The redness of red stretch marks is usually caused by erythema – dilation of blood vessels in the stretch mark. You can check this by strongly pressing a finger into the stretch mark. When you release your finger, the stretch mark is whitish for a short while until the blood returns.
When stretch marks mature, they become white with an atrophied epidermis and dermis, tangled elastic fibers and damaged collagen.
Needling or rolling red stretch marks will temporarily make them even more red due to inflammation. If you needle densely and deeply, the redness may last more than two weeks but it will always subside.
In individuals with darker skin, stretch marks are sometimes brown due to a higher concentration of Melanin in them (Melanin is the skin pigment that gives skin its color).
Dermabrasion and acid peels were in some cases successful in making red stretch marks less red and a dermaroller should have a similar effect, eventually.
A dermaroller cannot fix the dilation of blood vessels but it speeds up the skin's turnover, which should speed up the processes in the scar.
The most important thing is that by making micro-holes into the scar, it will trick the body into fixing the micro-damage and remodeling that area.
It is very difficult to say whether you receive better results with red or white marks. Some other methods that attempted to improve stretch marks/scars were more successful with fresh marks/scars than with older ones. Whether this is also the case with dermarolling still has to be established. Just as it is not yet known whether dermarolling could partially prevent the formation of stretch marks.
There are studies where Retin A slightly improved red stretch marks (it did not improve white ones). You should try to needle Retin A into individual stretch marks. Do a test patch first. It will sting and it will make the scar temporarily very red. If you are pregnant, do not needle it in.
We have customers who reported that dermarolling + needling significantly improved their red and white stretch marks or acne scars and they are very satisfied but we also have customers who did not achieve much, or any improvement.