I just wanted to give fellow acne scar sufferers my view on the Dermaroller treatment. Between 2010-11, I had 10 dermaroller treatments at a clinic in London. They say that you see 'results over time' - it has now been around 3 years, and I can honestly say I have seen no improvement. Even shallow rolling scars have shown no improvement whatsoever, which is very disappointing as these were scars I was told dermaroller works particularly well on.
I strongly advise any of you thinking of having dermaroller to think carefully. I think it is marketed very well, and that's why it has been popular, rather than it producing any results. The idea that creating tiny wounds on the face will somehow cause the skin to heal itself is very convincing, and even I fell for it at first, but I don't think it's true. I think it just creates swelling for a few weeks, which 'fills out' the scars, but once it goes your face is back to how it was. Any improvement in skin tone is temporary, and is just due to your face shedding all the tiny scabs after the treatment. You get the same effect if you use a face scrub too hard at home.
I also think it uses the promise of 'results over time' to have a placebo-like effect (and to make you come back for more treatments), where you think it's working, but in reality any healing that takes place (if at all) is more likely to be due to the body's natural healing process. I have other scars not treated with dermaroller that have healed better over the past few years. Furthermore, by the time you realise it has not worked, the clinic probably no longer has a record of your treatment, or the clinic has closed or the doctor has left. A few weeks ago I contacted the clinic where I had these treatments, and I still haven't heard anything back.
Dermaroller in my experience was a mentally exhausting, financially draining and time consuming process that did not work. I would advise others to seek more effective alternative treatments, if they exist.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
I just wanted to give fellow acne scar sufferers my view on the Dermaroller treatment. Between 2010-11, I had 10 dermaroller treatments at a clinic in London. They say that you see 'results over time' - it has now been around 3 years, and I can honestly say I have seen no improvement. Even shallow rolling scars have shown no improvement whatsoever, which is very disappointing as these were scars I was told dermaroller works particularly well on.
I strongly advise any of you thinking of having dermaroller to think carefully. I think it is marketed very well, and that's why it has been popular, rather than it producing any results. The idea that creating tiny wounds on the face will somehow cause the skin to heal itself is very convincing, and even I fell for it at first, but I don't think it's true. I think it just creates swelling for a few weeks, which 'fills out' the scars, but once it goes your face is back to how it was. Any improvement in skin tone is temporary, and is just due to your face shedding all the tiny scabs after the treatment. You get the same effect if you use a face scrub too hard at home.
I also think it uses the promise of 'results over time' to have a placebo-like effect (and to make you come back for more treatments), where you think it's working, but in reality any healing that takes place (if at all) is more likely to be due to the body's natural healing process. I have other scars not treated with dermaroller that have healed better over the past few years. Furthermore, by the time you realise it has not worked, the clinic probably no longer has a record of your treatment, or the clinic has closed or the doctor has left. A few weeks ago I contacted the clinic where I had these treatments, and I still haven't heard anything back.
Dermaroller in my experience was a mentally exhausting, financially draining and time consuming process that did not work. I would advise others to seek more effective alternative treatments, if they exist.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
sorry for your diasppointing results where did you get this done exactly ?
lol, this is pretty much true for every treatment out there for acne scars (one of the toughest aesthetic problems to treat). You have to spend the years and money required to go through it all and hope something will work, that's the only way to do it. Give yourself 2-5 years and about $40000 and then you will probably get at least a moderate improvement.
But is it really? We live in an age where doctors can reconstruct peoples faces, perform hand transplants, skin grafts etc.....and you're telling me they can't solve something relatively minor in comparison, such as acne scarring? I think it's more a case of there exists a solution, but it's not in cosmetic surgeons' interest to perform it as there is no money in it. Think about it, would they rather perform a one off treatment that sorts out the scarring for good, or would they rather you kept coming back and paying for successive treatments. The fact that acne scarring does not threaten your physical health and the lack of regulation means that cosmetic surgeons can get away with doing this with little scrutiny.
People don't become cosmetic surgeons because they want to help people. You only need to look at their greatly inflated prices to see they are in it for the money.
I've seen results personally form @home dermarolling/stamping. (3 treatments in the past 4 months)..I'm sorry you didn't see satisfactory results..Have you tried Tca Peelsor Retin A before?
http://owndoc.com/ has various customers get great results by dermarolling/stamping.
And what clinic did you get your treatments at? Can you be more specific.
Well first things first, what size of roller were they using on you during the 6 treatments and what pre and post topicals were you using? They play big factors in healing the wounds, also how long is each treatment during the rolling?
I personally prefer you do an at home dermarolling with proper research than go into a clinic and let them roll on you without letting you know the needle size AND as well as just doing a 5 minute treatment. Also the topicals, are you using some good topicals such as copper peptides?
I do believe there are real results under clinical studies as well as well written reports about it. So I doubt the dermaroller won't work unless you're not getting the proper treatment along with the proper care pre and post.
Unfortunately, I start to feel the same as the OP on derma rolling. I haven't seen any signs at all so far. Been rolling 6 months now. Rolling with 0.5 - 1.0 - 1.5 - 2.0. I roll good too, to the state where I'm bleeding. I have also been using vitamin C serum, copper peptide, infadolan, retina-a and different moisturizers. Nothing. Zero.
