Hi everyone, hope your journey with your skin is going well.
So I've ordered an at-home DermaPen and some regular Copper Peptide Serum from Skin Biology. I'm sort of new to this whole scar treatment thing and am still in the initial depressed/freaking out stage where I can't think of anything else but my scars, and am pretty much buying everything that claims it can help even a little bit. Needless to say, I have been researching like an obsessive maniac for months (but it feels like years) and have now decided on these two main treatments. So after deciding what to use, I have a few questions on how to use them to receive the maximum benefit:
- It is recommended to use the Dermapen every 4-6 weeks, but 2 weeks still seems like a big gap to me. Should I wait closer to 4, or closer to 6 weeks? Do you find the longer you wait with needling between sessions, the better?
- Will the Copper Peptides be effective if I only use them after needling? Because at this rate I'll only be needling every month or month and a half, and yet most reviews I read say you must use CP every day religiously to see results. However, if I use them every day, I obviously can't needle every day so for 4-6 weeks I'll be using them by themselves as a stand-alone. Will they still be able to work/penetrate during that time, or am I just wasting time and product?
- There is a tad of controversy surrounding whether DermaPens can cause "microtearing" and I can see why this might be an issue. One of the first things that occurred to me when I heard about the DermaPen was "but if you are moving it along your skin, while the needles are automatically going up and down... wouldn't they sometimes still be in the skin when you move it?" So to solve this problem I was thinking of using it differently. Instead of moving it fluidly along the skin, I would hold it still in one place for a few seconds, then lift it and place it straight down onto the next area, and continue like this. What do you think of this method?
- Do Copper Peptides break you out? I'm very worried about this. It's another reason I kind of only want to use them after every DermaPen treatment, but if it won't be effective to use them so minimally, then that's kind of a dead-end, isn't it?
- Regarding how to actually work a DermaPen, I am pretty damn worried that it won't even plug into my wall powerpoint (are powerpoints different in different countries? I live in Australia and this DermaPen is from Hong Kong). I hope I don't need some sort of weird adapter which is just further stress and waiting and ordering that I'd really rather not do. Here's the one I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321363765680?ssPageName=STRKIT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Even if you can only answer one or two questions, I appreciate any advice, I'm pretty nervous and have been feeling like absolute garbage lately over my skin. Each day that passes feels like a lifetime when you are avoiding going outside every day. I even dropped out of uni this year because of my skin - it's crazy how much such a seemingly simple thing can affect you.
I have never used a dermapen so I can't help you with that. But yes, you can use the serum without needling. Speaking from my experience, I would buy a 0.25mm or a 0.5mm dermastamp (or a roller), which you can use once a week. It shouldn't make your face red but the serum will penetrate the skin better.
Just a word of advice, I wouldn't use that Dermapen. I've never used that particular brand myself but I can just tell from the pricepoint that it's going to be of questionable quality. Original Dermapen costs at least 500 euros, you need to be careful with this technology as you can easily cause more damage. If the needles aren't going in and out fast enough it can rip the skin. If I was you i'd ditch that and just go with a dermastamp. It's basically the same thing but risk of ripping the skin is pretty much zero.
Just my opinion.
Just a word of advice, I wouldn't use that Dermapen. I've never used that particular brand myself but I can just tell from the pricepoint that it's going to be of questionable quality. Original Dermapen costs at least 500 euros, you need to be careful with this technology as you can easily cause more damage. If the needles aren't going in and out fast enough it can rip the skin. If I was you i'd ditch that and just go with a dermastamp. It's basically the same thing but risk of ripping the skin is pretty much zero.
Just my opinion.
Thanks for the advice. I considered just a derma stamp at first but ended up going with this and I'm not too sure why. Just the way this works seems like it would be more effective than me feebly stamping my skin, it's hard to explain. But do you think the speed of the needles going in and out "not fast enough" will really matter if I use the Dermapen with the technique I mentioned in my original post? That being, I'm not actually moving the pen along the skin, just holding it there? And in what other ways can I check to tell if it's bad quality?
I'm hoping I'll be able to return it if it doesn't work properly but I'm not too sure on their policies with that. Maybe once the packaging is opened you can't return it. But that would make no sense seeing how can you test it without opening it? God, it's all so confusing.
Just a word of advice, I wouldn't use that Dermapen. I've never used that particular brand myself but I can just tell from the pricepoint that it's going to be of questionable quality. Original Dermapen costs at least 500 euros, you need to be careful with this technology as you can easily cause more damage. If the needles aren't going in and out fast enough it can rip the skin. If I was you i'd ditch that and just go with a dermastamp. It's basically the same thing but risk of ripping the skin is pretty much zero.
Just my opinion.
Thanks for the advice. I considered just a derma stamp at first but ended up going with this and I'm not too sure why. Just the way this works seems like it would be more effective than me feebly stamping my skin, it's hard to explain. But do you think the speed of the needles going in and out "not fast enough" will really matter if I use the Dermapen with the technique I mentioned in my original post? That being, I'm not actually moving the pen along the skin, just holding it there? And in what other ways can I check to tell if it's bad quality?
I'm hoping I'll be able to return it if it doesn't work properly but I'm not too sure on their policies with that. Maybe once the packaging is opened you can't return it. But that would make no sense seeing how can you test it without opening it? God, it's all so confusing.
No, don't think that it's somehow magically more effective than derma stamping. It is essentially the same thing, making holes in the skin. Just holding a dermapen in one place is even more dangerous, the needles are going in and out so fast you're going to cause way too many holes/damage. I wouldn't take this risk if I was you, it's really not worth it.
The way I checked the safety of my dermapen was, I took a sponge and placed a black piece of paper over it and used the dermapen over it as if it was my face. I then placed the paper towards the light and I could see what kind of holes it created. Black paper makes the holes a lot more visible.
