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Photodamage and the aging process damage the layers of the skin. Wrinkles appear due to loss of structural matrix components outside skin cells (collagen and elastin), dehydration from loss of hyaluronic acid (HA) in the tissue and overall thinning of superficial epidermal and deep dermal skin layers. Microneedling with a dermaroller involves rolling a cylindrical drum with fine needles over the skin surface.
DERMAROLLER
These rollers are available from online vendors, drug store chains and department stores for home use. The needle size ranges from 0.25mm up to 2mm in diameter and various lengths. Some rollers come with interchangeable heads containing different needle sizes. The needles are embedded in a rotating cylinder that can hold up to 200 needles. By rolling the device over the skin the needles create minuscule holes that close within minutes after the treatment without any visible traces in the epidermis or stratum corneum layers of the skin. A hand held pen with oscillating needles is also available for physician use called DermaPen. Each puncture creates a micro-channel in each punctured layer with a surrounding micro-area of inflammation (accumulation of immune cells such as neutrophils and macrophages) in response to the injury. Creation of the holes allows greater absorption of cosmeceuticals or skin creams applied to the skin surface. A healing cell proliferating process follows with formation of new small blood vessels/capillaries, replenishment of structural matrix components (collagen, proelastin, hyaluronic acid, glycosaminoglycans like glucoseamine) by recruited fibroblast cells and surface skin cells growing of the small holes resulting in a smoother skin surface with tighter pores. 6 to 8 weeks after a single treatment 1.1 to 10 fold increases in skin elastin have been found as well as new collagen formation and increased dermal thickness.
