Dermatologist tomorrow; Questions re: Dermarolling?

[clandestine]

Dr. is the dermatologist, and M is Myself.

Dr: Micro needling is becoming popular; it increases absorption and delivery of whatever it is you want to deliver. You’re making tiny holes, much like the size of a pixel on a screen, maybe a little bigger. And theyre going down to a depth of where your collagen is, so we’re doing that for wrinkles, […] where your hair follicle is. It’s not fun, I mean, it hurts. So we have to numb your whole head, and put a gel on, and we microneedle you, and then yes, you could go home and use Rogaine.

M: What sort of a depth would be appropriate to microneedle at?

Dr: Well, there’s different sizes. (0.5mm, 1.0mm, etc.)

M: The study I believed used 1.5mm.

Dr: I’m happy to try it if you want. I mean, it’s a decent journal. The thing about scientific activity is it shouldn’t be sponsored by a drug company, as it will be biased, it should be in a reputable journal, peer reviewed by other non biased people. The study is blinded, too, which is good.

M: They rolled once a week though[..] pretty frequently. I was wondering if I could do it on my own?

Dr: You can’t. Well, actually no, we have one that doesn’t go that deep that you take with you. The home ones are actually just 0.2mm, so they don’t go very deep.

M: So for home use it’d be like a 0.2mm type of thing, nothing deeper?

Dr: Well you can’t, right? Otherwise it hurts. But it’s actually an interesting concept. It’s actually very interesting. It’s something I might look into using for alopecia patients, like alopecia areata.

M: Are there any risks with microneedling; is there any risk of scarring?

Dr: No. Even with deeper needles, like the 1mm, no.

M: I’ve read that for acne scars people use up to around a 2mm.

Dr: We have that for scarring, for example for people who have pock marking from acne.

M: And even with that you feel there’s no risk?

Dr: No. You wouldn’t do it then, if there was a risk.

///

I didn't get to ask about cancer, sorry boys. My mom was in the room and it's not something I felt comfortable asking at the time.

Risk of infection has been discussed elsewhere, and information regarding it can be found on the owndoc forums.

I touched on wounding, which is not in the excerpt, but she didn't seem to know much of anything about it. She touted Propecia and Rogaine and the only current viable hair loss solutions.

The discussion focused primarily on risk of scarring, which the Dr. feels there is none, even with higher mm penetration (what I gathered).

Hopefully this can give some insights, and I apologize for not covering the breadth of questions asked in this thread. I hope its a start to better understanding this treatment.

Thanks.

[NeedHairASAP]

lol sounds like he was trying to sell you on a treatment.... sad to see docs can't look out for whats best anymore...

"can I do it at home"

"no"

lol

[clandestine]

lol sounds like he was trying to sell you on a treatment.... sad to see docs can't look out for whats best anymore...

"can I do it at home"

"no"

lol

They were, essentially, but that's what dermatologists do.

The Dr. apparently felt 0.2 was appropriate for home use, but fvck that.

[LevonHelms]

Great job, Clan! Thanks for sharing, that diffused my fear of scarring.

I had doubted doctors would be enthusiastically recruiting patients for needling, if they thought there was any risk of it coming back to bite them in the ass.
But it was good to hear from the horse's mouth.

The Dr also seemed to feel confident in the legitimacy of the study, correct?

[Pentarou]

Thanks for the info, Clan.

[Chromeo]

Great job, Clandestine. Thanks for that.

[Conpecia]

Nice job Clan!

[PatientlyWaiting]

So he/she said he/she will try it on alopecia areata patients. Do you think he/she feels dermarolling will be effective for alopecia areata patients?