Microneedling Therapy – Dr. Joseph Bivens Dermapen® Review

Micro Needling Therapy

Marina Kufa is a surgical technologist who assists in surgeries as well as performs lighter treatments, less aesthetic and more medical. She is very interested in micro needling therapy including tattoo removal with Dermapen.

Using Dermapen micro needling therapy primarily on scars, acne scars and stretch marks, Marina loves not only the results and treatment tolerability with Dermapen, she is thrilled with the ease of use. Her treatments may require an hour so it’s important to her that Dermapen is lightweight and comfortable to use—in her words, “a very handy, high quality device.” Other devices she has used for medical purposes may be much less comfortable to use and may even be prone to rapid overheating (another plus for Dermapen not heating up). Marina also likes that disposable tips are easy to change. She went as far as to say, “I like everything about Dermapen.”

One key treatment involves using Dermapen on keloid scarring, a patient for which she did a single treatment using just the hyaluronic acid moisturizing slippage. She described a sort of deflation of the keloid which didn’t go away after a week, so she tried something new using diluted kenalog (steroid used for keloids). First, Dermapen at 2.5 mm depth to make holes, paint on the diluted steroid, then drive it in with two to three more passes. “Because of the way keloid scars develop and are resolved, it’s hard to say if we’re ready to expect a good result at the end but we’re going forward with once-a-week sessions.”

Marina is early in marketing Dermapen micro needling therapy aggressively although it’s on facebook for Dr. Bivens’ practice in Vegas. She’s curious about going further since she bought the marketing package. She charges $500 for a detailed, careful treatment of the full face and neck which takes a full hour.

Despite loving micro needling therapy with Dermapen and having had a good experience with the company, Marina had a lot to say about room for improvement. In her experience practitioners may be aware of Dermapen but the public is not, so television (or even radio) exposure nationwide might drive business. She talked about the Lifestyle Lift’s success moving from a locally-performed procedure to a nationwide procedure because of TV exposure [I can attest, I’ve seen the commercials even though I think it’s probably overhyped]. Her words: “If you would just show what Dermapen can do for scars and stretch marks before and after, on TV, it would be amazing.” Marina also thinks the deeper needles should be given more exposure to practitioners because “the superficial ones might make a nice facial but you must go deeper for medical indications like scars or stretch marks.” She added that one great thing is Dermapen’s utility as an alternative to lasers, which she says people want to avoid because of downtime and potential risks.

As with others, Marina is too early into Dermapen to have B&As but is eager to share later.

INTERVIEW

Right now I use Dermapen for scars and stretch marks primarily, and I’m interested in seeing how Dermapen can be used in tattoo removal. I work primarily on the medical level rather that the aesthetic. I’m trying it out on a keloid scar on one patient for a reduced price since it’s my first time, we’ve done two treatments so far. We’re still early on but so far we’re looking good. It’s good to have a nice alternative to lasers that works for stretch marks and acne scars.

Keloids are hard to treat but you can use Dermapen with Kenalog (steroid), which you dilute and use instead of the hyaluronic acid you usually use. Kenalog is a steroid that stops the collagen growth in the keloid, you inject it to stop the growth and help minimize the scar. First treatment I just used the hyaluronic acid as we normally use with Dermapen, and we noticed a sort of deflation of the scar that did not go away. For the next treatment session we used Dermapen at 2.5 mm depth to make a zone of micro-incisions, applied the topical fluid with the Kenalog, and used Dermapen to drive it in with two or three passes. Because of the way keloid scars develop and how they are resolved, it’s hard to say if we’re ready to expect a good result at the end, but we’re going forward with once-a-week sessions.

I like everything about Dermapen. It’s a very handy, high quality device. The disposable needle cartridges are easy to change, the device isn’t heavy and doesn’t overheat easily. We may spend an hour using Dermapen so it is important that it is so comfortable to use. Some devices used in medical procedures and surgeries I assist in may overheat quickly, so Dermapen is very convenient.

Right now I’m not using Dermapen in combination with other things. I plan to try using Dermapen on a tattoo of a patient when she comes in for her facial treatment.

We have Dermapen on facebook and we signed up doing marketing with you guys, so I need to know more how that works. So far it’s been word of mouth. I charge $500 for Dermapen facial treatment, and I am very careful and detailed, doing part of the neck as well. One could do it in a half hour but I am careful and do a large area so I take about an hour. I don’t have B&A pictures yet, won’t for a few months. We’ve done treatments for scars and stretch marks but not the full course for anyone yet.

It would be very helpful if they did advertisements on TV. Honestly, people don’t know about Dermapen yet. Us who do treatments know about it, but a commercial on TV or even radio would help make people come in looking for Dermapen. TV is huge, just look at the Lifestyle Lift, it’s nationwide now because people see it on TV. If you show scars or stretch marks before and after, on TV, it would be amazing.

Lots of people don’t want the downtime or potential for laser burns.

Also, I would give the medical levels of Dermapen (deeper needles) more exposure because the superficial needle depths might make a nice facial but you must go deeper for medical indications like scars or stretch marks.

The above Dermapen treatment micro needling therapy protocols are suggested by Dr. Joseph Bivens. Dermapen LLC cannot suggest treatments in the United States. We reprint white papers as requested by our practitioners.