I take a lot of vitamins, like vitamin C, collagen 1-2-3, and zink. Eat healthy too.
Strange if this work on some people and not on others. I mean, some people say that their scars are like 90% filled up??!! While mine, and others, aren't even 1%.
I almost believe this is some kind of hoax, even though I don't want to accuse anyone for not telling the truth, of course.
I've been needling for over 6 months now and its done virtually nothing for me. All but one of my scars look the same or possibly even a little worse. One has filled in to a degree but I can tell from the state of it that it's filling with scar tissue and not normal collagen.
I too am cautious of treatments that promise results over a long period of time. That seems to me to be to be a good way of justifying a treatment that does not work or does not work very well. So far as I can tell, all of the currently available acne scar treatments are crude, at best often only marginally effective, and usually very expensive. What we need is a treatment that actually works. Unfortunately most new treatments are just variations on the same old expensive, risky, ineffective procedures that are currently available. There is a lot of research going into regenerative medicine right now and that is where our hope lies. Of all the organs skin is the most basic and thought to be the easiest to regenerate. If regenerative medicine delivers on its promises there will one day be a complete solution to acne scarring. I would pay good money for that.
Yes, I agree 100%, Hiddy Cheeks. Derma rolling has been a huge disappointment, basically I am considering to stop doing it.
And yes, our only hope is in regenerative medicine. The treatments today are simply not good enough. At best you might see minor improvements that almost don't justify the money, stress and time it takes to go through with it.
Sadly I can't recommend derma rolling.
I don't want to criticize anybody, but I hesitate to dismiss any potentially good treatments that aren't working, when the treatments are self-administered.
What you have done is basically picked an amateur clinic with little or no experience (yourself).
I understand that some people don't have the funds to throw at multiple sessions. And we've all spent money on stuff that doesn't work. But when there is an invasive procedure like TCA Cross, needling, subcision, dermarolling or dermastamping, I would much rather have that performed by an experienced nurse, doctor or clinician. Certainly not for my first time with a procedure. Maybe if I had been dermarolled a few times, I would have the confidence to do my own -- I would explain to my doctor that I'm broke, and ask them to help me learn how to choose and use a commercial roller.
Just freelancing it on my own -- I'd be too scared of making things worse, or wasting time.
First of all, how hard can it be to derma roll? In what way can a doctor in a clinic roll compared to those doing it at home?
Second of all, when I roll myself, I am very thorough, more so I believe than the average person at any clinic.
Third of all, you have persons that have been to clinics and haven't seen any improvement and then you have person doing it themselves with great results.
Still, thanks for the input.
First of all, sorry for my poor English.
I have dermarolled also, and I think it's slow, unpredictable, frustating and fatiguing, but it works. It is not the solution but it seems to help.
It's slow because the improvement is minimal after each session - I only noticed some improvement after my 4th treatment, 6 months after I started dermarolling, and it was just a patch of better skin on my right cheek. It's unpredictable because there are scars that change shape, scars that become linear, look worse, look better, etc.
The frustation comes from the decent improvement we see after a week post rolling that disappears after a couple more weeks.
Last time i rolled I felt like crying when I had rolled half my face. Seeing all that blood on the sink and my hands, all that swelling and feeling that pain is not easy at all.
As for results, many people who rolled for 2 years claim they got a 40-50% improvement. I think it's a realistic expectation. If I lived in the USA or the UK I would try subcision, punch elevation or fat transfer and forget about dermaroller for sure, but since I don't I have no options.
Last time i rolled I felt like crying when I had rolled half my face. Seeing all that blood on the sink and my hands, all that swelling and feeling that pain is not easy at all.
Yes, I know the feeling. Last time I felt the exact same way. Looking at my face..all covered in blood, and I was thinking "What a way to spend my life". I was very sad about it.
And true, the progress is very draining on all levels. The swelling make it looks good, but after some days you have to admit that basically nothing has happened. Maybe scars are getting better, but that the progress is very very slow, like you say.
And honestly I can't understand, that in a world where the man has been on the moon, and where doctors can use lasers on your eyes with perfect results, that acne scarring is one of the unsolved mysteries. Seems very, very strange. Sadly it is the truth.
It says a lot if derma rolling is one of the better options 
And true, the progress is very draining on all levels. The swelling make it looks good, but after some days you have to admit that basically nothing has happened. Maybe scars are getting better, but that the progress is very very slow, like you say.
How many times have you rolled?
Do you lift the dermaroller after each pass? I noticed that when I started to lift the roller after every single pass the treatment became more lengthy but the results became visible after each session. I couldn't see any result before this method change. The progress is minimal now but I can see it.
http://dermaroller.com/all-about-scars
see this
Mechanism of microneedling in scars, but keep in mind: Relatively "fresh scars" (not older that 9 months) respond very well to microneedling.
And true, the progress is very draining on all levels. The swelling make it looks good, but after some days you have to admit that basically nothing has happened. Maybe scars are getting better, but that the progress is very very slow, like you say.
