Dear Dr. Liebl,
Congratulations on the new website and this wonderful blog. It is very informative and a great help to patients like me who have been struggling for years because of acne scars.
I have been a follower of your old website, carefully reading about articles on this procedure dermarolling.
This is a relatively new procedure in the Philippines and I am quite happy to know that many clinics are now offering it. I am fully aware (thru information from the old website) that your medical rollers are for one patient and SINGLE use only. However, my dermatologist insisted that it can be used up to six times (She is using the MF8, 1.5mm). Is is me, or is my understanding of english is poor, as label of the container says that it is a SINGLE USE, DISPOSABLE INSTRUMENT. Please shed us light on this issue.
Janice
Dear Janice,
Thank you forwarding this interesting issue on SINGLE USE.
Aside from the Home Care Dermaroller with needle length of only 0.15 mm, ALL medical Dermaroller models such as MF8, CIT and MS4 (needle length ranging from 0.5 to 1.5 mm) for scar treatment, skin rejuvenation etc. are SINGLE USE, DISPOSABLE, gamma sterilized medical devices class IIa, according to European directive 93/42 EEU.
The reasons for this classification is easy to understand:
• Needles longer than 0.2 mm penetrate into the dermis, and such a penetration is called invasive.
• Any instrument, even an injection needle that penetrates the skin, MUST be sterile.
• For economic reasons we manufacture the Dermaroller from plastic parts with incorporated steel needles. All parts are glued by a medical approved bonding. (We also could make the Dermaroller from metal, but this would result in an extreme high price).
• Before delivery the Dermaroller is sealed in a bag, packed in a carton and gamma sterilized, the best and most efficient way of sterilization. (For environmental and health reasons ethylene oxide gas sterilization is widely banned in Europe).
• Due to its structure the Dermaroller CANNOT be re-sterilized in an autoclave, may it be steam or hot air.
Even though we would use plastic parts (poly amid, etc.) that can stand heat above 200° C, the heat will always affect the needles, because any metal, also stainless steel, changes its molecular structure when exposed to temperatures above 100°C. The needle tip is the most difficult part to tool. And the extreme thin tip is the first part that will change its structure when exposed to high temperatures. In simple words: it will get blunt. You may not see it with the bare eye, but you definitely will feel it. Blunt or badly tooled needles (like these of all copies) result in high penetration forces, and these high penetration forces result in skin damage.
Make your own experiment with almost no cost: Put a new razor blade into an autoclave. You can bet it will never shave a hair again!
We cannot force a physician NOT to re-use a Dermaroller for a second or third treatment – hopefully on the same patient. Some of them store and soak the needling device in disinfectants or simple alcohol. This is NO safe end efficient method for sterilization! It only disinfects the device! And here we face another problem: Most of these disinfectants will, or at least, can affect the needles bonding and damage the instrument.
A physician bears responsibility for what he/she is doing, and I am sure most of them will follow the rules set out by the manufacturer. Why to take a risk where is not necessity?
And another good and most important reason NOT to re-use a medical Dermaroller that was used on scars or acne scars. The fibrotic scar tissue can be so hard that the fine needle tips are subject to extreme wear. The following treatments with this used instrument will result is poor results, high penetration forces and pain. Why should anyone take such a risk? And why to accept poorer results with a used instrument?
A price for a treatment may differ from country to country and it depends where you live. But keep in mind: in general only 2 to 4 treatments are required to fight even the worst acne scars and have them improved by at least 70 to 80% permanently (provided the procedure is done the right way and new instruments are used). Usually physicians sell a “treatment” and that includes the device, and here I mean a NEW one.
We know that the Dermaroller is a perfect instrument for an effective treatment, and that is the reason why it was copied to often. But always keep one important point in mind: Copiers never invest in science, they only copy (devices and pictures) but do not understand the philosophy behind an instrument. They use cheap materials for a quick Dollar, and the customer is the cheatee.
Of course a copier will always recommend the reuse of his falsification many times. And why? Their needles are of such a poor quality that it does not matter if they are used once or if they are re-sterilized. Dull is dull and will stay dull.
Best regards
Horst Liebl