(At Home) Derma Roller for Acne Scarring, Female, Age 31, Light Olive Skin

I am writing to review my experience with derma rolling at home.I have light olive skin, female, age 31.I don't have wrinkles, I have some very faint fine lines but these are not my main concern, I roll for acne scarring improvement. I have some moderate acne scarring that needs attention while I am saving up for a more expensive treatment. I got the dermaroller in 0.5mm first. It's the MT roller. I got it on ebay for around $6. After my first treatment, I ordered a second roller, this time a 1.0 mm roller. The second one was also an MT roller since I liked the first one so much, and the price is the same. I hoped to work to a 2.0, but for now I am going to continue with the 1.0. I have rolled three times now.
The first time I rolled, it wasn't as aggressive because it was a smaller needle. The second time, it was more aggressive, due to the longer needles and also because I wanted to see if the results would be better if i rolled more aggressively.
I will speak about the second and third time, which were similar experiences. The first roll was more of a trial to see if i could tolerate/ to see if it was a waste of time. I want to start out by saying that the results are subtle and gradual. Rolling extremely aggressively or too frequently is going to be conter productive. If you are an impatient person, please restarin yourself from over doing it! It's not going to help. Collagen takes time to develop and bild and rolling too frequently will damage collagen formation. Rolling too aggressively could result in more scarring. I roll once every 5-6 weeks. I keep my roller in a ziploc bag inside the plastic case it came with. I start out by cleaning off my bathroom counter with disinfectant, then I lay out a clean towel. I also have a clean small towel and a clean bowl. I lay my skin creams (will explain later) out on the opposite side of the counter out of the way. i pour some alcohol into the bowl. ( enough to submerge the end of the roller in.) I soak the end of my roller in alcohol, then dry it with the small towel. Then I start to roll on the right side of my face, on my cheeks under my eyes and on the side of my nose, then on the cheeks by my ear and side of my face. I do get some pinpoint bleeding, however not too much, i don't want to over do it. Every now and again I clean the end of the roller with the alcohol, pat it dry, then keep going. Once i have the whole right cheek and side of my face area rolled, I apply a Vitamin C serum, a second serum. a retinol cream, then a Vitamin C cream. I know it's alot but I figure it can't hurt. Then I repeat the same thing on the opposite side of my face, then my forehead. I do my nose and under my eyes as best i can, but I need to order a smaller roller for small areas. I do the sides of my mouth and chin last. I am not as aggressive here because I don't really have issues with this area of my skin.
The second time I rolled, my skin broke out a little on the sides of my mouth a few days after rolling. Because of the pinpoint bleeding, redness and recovery time, I wold advise not to roll if you need to wear a full face of makeup for a couple days ( like if you have an important event, job interview, etc.) The down time isn't major but for a couple days your face is a little red and puffy. It's very normal that your skin will start to peel a bit a few days after.
I know some people have gone on to write reviews immediately after rolling and given impressions that were a favorable due to the swelling and plumping of the skin being mistaken for results that are better than they really are. The plumping will subside. your true results (like I said earlier) are much more subtle and gradual. Your skin will continue to improve slowly throghout the period in between rolling. Don't get discouraged or try to rush it. It won't happen overnight.... be patient and consistent or just don't waste your time. I will post some pictures once there is enough of a difference to see some good noticeable change, which i am guessing won't be for at least 8-10 months. I do see subtle changes in my skin already but i am not sure if it's enough for photos just yet.
Just make sure you keep your tools clean and disinfected, be patient and consistent, that's my advice. It's a lot less expensive and simple to do at home for those of us on a budget. Thanks for reading and best of luck :)

The yellowing on the first photo is due to an issue with my camera, and the photo isn't optimal but it's the best "before" I have. The second is the progress so far after three rolls. The improvement is very subtle but it has improved a little. Not sure why realself site downsizes the photos almost to the point of having to bust out a pair of glasses. Anyway here is the photo.

I just did my fourth roll which will be the last roll for quite some time as I am having laser done next month. I won't even attempt to roll for at least 4-6 months after that (probably 6.)This was my most agressive roll to date- I had some pipoint bleeding but it's really surface. I am attaching some photos of how it looks after my roll. it doesn't look as red in real life.

Yesterday I rolled again for the first time since my laser treatment. In about a month I will update with a photo, once any results are evident. I rolled a bit more agressively than normal. My face bled a lot. I think the bleeding was a result of taking an OTC pain reliever that is a blood thinner. Today my skin is still swollen and a little red. When it's swollen like it is now, it seems like the results are better than they are. Oh one more thing, after rolling I used some Lancôme collaser 5x stuff for collagen boosting in addition to some strivectin resurfacing serum and some vitamin c cream.

I thought it would be a good time for an update since it's been awhile. I haven't been rolling often because it takes a while to recover and if I have places to be I don't like to go out in public with sores or scabs on my face, it's embarrassing. I plan on rolling tomorrow which is going to be Labor Day. My mother-in-law has a Tria age defying laser and I'm going to use the tria on my skin directly after the dermal roll. I'm posting some pictures of what my skin looks like currently and in 30 days I'll post some after pictures.

