Hi friend, today we’re going to explore an effective, permanent method of acne scar removal. Called dermarolling. In which the tool you use soooorta looks like a torture device.
Well, not sorta — it looks exactly like a torture device.
Maybe I shouldn’t have started the article with that.
Anyway, it only hurts very mildly… not so much like torture per se…. ANYWAY….
This torture device is called a dermaroller or a skin needler, and what it does is called dermarolling or microneedling.
The basic premise is this:
When you’ve got acne scars (not so much red flat marks, but deeper indented or rolling ones), the problem is that your skin has technically already healed. You had a wound (an acne spot), and then it healed and left a scar. It didn’t exactly heal in the way you wanted, but it’s healed now, so your skin views this as a low priority for fixing and filling in.
What you then do is roll the dermaroller over your skin and the micro needles create very tiny pricks in the skin… “micro traumas” as it’s so elegantly and frighteningly called. This basically “reminds” your body that there is still work to do in the area, and it begins to fill the scars back in with tissue and collagen
-Quote: me
Here’s a video of me demonstrating how to do it:
Dermarolling for Acne Scars: Not as Bad as It Sounds
So… at first I couldn’t believe this was a legit thing I would ever be recommending. After all, it sounds so aggressive.
And as you may know, I’m all about being gentle to your skin. And I still am!
There is one important thing to remember:
Don’t dermaroll on areas of your face that still have active acne! Clogged pores and red marks left from well healed pimples are ok but not over top of active inflamed spots. (Also, don’t perform skin needling on raised or keloid scarring)
Quote: me
Being aggressive and picking and squeezing and popping and pricking your skin is not how you heal from live acne wounds. It only makes it worse and more likely to scar. Think of any injury – harassing it ain’t the way to heal it.
However, this dermarolling thing has a lot of science that says that on intact, healed skin, it really helps a great deal with indented scars. So who am I to say no.
There is another thing to remember too:
Don’t do it too much!
Quote: me
You can still be aggressive with the dermaroller by simply doing it too much (which I know some of you will be attempted to do! You think that if it works, then the more the merrier, right?)
For deep scars, you really only want to do it every 6 weeks. More than that and you aren’t giving your skin sufficient time to heal and build the collagen you want – you’re only aggravating it.
Think of dermarolling like weight lifting for your skin… when you lift weights or exercise, you are creating tiny little micro tears in your muscles. This prompts your body to repair these and lay down more muscle tissue as a result, making you stronger.
However, you have to rest after the exercise in order for your body to do this repair work. If you work out too often and don’t allow enough recovery time, then you don’t get stronger and are more likely to get injured.
Choosing a Dermaroller for Treating Your Acne Scars
When it comes to dermarollers, there are different lengths of needles you can use for different purposes.
Dermarolling isn’t only for acne scars – it can also be used for improving wrinkles, cellulite, large pores, and overall skin texture. It can also be used to bring a topical moisturizer or healing serum deeper into the skin.
If you are using it for anti-aging or serum absorption purposes, you use a shorter needle and it can be done more often. For deep acne scars, you do need to use the longer needle lengths to really see results.
The unfortunate part is that the longer the needle, the more it hurts, but the payoff is that you don’t have to do it as often.
Here’re the general guideline for needle length and frequency:
To increase serum absorption and thicken the skin: 0.25 to 0.3 mm needle. Can be done every other day if your skin can tolerate it without becoming excessively dry, red, or peely.
To treat mild acne scars and decrease wrinkles and increase collagen: 0.5mm needle. Give yourself 7 days before each subsequent treatment.
To treat moderate to deep acne scars and wrinkles: 0.75 to 1mm needle. Do not do this more than once a month.
For really deep and old scars: 1.5 to 2mm needle. Can only be done every 6 to 8 weeks and if you are getting into this territory, you might strongly consider having a professional do it instead
So, when you buy a dermaroller, you want to find one that has a certain number of needles per square inch (540), is titanium, and preferably comes with a cover as to not damage the needles.
Ideally you would also find one with interchangeable heads so you could use different needle lengths for different applications. This isn’t always easy to find, but I have linked to one such set below.
Sdara Skincare 0.25 mm
Dermaroller kit with 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 mm heads
The General Dermarolling Procedure for Acne Scars
So first thing’s first… you want to make sure that your roller has been thoroughly sanitized before each use.
After all, the last thing you want to do is bring bacteria deep into the skin and cause an infection. You should take this very seriously.
After each use, rinse it off with hot water, then place the roller head completely submerged in rubbing alcohol for at least an hour. Then rinse again and allow to dry.