How many times have you rolled?
Do you lift the dermaroller after each pass? I noticed that when I started to lift the roller after every single pass the treatment became more lengthy but the results became visible after each session. I couldn't see any result before this method change. The progress is minimal now but I can see it.
I have rolled many times...I think about 8 times or so. I do not lift the roller after every single pass. I roll bak and fort a couple of times, then lift it. Do you think that it is very important to lift after every single pass?
I noticed a considerable difference when I first tried to lift the dermaroller after each pass. The redness and the bleeding appeared faster and were more intense.
I decided to do this after I read a review written by a forumer called DermarollingGirl, who was getting good results.
I don't move the dermaroller back and forth anymore.
Sarah Vaughter has a good input about this issue:
If
I have rolled many times...I think about 8 times or so. I do not lift the roller after every single pass. I roll bak and fort a couple of times, then lift it. Do you think that it is very important to lift after every single pass?
I've seen results personally form @home dermarolling/stamping. (3 treatments in the past 4 months)..I'm sorry you didn't see satisfactory results..Have you tried Tca Peelsor Retin A before?
http://owndoc.com/ has various customers get great results by dermarolling/stamping.
And what clinic did you get your treatments at? Can you be more specific.
I don't think I can name the particular clinic/consultant that did the treatment, as I don't want to get in trouble. All I can say is that it's a well-known consultant in london whose name has been mentioned on these forums before.
Is this clinic on the list of Dermaroller's approved treatment centers? Perhaps they don't know what they are doing? It's also possible that some perfectly good treatments won't work equally well for everybody.
Yes it is.
Unfortunately, I start to feel the same as the OP on derma rolling. I haven't seen any signs at all so far. Been rolling 6 months now. Rolling with 0.5 - 1.0 - 1.5 - 2.0. I roll good too, to the state where I'm bleeding. I have also been using vitamin C serum, copper peptide, infadolan, retina-a and different moisturizers. Nothing. Zero.
I take a lot of vitamins, like vitamin C, collagen 1-2-3, and zink. Eat healthy too.
Strange if this work on some people and not on others. I mean, some people say that their scars are like 90% filled up??!! While mine, and others, aren't even 1%.
I almost believe this is some kind of hoax, even though I don't want to accuse anyone for not telling the truth, of course.
I can't help but feel that the 'people' who are claiming this are those working at the clinics. It costs them nothing (and probably makes them a lot of money) to come on sites like acne.org and post fake testimonies, whilst posting a few photoshopped 'before and after' photos.
I'm almost sure it a hoax, and the same probably goes for a lot of other 'treatments' out there. Sadly there exist a lot of loopholes and bureacracy in the cosmetic industry which, combined with a distinct lack of regulation, allow these clinics to get away with it
Yes, I agree 100%, Hiddy Cheeks. Derma rolling has been a huge disappointment, basically I am considering to stop doing it.
And yes, our only hope is in regenerative medicine. The treatments today are simply not good enough. At best you might see minor improvements that almost don't justify the money, stress and time it takes to go through with it.
Sadly I can't recommend derma rolling.
As I have said before, I very much doubt this is the case. I believe there is a treatment, its just not in the clinic's financial interest to perform it. People aren't in the cosmetic surgery business to help people.
Last time i rolled I felt like crying when I had rolled half my face. Seeing all that blood on the sink and my hands, all that swelling and feeling that pain is not easy at all.
Yes, I know the feeling. Last time I felt the exact same way. Looking at my face..all covered in blood, and I was thinking "What a way to spend my life". I was very sad about it.
And true, the progress is very draining on all levels. The swelling make it looks good, but after some days you have to admit that basically nothing has happened. Maybe scars are getting better, but that the progress is very very slow, like you say.
And honestly I can't understand, that in a world where the man has been on the moon, and where doctors can use lasers on your eyes with perfect results, that acne scarring is one of the unsolved mysteries. Seems very, very strange. Sadly it is the truth.
It says a lot if derma rolling is one of the better options
Again, I'm not so sure about this. Have you seen how they can reconstruct peoples faces after accidents, restore people's septums, do limb transplants etc. If they can do this then they can treat acne scarring.
However, I know that the answer does NOT lie in microneedling procedures such as dermaroller/fraxel, nor any procedure that promises 'results over time'.
<lists a bunch of shit that has nothing to do with scar formation and collagen remodelling>
>If they can do this then they can treat acne scarring.
hurdurfhurf. Yeah that's exactly how it works. /s
You realise collagen remodelling is a 9 month process? That's where 'results over time' comes in.
I've had 4 professional dermarolling treatments (with one more to go). My skin feels great. The color and clarity has definitely improved. My scars? Still there.
I started doing the rolling because I was scarred by a derm who removed a tiny facial lesion (long story). This newest scar has improved by 30-40% (but I'm probably being generous). In my existing acne (boxcar) and picking (mildy atrophic, hypopigmented) scars there has been zero change. I've read all of the success stories and seen all of the clinical data. I felt really hopeful that this was the answer for my scars but so far, I don't think so. Again, my skin does look and feel great though..minus the scars.