Newbie here. Wife of subject and now drafted to be dermaroller practitioner on said subject
I'm a HUGE over researcher. I found dermarolling for my own use for lines/wrinkles/skin tone, etc, then stumbled on it for hair loss. DH is a non-responder to minoxidil, hair loss is still getting worse, but still uses it daily. I've read a bunch of this thread now and I just really, really question using anything but the dermarolling alone. I know that seems counter-intuitive, but hear me out.
Dermatologists have a LOT of money to lose if dermarolling alone works for fine lines and even deep wrinkles, not to mention acne scarring. They invest like $100k in machines and have to recoup their losses. They also need patients in the door, so they have to create NEED. If everyone can kind of dramatically improve their aging faces at home ... for maybe $20 ... well that's a problem. Less plastic surgeries, less in-office peels, less $, less everything. So now everyone's talking about the vampire facial, which is basically dermarolling with PCP. They are also getting into dermarolling with radiofrequency, and yes, that's yet another machine for them to buy (one version: Profound). There are NO controlled studies that I've found yet that show a drastic difference using PCP, and the docs can charge upwards of $1000 a session for dermarolling plus pcp.
Now take it to the hair loss arena. The one study that showed rolling alone and rolling with minoxidil - and the result was the top two rated results equaled out between the two. Showed no real advantage to minoxidil. I used to be a drug rep and I know how this game works, especially on the cosmetic improvement side of derm and plastic surgeon's offices.
Anyone else have thoughts/ideas on this? Doesn't it make sense that cosmetic doctors of all kinds have to create a NEED, especially if dermarolling works as well by itself as they're seeing? And let's not forget the companies that make minoxidil under different labels.
The only study I know of that compared rolling alone and rolling with minoxidil showed a massive advantage to using minoxidil. Group 2 was the microneedling only group, while group 3 used microneedling with minoxidil.
METHODS:
Randomized subjects received topical 5% minoxidil (group 1, n = 20), local electrodynamic microneedle treatments (group 2, n = 20), or local electrodynamic microneedle treatments plus topical 5% minoxidil (group 3, n = 20).
RESULTS:
The mean improvement in total hair density from baseline to 24 weeks was 18.8/cm2 in group 1, 23.4/cm2 in group 2, and 38.3/cm2 in group 3.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29028377