Before using it again, either soak it in alcohol again for for 30 minutes, or just wash it with soap and water and you’re ready to go.
Okay, so now you’re about to rock and roll. ha.
Numbing Creams for Dermarolling Acne Scars
If you are using a longer needle, you may at this point want to apply a numbing cream.
With the shorter needles, it’s not really supposed to hurt… like… for example, take your finger nail and tap the tip of it on your forehead repeatedly. Slightly uncomfortable, maybe, but not painful at all.
The longer needles, it does start to actually hurt a bit, so to do a thorough job and get the results you want on your acne scars, a numbing cream containing lidocaine might be a good idea.
I have done a pretty thorough search for a natural numbing creams, without coming up with a whole lot. Here’s the best one I could find.
But, I figure that since you will only doing the procedure with the long needles once a month maximum, it’s not the end of the world if you use a non-natural cream for this.
So anyway, take your numbing cream and put it on the areas that you will be treating and allow it to sit for 30 minutes in order to kick in.
The Dermarolling of Your Acne Scars
Okay, now you’re ready to rock and roll.
Again, here’s the how-to video:
So take your dermaroller and hold it with your index finger pressing down on the shaft.
Basically, this finger “posture” creates the downward pressure that you need to do the job properly. Just gentle pressure though — no need to be overly aggressive with it.
Now get to work. You’ll want to roll back and forth over each area of the face four to eight times first in one direction, then the other, while holding your skin tight with the other hand.
So roll up and four to eight times. Then back and forth four to eight times. Then move onto a new area.
Remember, for acne scars, you don’t have to treat your whole face. You can just spot treat the scars.
Anyway – if you’re using the longer needles, your skin is probably going to be full of tiny little red marks and probably a small bit of blood.
Rinse your face off, and then apply a moisturizer full of healing ingredients – natural oils, aloe, glycerin. Etc. Something like my DIY moisturizer.
Or you can use a good quality Vitamin C serum that contains sodium acetyl phosphate aka SAP (not ascorbic acid) and follow up with a drop of oil. I recommend the following:
- 20% Vitamin C Hyaluronic Serum – Made in Canada (avail on US & Canada amazon)
- Mad Hippie Vitamin C Serum (available on amazon and iherb)
- Face Theory Gegena C20 Serum (UK)
- Roccoco Clarifying C Serum (Aus)
What Results to Expect from Dermarolling
Be gentle with your skin after a rolling session. And don’t expect immediate results.
As with weight lifting, you don’t get huge muscles after one workout, but after several uses (providing you let your skin heal sufficiently between each session) you should start to see some filling in of the scars.
Keep going and hopefully you’ll see a big, if not full, improvement!
Would love to hear your thoughts on dermarolling. Tried it? Want to? Questions? Any advice to share? Let us know in the comments below!
11 Responses
Hi Tracy!!
First of all, it was soooo nice to see you on YouTube after so long! I I will forever be so grateful for finding your channel and website back in 2013 and for all the things I learned from you which helped me throughout my healing journey. I’ve been pretty much 100% clear for the past 3-4 years (woo hoo!), but I was left with many little pitted scars mainly on my temples and cheekbones (it’s not too terrible but it is noticeable in certain lighting); I’ve sort of accepted them as “battle wounds” lol. I’m also older now, and am seeing signs of aging (I turned 35 in April)…I can’t catch a break lol!
Anyways, I actually bought a dermaroller (0.25mm) like five years ago and it’s been sitting my closet that whole time! I decided not to use it then because my face was still healing. When I was finally acne free, I was afraid of using it and harming my skin. But, I’m thinking I may give it a try….I’ll think about it!
Hi Lorena!
Hahah when I went to upload this to youtube, it said my last video was 2 years ago!! Say whaaaaat? So yes I guess it’s been a while!
Anyway — get out your dermaroller and give it a try! The 0.25 mm will be a great introduction, that won’t hurt in the slightest bit. Although if you do have deeper acne scars, you will need one that’s longer than 0.25. 0.5 mm if your scars are mild (which is the one I’m using in the video).. but you may also need 0.75 or higher if they are quite deep and sound like they are quite old. Good luck!! Although there is plenty to say for just accepting them and realizing life can still be awesome, scars or not. So either or, good luck! 🙂
Actually, I have a 0.5mm dermaroller! It had been so long, I didn’t even remember haha. What do you cleanse your face with before dermarolling? I remember that you stopped washing your face with soaps and had been using your homemade oil. I splash my face with water when I shower, then I use an organic oil blend I found which I really like, called Everyday Oils (the unscented version) and I mix it with a few drops of Frankincense. Occasionally I’ll do a clay/honey mask and use aloe vero gel from my plant. I’m also looking into a brand I just discovered, Marie Veronique which has a great reviews. Have you heard of it?
