinned status and title of this thread, thought I should post it here as well. Hope the info helps, thanks.
---------------------------------------------------------

I've been doing needling along with LEDs per Lamarr's advice for about the past 6 months.

It isn't a miracle cure and the results are slow, but it's the best thing I've ever tried for my scars.
It was much better than tca cross especially for me (better results, and much less terrible scar magnifying redness).

I have ice pick and box car type scarring mainly. The scars that I was most aggressive on (i.e. had the most sessions on and punctured the most times per session) have had the best results. I typically focus on individual scars w/ 3mm diabetic needles, but when my schedule permits downtime I will also do full face 2.0 or 2.5mm roller.

There is one scar that was a mid sized box car that has been raised significantly, I'd say 40% improvement. That is the one I have been most aggressive on and had the most sessions on, which is probably why it's had the best results. There are a few icepicks that have also improved about 30% and again they are the ones I was most aggressive on. Many of my other scars have only improved around 10% or not at all, but these are generally the ones that I was not as aggressive on and/or did not have as many sessions on.

Now, if I jump on them very aggressively too is that going to cause them to improve a lot as well? Who knows, with scars you can't predict anything. But I will say again that this method has the most promsie to me of doing that than any other I've tried.

Like many treatments, your scars will still look red and thus worse than normal as you go through this process, and you have to be patient and have many sessions. There were certain sessions when I felt I had been very aggressive on certain scars and then got no improvement over the following month - but then I tried again on them a month later, with the same level of aggression, and got a solid 10 or 15% improvement over the following month. Perhaps the first time undermined the scar in an unnoticeable way making it more ammenable to the next session, or perhaps it was just luck and the chance of where in the scar you prick and at what angle. One of the conclusions I draw from it is that I should try to do as many sessions (no less than a month apart though) on as many of my scars as I can, being as aggressive as I can (while still being safe).

A few other pointers: Firstly, I believe the LEDs are very key. I've used them pretty religiously, once per day about 5 days per week. I use my red and yellow leds for about 7 minutes each. I'm not very familiar with the science behind them and my understanding is that 5 minutes may be optimum. I just prefer a couple minutes longer, as it seemed to improve my results ever so slightly but that's just me and it could simply have been a coincidence. Point is that I think the LEDs are key as Lamarr has said again and again.

Secondly, after you do a session, get as much sleep as possible over the following week at least. I'm a workaholic and part-time student and often only get 4 hours a night. I've had no choice but to do most of my sessions under those conditions - however, there was one session where i was able to reduce my workload for the subsequent week and get plenty of sleep, and that was my best session in terms of results.

Thirdly, I take a whole lot of vitamin C. Other stuff may help as well (I also take yeast tablets and a multi), but C is obviously worthwhile.

As far as topicals go, I do use the terproline that Lamarr suggested. I don't believe it made a major difference in the results (though I could be wrong). But I like it, it doesn't break me out and it moisturizes.

So the ideas are: be very aggressive, do as many sessions as possible (allowing >1 month of healing in between), use the LEDs, get lots of sleep, take vitamin C.

Use these ideas at your own risk. These are essentially the ideas Lamarr stated from day one, so I'm not providing anything new. I'm mainly here (as others have been) to say that I believe that this works. Whether it can achieve 100% improvement on my icepick and boxcar scarring I do not know yet, but I can verify that it's achieved 40% so far on at least one of them.

I'm mad busy but will try to update with my progress and any other procedures I try in the coming months. Best of luck you guys. If you cure your scars, try to help others w/ permanent problems and never base ur treatment of a book on its cover.

[logger710]

There is a company in Ireland that sell Dr.Roller branded derma rollers that include free delivery to anywhere in the world.They sell for only €45/$62 delivered to your door.They also accept paypal.

To buy them goto:

*Moderator edit, URL removed - read the board rules. *

For more information on these Dr.Rollers goto:

*Moderator edit, URL removed - read the board rules. *

These guys are great to deal with and brilliant prices with free delivery.I bougt the .5mm and 1mm from them.I haven't worked up the courage to use the 1.5 yet.

[logger710]

Great reply Jonah.Thanks for taking the time to write this all up.Keep up the good work.

[ninfan]

Would the following be safe to use right after "rolling"?:

Kirkland Signature™ by Borghese Age-Defying Protective Moisture Lotion SPF 15



Nourish Your Skin. Formulated with Mineral Salts, Sea Salts, and anti-oxidant Vitamin E, this nutritious daily moisturizer helps protect and defend skin from the sun’s harmful rays and free radical damage. Light and luxurious, it hydrates all day as it restores a smoother, firmer, more radiant look.

Thanks for any help.

If not what would be the best post cream to use?

