Vitamin A, vitamin C Salicylic acid

[Anders]

Dear Sarah!

Thank you so much for your wonderful service. I am a 40 year old male struggling with acne scars on my face and on my back (bacne scars). A few months ago I ordered the 1,5 dermastamp and single needles + vitamin C + Infadolan and now I am planning to start the needling. I have a few questions since I want to achieve the best results possible:

1. I do not tolerate tretinoin very well, not because of the irritation so much but because it makes me look terribly shiny, no matter what I apply to keep the shine away. I get a kind of waxy look not flattering for a guy..... Reading on Des Fernandez Environ-site he says that people not using vitamin A do not benefit from the needling procedure..... Is this really true or is this pure marketing of his own products? If I use Infadolan post needling which has vitamin A in it, isn´t this enough?

2.  Vitamin C, I cannot stand the smell too many days in a row, I am sorry.... but after a few hours on my skin a smell developes, almost like the DHA self-tanning smell but far worse which for some reason is very strong on me. Probably very few people have this problem since I cannot find many writing about it. It also lingers a few days after my last application despite washing and showering. I would love use this everyday if it wasn´t forthe smell but have decided to use it 5 days before my needling-sessions. Is this enough?

3. I use a salicylic acid 2% -lotion everyday which keeps my skin looking smoother and fresher. Is this alright to use in between the dermarolling-sessions or will the lotion cancel out the collagen-stimulating effect, since salicylic acid is anti-inflammatory?

Again thank you for your service and for answering my questions.

Kind regards/Anders

[SarahVaughter]

1. You will get results without any products. The products just help forming the ideal environment in the skin for skin regeneration. If you do not like A-Ret, do not use it.

  2. Strange.. Vit. C crystals in water are almost odorless. I do not understand how the smell develops. It has never happened to me. Is your vit. C serum fresh? Put in a clean container? Yes, you can use it just for 5 days prior to needling.

   

3. No problem with using salicylic acid or anything else. The advice not to apply strong anti-inflammatory substances is only for immediately after dermarolling.

[Anders]

Dear Sarah!

Thank you for your reply. I am grateful that I can stick to my routine. I have one more question though for you or for someone else on the forum who might know:

Will repeated dermarolling with 1,5 mm stamp/roller cause any kind of invisible damage to the skin?

A laser surgeon here in Sweden who performs CO2 laser resurfacings indicated that using the dermaroller can make me an unsuitable patient in the future for this procedure.... He said that there might be a risk since the dermaroller could make microscarring causing problems with the laser later on... I hope that the dermaroller turns out to be the answer so that this is a non-issue for me.

Please Sarah or someone else, shed some light on this matter.

Best regards/Anders

[SarahVaughter]

Unless he has any concrete evidence for "microscarring" - and I have never seen this anywhere in the medical trials on microneedling - I'm assuming that he just doesn't like microneedling as competition for his much more expensive laser treatment.

Also, I don't see how "microscarring" can cause any problems with the laser, and I wonder how he knows that "microscarring can cause problems with laser-treatment". Sounds like FUD to me.

[soon]

Hello Good people

Layering query....

Should I leave any time between applying 2% salcylic lotion & Vit C ?

I generally do one straight after the other then apply Vit A cream 30 mins later.

Thanks