Gold-plated Titanium needles and Melasma dermarolling

[SarahVaughter]

>I am interested in derma rolling and have read that titanium needles are better than surgical steel.

>What validity does this argument hold?



Although Titanium implants are considered safe, we at the moment advise against using dermarollers with Titanium needles because there is some concern that metallic Titanium, when it gets into the bloodstream or disperses into tissue, can cause cancer:

https://http://www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc24.htm#PartNumber:6

Furst (1971) reported that titanium metal (pure powder of at

least 200 mesh) injected intramuscularly in 6 monthly doses, each

of 6 mg in 0.2 ml trioctanoin, induced 2 fibrosarcomas in 25 male

and 25 female Fisher-344 inbred rats and lymphosarcomas in 3 out of

25 males. Fibrosarcomas or lymphomas were not seen in the controls

given trioctanoin alone.

(3 in 25 is 12 in 100, meaning that 12% of lab rats developed cancer after having been exposed to Titanium metal in the second experiment, and 8% in the first experiment. Zero rats in the control group developed cancer.) Noone knows what the effect is of creating thousands of holes in the lower skin layers and "rubbing" Titanium into them.

You have to understand that dermaroller needles get blunt because the metal of their tips disappears deep into the skin. That is the actual process of blunting. The tips are "dissolved" and "chafed" by the skin. Seen the aforementioned study and the relatively large percentage of rats that ended up with tumors, we can not assume that monthly rolling with Titanium needles is safe. This research creates cause to suspect a long-term risk of skin cancer, using Titanium needles. There is even a greater risk in case of dermarolling as opposed to the rat experiment: With dermarolling, you are puncturing many cells, sometimes reaching the cell nucleus where the DNA resides. If finely-dispersed metallic Titanium indeed is carcinogenic as the research suggests, then you do NOT want small Titanium particles reaching skin cell DNA.

Another thing: There do not exist "home-rolling" dermarollers with Titanium needles.

Beware: The Medik8 roller, for example, has brass needles, not "gold-plated Titanium"..



I know it sounds biased, but I say it anyway: This Medik8 roller is in fact the absolute cheapest roller on the market - you can compare its plastic handle with that of the rollers that are for sale for less than ten dollars from eBay - which are absolute rubbish, they often have bent needles straight from the factory and in that case tear up the skin - you can be lucky and get one from a good batch, but they blunt quickly and have a whole lot of other problems such as a bending handle, making it impossible to exercise proper pressure. Bent needles are a huge problem with the cheaper rollers. If they aren't bent from the box, they'll bend later, due to the quality of the steel. I never make disparaging remarks about competing products - except when I am asked to comment, and when it is clear to us that the product is being deliberately misrepresented by its vendor.

There exist rollers with gold-plated Titanium needles, but those rollers cost a fortune (hundreds of dollars each) and are intended to be used on multiple patients and therefore they can be sterilized in an autoclave (using very high temperatures) and have an all-metal construction. Meaning that the roller that has the needles embedded, as well as the handle it is attached to, are made of metal, not some cheap injection-molded plastic. Such rollers are very heavy and are only used by licenced medical professionals (usually plastic surgeons) in expensive private beauty clinics. And these rollers have needle lengths of around 3 mm and turn the face into a bloody mess of minced meat. These rollers do exist, but not in the home-rolling market.