Don't worry if the money just goes to waste, it's only $80, your face is a lot more important than that.
Just a word of advice, I wouldn't use that Dermapen. I've never used that particular brand myself but I can just tell from the pricepoint that it's going to be of questionable quality. Original Dermapen costs at least 500 euros, you need to be careful with this technology as you can easily cause more damage. If the needles aren't going in and out fast enough it can rip the skin. If I was you i'd ditch that and just go with a dermastamp. It's basically the same thing but risk of ripping the skin is pretty much zero.
Just my opinion.
Thanks for the advice. I considered just a derma stamp at first but ended up going with this and I'm not too sure why. Just the way this works seems like it would be more effective than me feebly stamping my skin, it's hard to explain. But do you think the speed of the needles going in and out "not fast enough" will really matter if I use the Dermapen with the technique I mentioned in my original post? That being, I'm not actually moving the pen along the skin, just holding it there? And in what other ways can I check to tell if it's bad quality?
I'm hoping I'll be able to return it if it doesn't work properly but I'm not too sure on their policies with that. Maybe once the packaging is opened you can't return it. But that would make no sense seeing how can you test it without opening it? God, it's all so confusing.
No, don't think that it's somehow magically more effective than derma stamping. It is essentially the same thing, making holes in the skin. Just holding a dermapen in one place is even more dangerous, the needles are going in and out so fast you're going to cause way too many holes/damage. I wouldn't take this risk if I was you, it's really not worth it.
The way I checked the safety of my dermapen was, I took a sponge and placed a black piece of paper over it and used the dermapen over it as if it was my face. I then placed the paper towards the light and I could see what kind of holes it created. Black paper makes the holes a lot more visible.
Don't worry if the money just goes to waste, it's only $80, your face is a lot more important than that.
Alright, you've officially scared me out of it. I'll try to return it since it hasn't arrived yet and therefore I haven't opened it. I'll have to pay return shipping but no big deal. You're absolutely right - I don't have much money to just throw around but honestly I don't care if I'm dead broke or owing money by the end of this; if my scars improve I'll be happy regardless. So I've just ordered a regular 1mm dermastamp from owndoc - hopefully they are a more trusted source?
So do you have any warnings regarding copper peptides? I admit I've even been considering sending them back as well after reading about the "uglies" online. Honestly, I'm terrified that I'll just make things worse with them too. Never been so scared in my life!
On 4/29/2014 at 5:17 PM, Polyester Girl said:On 4/28/2014 at 5:58 AM, Liquid_Ocelot said:On 4/23/2014 at 7:20 AM, Polyester Girl said:On 4/22/2014 at 10:28 PM, Liquid_Ocelot said:Just a word of advice, I wouldn't use that Dermapen. I've never used that particular brand myself but I can just tell from the pricepoint that it's going to be of questionable quality. Original Dermapen costs at least 500 euros, you need to be careful with this technology as you can easily cause more damage. If the needles aren't going in and out fast enough it can rip the skin. If I was you i'd ditch that and just go with a dermastamp. It's basically the same thing but risk of ripping the skin is pretty much zero.
Just my opinion.
Thanks for the advice. I considered just a derma stamp at first but ended up going with this and I'm not too sure why. Just the way this works seems like it would be more effective than me feebly stamping my skin, it's hard to explain. But do you think the speed of the needles going in and out "not fast enough" will really matter if I use the Dermapen with the technique I mentioned in my original post? That being, I'm not actually moving the pen along the skin, just holding it there? And in what other ways can I check to tell if it's bad quality?
I'm hoping I'll be able to return it if it doesn't work properly but I'm not too sure on their policies with that. Maybe once the packaging is opened you can't return it. But that would make no sense seeing how can you test it without opening it? God, it's all so confusing.
No, don't think that it's somehow magically more effective than derma stamping. It is essentially the same thing, making holes in the skin. Just holding a dermapen in one place is even more dangerous, the needles are going in and out so fast you're going to cause way too many holes/damage. I wouldn't take this risk if I was you, it's really not worth it.
The way I checked the safety of my dermapen was, I took a sponge and placed a black piece of paper over it and used the dermapen over it as if it was my face. I then placed the paper towards the light and I could see what kind of holes it created. Black paper makes the holes a lot more visible.
Don't worry if the money just goes to waste, it's only $80, your face is a lot more important than that.
Alright, you've officially scared me out of it. I'll try to return it since it hasn't arrived yet and therefore I haven't opened it. I'll have to pay return shipping but no big deal. You're absolutely right - I don't have much money to just throw around but honestly I don't care if I'm dead broke or owing money by the end of this; if my scars improve I'll be happy regardless. So I've just ordered a regular 1mm dermastamp from owndoc - hopefully they are a more trusted source?
So do you have any warnings regarding copper peptides? I admit I've even been considering sending them back as well after reading about the "uglies" online. Honestly, I'm terrified that I'll just make things worse with them too. Never been so scared in my life!
Before returning it, don't freak out. I'm a certified medical aesthetician. When I first started out, I couldn't afford anything over $200. I bought this specific brand and it works amazing. I love it, I've had it for over a few years and it still works great. I haven't had any accidents with it what so ever and the results are as expected. If you're scared of tearing, just up the speed a little bit, it comes with a variety of speeds.
I even use it on myself and haven't had any problems. Just make sure you buy the correct needles. Mine came with the 36 needles pack but the second time i bought some, they were too short and kindda flimsy, so be careful with that. Other than that I recommend you keep it and use it every 5 weeks, depending on your skin's reaction. The needles are what will cause tearing if they're not good.
These are the ones that have worked for me. https://www.amazon.com/Needle-Cartridge-Electric-Auto-Microneedle/dp/B00LIOXI5G/
I hope this helps 