Collagen Induction Treatment, or commonly known as Dermaroller Treatment, is a new treatment modality that offers excellent results acne scars and ageing skin.
It is an office procedure done for indications like:
- Lax skin, striae
- Wrinkling
- Rhytides
- Scarring (acne and chicken pox)
- Pigmentary changes (with vitamin C)
Acne Scars Before and Dermaroller
Introduced in 1997, it has several advantages over the common procedures done for wrinkling and scarring like ablative lasers and deep chemical peels, such as
- Epidermis remains intact
- Less downtime
- No risk of hypo or hyperpigmentation
In this procedure, skin is punctured with microneedles, thereby inducing trauma-mimic, that in turn leads to a cascade of healing process causing the production of new collagen, elastin, ground substance and new blood vessels.
Histologically, the collagen induction treatment is shown to cause
- Compact stratum corneum
- Increase in the thickness of epidermis
- Increase in the collagen and elastin, arranged in normal lattice work
Needling of the skin is carried out using an instrument called dermaroller. A standard dermaroller is a drum-shaped roller studded with presterilized 192 (or more) fine microneedles in eight rows, 0.5-2 mm in length and 0.1 mm in diameter.
Procedure: Under topical anaesthesia, the dermaroller is moved over the skin in a series of rhythmic strokes. Application of L-Ascorbic acid or Tretinoin immediately after the roller procedure helps in reducing the pigmentary changes and scarring.
For acne and acne scars, initial treatment with chemical peeling followed by Dermaroller gives excellent results. Chemical peeling reduces the acne and normalizes the skin cycle.
For aging skin, Dermaroller treatment followed by application of vitamin C gives excellent results.