Also, will you be posting any more life & skin updates? It would be great to hear how you are doing and what direction The Love Vitamin will be headed in. The social media and communications landscape is so different than even five years ago, and I was wondering if that has made an impact on your work/mission.
I’m wishing you all the best!
Normally I don’t wash my face with anything but water, but I do have some micellar water (I wrote an article about this recently) that I will use if I wear makeup very occasionally (and rinse it off, even though the instructions say you don’t have to rinse it off). I used that before dermarolling. I have heard of Marie Veronique. Someone in the Academy reviewed her acne treatment line and was over the moon about it. I think her ingredients look good too.
haha yes updates will happen eventually. I’ve launched a mind-body-skin one-on-one coaching program behind the scenes (only if you’re a past customer will you have heard about it), and am slowly working on revamping the Academy and re-designing the site. I also have personal projects on the go that take up some of my time – re-modeling my house and building a community climbing gym in my town. As a result — doesn’t look like much is happening on the outside. At the moment. Also yes — the crowded nature of the internet these days is certainly difficult, as it does make it more confusing and complicated to find the people who need you. Anyway — there’s a mini update for you. One day you’ll see some big updates to the Love Vitamin. I don’t have anything too interesting to report about my skin, it’s doing fine. Which is a good thing, really 🙂
Hi Tracy,
The last three years I have get dermaroller facials done by a professional. First with 1 mm and then 1,5 mm needles. Even with numbing cream, it hurts very much! I would never attempt to do this by myself, I think it should only by done by professionals. Skin sagging (I’m well over 30) and under eyes have become noticeably younger. About scars I don’t know. I have had lot of pimples but not really long term scars. Recently another professional told me that numbing cream is not really ok, it changes how the facial muscles are positioned and this can somehow cause the treatment to go “wrong”. And that doing dermarolling requires lot of knowledge about the anatomy of the face. If old dermaroller is used too many times, it can even cause more pimples (this has happened to me). And more pain, as the needles become more blunt and somehow “rusty”. I think extreme hygiene is needed with dermaroller.
At first I liked dermaroller but now I’m not so into it anymore. I don’t go to teh treatments anymore, it is too much painful and it think too much aggressive for the skin. Sorry about the negativity 🙂 This is just my experience. And you are so young and pretty I doubt you really even need this! 🙂
Hi Anna, yes good points — when using the long needles, it really does sound like it’s more tricky and best to get done by a professional!
Hey Tracy,
Good to see you back on Youtube, that’s how I first discovered you and your blog. I’ve tried dermarolling with a 0.5 roller a handful of times now but every time I do, my skin peels a couple days later, not great when I have to go work in a close office environment 5 days a week. It’ll be back to normal about 7 days after rolling. The peeling/flaking is bad enough to prevent me from rolling more than every 3+ months because I don’t want to deal with it. Have you experienced peeling? I don’t think I’m rolling too hard… but maybe? Maybe different people’s skin reacts to the rolling differently? Or maybe I need to get some Vitamin C serum?
Thanks!
Michelle
Hi Michelle!
For me the lady in the beauty salon said, that it is normal, that after dermarolling, all sh*t (sorry about the expression, that’s the word she used) comes to the surface of the skin. But what helps, is to exfoliate the skin 3-4 days after dermarolling. Skin also needs more moisture after the treatment, so use a good moisturiser. Hope this helps you! 🙂
Hi Michelle,
I haven’t experienced peeling, but I can imagine it isn’t an uncommon or problematic reaction as Anna says (aside from it not looking great). Stuff coming to the surface. I would very much think that if you did it regularly, it would stop doing it. And as Anna says, aim to exfoliate the day it starts peeling
The timing of this is great. I just started looking into derma rollers for my acne scars yesterday! Do you have any advice on how to choose one, not in terms of size, but the brand? I also had trouble finding any that had replaceable heads. I’m trying to reduce unnecessary waste. A lot of the ones for sale on Amazon just seem dubious. Of the links you provided, only the .25mm one is available.
Thank you for this site, I have been using your moisturizer recipe and it seems to have helped me. Still struggling to find the right makeup to even out my skin, but the guide you have is really helpful!
Hi Monica! Thanks, so glad you enjoyed the article! I know what you mean… I had such a hard time trying to find decent looking ones to link to. There really didn’t seem to be any! So I went with the best ones I could find (and that’s annoying that they’re all unavailable now). So unfortunately I don’t really have anything more to recommend. I really don’t understand why there is such a lack of good options, especially with the longer needles.