I never thought that I would one day consider the idea of pricking my face with over 500 needles. To be completely honest, not only did it sound horrifying and slightly masochistic, but also ludicrous that it could help solve one of my biggest insecurities: my acne scars.
Sadly I am not one of the lucky ones gifted with beautiful, problem-free skin. My T-zone is incredibly oily, my cheeks are covered with dry patches, and to top it all off, my skin is acne-prone. This delightful combination of maladies have made me desperate to try anything to tame it. To make matters even worse I’m a popoholic, a group of people not only fascinated with pimple popping but also unable to resist doing it on ourselves. So not only do my frequent breakouts drive me insane, but I cannot resist touching them. I know this is the last thing you are supposed to do, but my subconscious always manages to convince me that the potential scarring caused by popping them will not be as horrible as leaving that ugly red and white blob on my face for another second. Therefore because of my skin picking tendencies my face is now plagued with red splotches and craters that are entirely my fault.
So when I learned that there was a tool out there that could help me get rid of them, I was all for it. Now I am no stranger to scar fading creams, oils, or exfoliators. I have spent countless hours on Pinterest and Google scouring for home remedies to make these marks disappear or at least less noticeable. I had practically given up on my search, resigning myself to forever having to use makeup to cover them up, when I stumbled across a Youtube video on dermarolling.Initially the process sounds awful. Who in their right mind would willingly roll tiny needles repeatedly on their skin? While I almost immediately dismissed the idea, I could not help but wonder if this could be the savior I have been looking for.
In summary, the science behind dermarolling is that the needles cause small puncture wounds in your skin, causing the body to send countless nutrients and healing agents to the sites of damage to repair itself. The most famous healing agent is collagen, also known as nature’s anti-aging superhero. When the skin is damaged, collagen is stimulated to help close up the wound along with providing elasticity to the new skin created. The production of new skin helps rid the old skin of discoloration and uneven texture. In my case, the collagen would potentially help fix the red discoloration and uneven texture of my acne scars.
Long story short after reading many articles and reviews, I was sold. I quickly snatched a dermaroller off of Amazon for only $15. For the cheap price it seemed like little harm in adding something new to my skin care regimen. My first time dermarolling was nerve racking which I assumed is pretty much expected as I was purposefully stabbing myself in the name of perfect skin. In regards to my experience, I would not say the process hurt as much as I expected, but this could be due to having a relatively high pain tolerance. Despite the pain, because naturally you do feel the pricking and poking, my skin was definitely red and tingly for a while but nothing too dramatic.
*photo courtesy of LOOK magazine*
It is hard to judge the effectiveness of dermarolling as I have only been used it a couple of times. Most studies claim that the best results occur after a few months of use, but slight changes should be seen after a few weeks. Doctors recommend only doing the procedure about one to two times a week, or less frequently for dermarollers with longer needles (the longer the needle, the more down time necessary for the skin to heal).
At least for me, I will continue to dermaroll in an effort to see if I can gain the long-term benefits it promises. However, for now at least I can say that it does make me feel more confident knowing that I am actively doing something to treat myself and make myself feel more comfortable in my own skin. So in the case of dermarolling, is beauty pain? For now, yes to the pain, and still hoping for the beauty.