[christpunchers]

I don't think sunscreen would be too safe to use after rolling. Since the micro channels are created by the needles, you wouldn't want the ingredients of a sunscreen to past through those channels deep into your skin. It's not safe to be absorbed. I would probably just stay out of the sun for 2 to 3 days, to the best of your abilities and not worry too much on what type of topicals you ought to use after being treated. I don't think topicals will add much to your result since it's only dermarolling and there is nothing else involved. Just keep the area clean and don't over do it with any creams.

[christpunchers]

One other interesting thing I've thought about are methods that can be used to improve circulation of blood around one's face. I believe that many people who have fought bad rounds of acne and suffered some scarring as the results may tend to not show facial expressions or emotions as well as person with "better" skin. It's really interesting to note that I've been playing around with a lot of facial exercises in the past few months and I've noticed a dramatic change in my overall skin tone and I would dare say in some of my scarring. Doing exaggerated movements with your face, for the sake of exercising certain muscles such as your cheekbones, or chin, or your smile, may actually help to get more blood to the surrounding area. More blood means more oxygen and nourishment to the tissue. I know actors regularly exercise their faces to keep their tone and skin firm. Maybe most people in their daily stressful lives could use of a bit of that too. I mean, how many of us actually find ways to use all of the muscles in our face? A lot of us live very boring lives, working in an office every day, having to drive or sit on a bus, waiting for a light, we're moving our bodies but not our faces. Actors HAVE to do it because its their work, their job, their lively-hood. And they're the ones that tend to have the better skin (yes, I know, it's not always true).

[Hello!]

I can not for the life of me find any individual needles shorter than 5 mm in length. Can anyone help me out here? I was hoping to find something like 2-3 mm so it's appropriate for needling individual scars.

[Emilion]

Anyone know a good topical with vitamin C to use after a rolling-session? I use Environ Original Essentia Oil. It work wonders, but... I get zits. I need some kind of oil-free topical. So help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[sts]

Hello, I'm new to this site & so glad i found it. I had laser resurfacing in 07. It left me with rolling scars, dents & red for months, I probably would still be red if I didn't go for ipl treatments. For the scars I have gone through soooo many laser treatments. Fraxel, Smoothbeam, Affirm, Perfecta. You name it, I tried it. Two treatments of fraxel that i didn't notice any difference having, Perfecta, nothing. Affirm I noticed a bit of an improvment so I'm going to continue having them every month. However I heard about Needling so I bought one on ebay & tried it out. Since I was taking a 2 month break between a laser treatment I thought I'd try it out. Don't want to talk too fast but I think I noticed that this method is just as good or better than the lasers. I asked my laser specialist & he said it does basically the same thing that laser does. I bought mine on ebay for 25.00. A 1.0mm length. Site said that length was best for shallow facial scars & I didn't want to go too deep doing it myself. Afterwards I've been putting on & mixture of vit a & d ointment & tazorac cream. I was pink for a couple days but the results so far are positive. I'll post results as i go along. But for the price & results I think it's worth it. I noticed my face has gotten a bit firmer too. Good luck to everyone who is trying this method. I had bad acne when i was younger that left me with scars that i was always ashamed of. Never talked to people face to face without thinking they were looking at my scars. It's a horrible condition that not only effects you physically but emotionally. I wrote to the Doctors tv show asking them to do a show on scars & to let us know what creams or treatments really work. I've spent thousand & haven't gotten any better. It would be amazing if a 25.00 item really works.

[ella_xaris]

Im really greatful to have found this site. My scars (icepick,box and rolling) haunted me for such a long time, giving me low self esteem. Im 30 years old and Im really desirous in getting rid of my scars. Last June 23 and July 23 I had my TCA Cross Method with a reputable Derm Clinic here in the Philippines. So far, I didn't see any improvement that's why Im trying to find better solution for my scars, and I found this thread about rolling. I really would want to try this procedure. Is it safe doing it on your own? What is the best brand to purchase? Is brand important? And what is the best measurement (mm) to use for severe scars like mine? And also I would like to know what's the best cream to use with the roller? Thank you very much for your insights! It will be greatly appreciated!

[PraisethelordforacneNOT]

Latly I have done some exfoliation with this product: http://www.dermalogica.com/us/products.htm...ly-microfoliant

But then I read in a thread here how exfoliating can damage the collagen induction?! Sounds strange, or does anyone know if this is true? I had dermarolling performed about 1 and half week ago and I dont want to ruin my results....But I really like how good my skin gets from this product.

[Holls77]

Can anyone tell me if you can use the roller on new scars? I have a couple rolling ones on my chin that are about 3 months old..

[munsoned]

Can anyone tell me if you can use the roller on new scars? I have a couple rolling ones on my chin that are about 3 months old..

sure you can. Just follow lamarrs instructions and keep at it and the results will come.