I'm curious to know if its necessary to needle blemishes deep enough to make it bleed and/or see blood serum afterward.

The reason I ask is because I have needled my skin several times over the last couple of years, not always drawing blood, and maybe on one occasion (after applying numbing gel) saw blood serum afterward.

The people on the forum, those of which I was able to see photos of, appear to have had more success than I have when it comes to CIT.

When I needle my blemishes, I apply to cleansed skin, then a light amount of isopropyl alcohol on the area I needle, sterile needle, derma stamp or roller, and then I immediately (and gently) massage either a salicylic acid peel, LacSal, CP Serum, Super CP Serum, or most recently 3% GHK cream into the needled scars, and retinol in squalane or celes oil on top. Every other needling session, I switch from an acid to CP or vice versa.

The skin gets VERY crusty for a couple of days, and flakes off on its own or comes off in the shower, or while washing my face... and the blemishes are still obvious even though they have smoothed out a bit since I began using SkinBiology products and needling my skin.

I'm just wondering if I'm needling wrong or something. I've read all the material there is to read on CIT on this website, and as much as I can absorb on the intranet. I don't even needle as much as some people here on the forum, which may be my downfall? I only needle about once per month or every other month. I'm just afraid to needle too much. Is needling deeper the answer? So many conflicting answers on the internet. Some doctors say that you don't need to see blood, others say you need to see blood and blood serum...

Help?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: SkinBiologyWebmaster,

Dear pinkdervish:

Great question! Perhaps others will post back with their experiences.

Of course, Skin Biology recommends to only use your needling device exactly as directed according to the length of needle and brand that you own. You will want to be sure to avoid overuse.

Most at-home needling devices should not draw any blood (but may result in a little bit of redness).

Be sure to consult the manufacturer of the particular device you own.

The importance of avoiding overuse is that too much can result in always trying to resolve the damage not only from the scar tissue but now from the overuse/misuse of the device, so that the individual finds that they aren't gaining much ground.

What we've found in our experience is that: Slow is always better and Less is more.

That's what we have found works best over the long term.

Best Wishes,
-Skin Biology