Just wanted to share a quick photo of how my skin looked after rolling followed directly by the tria laser. It is still pretty red right now, 24 hours post and my scars still have micro-swelling. The photo I'm sharing here is not the after result, just a photo if the amt of redness I incurred. And yes it hurt lol but I really want to see some results, hopefully this pays off. After the roll and laser I put my usual regimen of like 7 creams and serums. I'm going to start back up the retin a too, and in 1 month I will post a new progress photo. Here is the redness level pic: cute, right ? Lol

Here are my serums I use after rolling.

These are my post results side by side with my before photos. The before photos are from my skins' original condition, at the beginning of my journey. I cringe looking at those pics. Please keep in mind that I have had laser treatment once. I would say my skin has improved about 50 to 70 percent, and I am continuing on my journey. I'm getting married and I want to have beautiful skin ( at least comparitively speaking.) of the 70 percent, it's been about half of the improvement from the laser and the other half from derma rolling. If you can afford laser of course I recommend that but if you can not afford laser multiple times a year, like myself, I recommend derma rolling. If you can combine the two ( of course with a healing time after laser, by all means) then you may be able to reduce the number of laser treatments you need. With derma rolling alone it will take 10 times as long, but at almost no cost. You will see results but you have to stick with it and be consistent. I just had to replace my roller because it was getting worn and I decided to go up to the 2mm. I am not gonna post any more pics here except to post my final results. Not sure when that will be. Hopefully soon lol but not betting on that. I will still come back and answer questions in the comments from my own personal experience. Anyway, here are the pics and best of lucky to anyone dealing with this horrible skin problem. Retin A also helps :)

One of the commenters below requested a photo of the roller I use so I am attaching it here. I did not set out to endorse any particular brand but since someone asked I use the MT roller and it was like $6 on eBay. I know other companies make them at varying price points. I got great results with the inexpensive one. There are other brands but I really just chose the one I chose based on the color and the design. The other brands probably work just as good.

Here are a couple of quick photos

Per request I am writing to update my review. My scars look more shallow now, some of them are almost gone. My skin has improved about 80% from when I began. I have been using the 2.0 mm derma roller and its much more intense than the 1.0. The blood level is increased. I also have more down time. I am averaging 3-5 days of down time. My face looks like tenderized meat. I rolled on Sunday morning, it's Tues night currently and tomorrow my face should be returning to its normal color. It's still peeling though. My skin seems to be constantly peeling since I had lasers done. I had also needled my scars individually with a single needle. I would recommend this method for boxcar or rolling scars, but if you have ice pick scars skip it, it will make it worse. I have found a few makeup tricks to make my scars less noticeable. There are a couple of primers I picked up; If anyone wants to try those out I got samples from sephora before purchasing. I recommend getting the sample first because they are expensive. It made my skin look smoother and made my pores look filled in and blurred. I don't know if I'm allowed to name the products on here though. Before I couldn't even hide my scars with makeup so I'm excited about that. I'd love to find some good skincare items to improve my skin texture. I've noticed some fine lines under my eyes from retin A under one eye only. Not too happy about that. I'll post some photos later, my skin is still red today from rolling over the weekend. Best of luck to everyone reading this :)

Here are a couple photos of my skin with 2 primers, one on top and one underneath my foundation.

So I'm getting married in a week. I had noticed awhile back that there was a little red spot on the side of my nose. It had been there for over a year without healing. I had a biopsy (punch) done to make sure it wasn't anything bad because skin cancer runs on both sides of my family. The woman who did it said she would stitch it afterward so I wasn't too worried at that point. Well the lady who did it didn't know what she was doing and she kept pressing the 3mm tool into the side of my face. Like 10-15 times! Finally she gave up & cut it out with a scalpel! Then she refused to stitch it! Long story short I was left with a deep hole on the side of my nose far worse than any of my existing scars. It was about the size of a pencil eraser. Needless to say I was devastated! I even went to a scar specialist an hour away & he said nothing could be done until 3 months from now. He said it would not improve much between then and my wedding, it would basically look the same.At that point my wedding was 3 weeks away and I was frantic! It wasn't scanning over it was just a deep hole that you couldn't cover with makeup because the makeup just sunk into the area. I started putting retin a in it after I saw the specialist. Miraculously it filled in almost completely within a week. I can't believe it still. I visited my plastic surgeon yesterday & he said not to put retin a anymore because it could irritate it. So far it had not irritated it though. Anyway I just wanted to share that little horror story with you guys. Lol

Today I used a fun new tool. I got a derma stamp, and now I feel like where have you been all my life? I really like it. The one I got is orange, and I got it on eBay. It's a 2.0 mm one. I feel like the derma stamp has more precision than the roller. I am probably going to use it in conjunction with the roller, zeroing in on the scars with the stamp. It was slightly more than the roller at $10, because this time I ordered it from an American seller so it would arrive in the mail more quickly. The blood level was about the same. Here is a pic of a derma stamp similar to the one I have.

I have something I am excited to share. I am going to be doing an at home Tca cross review in the upcoming months as soon as o see the results of my labor. If you are interested in treating acne scars at home check it out! I am going to get rid of these scars completely one way or another and I will be sharing my experience for anyone who is interested. More to come :)

My TCA cross review is up for those interested. :)