Dry Tattooing for Stretch Marks - Manchester, GB

I've just had the first of three dry tattooing treatments for 20+ year old stretch marks I developed during puberty. I had my arms, breasts, and hips treated. (I have a lot of stretch marks -- if these areas respond satisfactorily, I will return to have my back and thighs done as well.) The treatment took three hours. It was not painless, but it was tolerable. It stung in places, despite the used of topical anaesthetic, and burned afterward. In response to tattooing the marks initially turned deep red and tender and are now purple and starting to itch. I have micropore tape over them and am moisturizing them to promote skin healing.
In the past I tried Fraxel on my arms, but it didn't produce much change. I also tried micro-needling at home with a dermapen. Microneedling produced noticeable results, but I found it very unpleasant and difficult to do myself. I couldn't get the needles to go in far enough or get the density of punctures I wanted. After doing a lot of research and saving up money, I decided to take the plunge and book a course of dry tattooing treatments. It is really expensive, but on par with the costs of laser, I think. I could probably have found someone to do it for less money, but I wanted an experienced provider. I am also taking bovine collagen supplements, after learning that a double blind study showed significant improvements after 8 weeks (i.e. contrary to many posts there is actually scientific evidence supporting collagen supplementation). In addition I am eating a healthy diet with lots of protein, vitamin C, fruits, veggies, fish, and taking various vitamins and minerals involved in collagen production. I will update my review as my treatment proceeds. Fingers crossed for significant improvement!

I'm over a month post my second treatment. First, the good -- there is significant improvement in the marks on my arms. They are thinner, more shallow, less shiny, and significantly less noticeable. I can still see them if I stretch my arm out straight, but when I hold my arm up in a relaxed position, they are barely noticeable, whereas they use to be quite noticeable in this position.

Next, the unsettled -- the marks on my hips have changed on the surface to match the colour of the surrounding skin, but underneath are still darker (pink/brown healing colour), if that makes sense. They are not translucent in the same way as the marks on my legs below them that have not been treated. However, they are obviously still settling, so I can't say for sure if they will be improved, or by how much.

Now, the not so good -- the wide marks on my breasts not only don't look any better, they actually feel like they may have deepened! They also seem a bit narrower though. So I am not seeing much, if any, improvement there. I will look into laser if they don't satisfactorily improve.

So, at this stage, I would heartily recommend this treatment for stretch marks on arms, not sure whether I would recommend for hips, and I might recommend *against* it for breasts. However, everyone responds differently, so someone else might have different results... My tattooist did say that marks on breast are hard to treat in general, though.

I will update soon with some photos, and update again after my last treatment.