Dry Needling, Healing Tattoo Without the Ink

If you have tried everything over the counter for acne scars and you just don't have the money to go see the dermatologist for laser resurfacing, consider dry needling.

Dry needling is basically a very light tattoo without the ink. The process is often confused with acupuncture, but it is based on conventional medical principles, not traditional Chinese energy medicine principles.

Injected collagen begins to break down about as soon as the doctor injects it. Stimulating your body to make collagen helps your skin keep up with collagen turnover so you don't have a sag or a bag or a wrinkle replace your acne scar. There are absolutely no worries about allergic reactions or immune rejection of this collagen, because it's something your own body makes.

There's just one thing to remember about dry needling for acne scars. You should never try dry needling at home. The placement of the needles is critical for stimulating the right regions of skin. If you stimulate skin growth in the wrong places, you won't create a new blemish, but you won't necessarily smooth out the old one, either.

Whom Do You See About Dry Needling for an Acne Scar?

The person to see about dry needling usually is an aesthetician. This is the skin expert who works at day spa or a high-end salon. What distinguishes an aesthetician from an amateur is restraint. If you have an acne scar, you want to get rid of it. You will probably be determined to stimulate skin growth to fill in that scar and get rid of it for good.

An aesthetician takes a different approach. The professional doesn't try to restore your skin to its original contours. He or she tries to create shadows or changes in skin tone that draw attention away from the scar so it is less noticeable.  

Couldn't You Get Dry Needling at a Tattoo Shop?

The drawback to going to a day spa is that they aren't exactly cheap, and if you work during the day, or go to school during the day, you will have to get time off to work the day spa into your schedule. Many people who want to try dry needling go to a tattoo shop.

A skilled tattoo artist has the technical proficiency and legal authority to do dry needling to help improve your appearance. However, unless you want a face tattoo, you need to make sure you have a clear understanding of the intended result, that you don't want ink, you want to smooth out a scar. Be prepared to resist a sales pitch to get more work than you intended. 

READ Acne Scars Treatment Options

A henna tattoo or a temporary tattoo isn't a good idea, either. If you have allergic reaction to henna, you will stimulate collagen production, but not necessarily in the way you like. A temporary tattoo can cause similar complications. It's safer to save up and go to the aesthetician for your dry needling needs.

What if you just don't care for the idea of tattoo needles on your face? There is a device called a dermaroller that you can buy for as little as $20 and use at home. Rub to the side of raised scars, or rub over box or pick scars. The tiny "needles" are about as traumatic as a mosquito bite. This approach, however, takes a very long time to produce visible results.

A More Controversial Application of Dry Needling

There is another kind of dry needling that is much more controversial. Unlike the dry needling used to treat acne scars, the dry needling used for pain relief is an outgrowth of acupuncture.

In acupuncture, longer, thicker needles are inserted at acupuncture points to rebalance the mystical energy known as chi to release the congested and congealed energies that cause pain. Or at least that was the original theory. No Chinese-trained doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine believes in a literal chi. (Some American-trained doctors, oddly enough, do.) The system of acupuncture points nonetheless identifies places where needling will result in pain relief.

Dry needling takes the idea one step further and allows the doctor to place needles directly into muscles and nerve pathways that are causing pain, not just at the traditional acupuncture points. Doctors use needles that are just as long as the needles used in acupuncture, but much thinner. These needles are as thin as those used in the other application of dry needling, just 32 to 36 gauge (0.25 to 0.20 mm wide).

Dry needling for pain relief also requires sticking the needle in deeper. In dry needling for acne scars, the needle is stuck 1 to 2 mm (about 1/20 of an inch to about 1/10 of an inch) into the skin at a 45-degree angle. It’s less painful and less injurious to needle the skin at a 45-degree angle than it is just to jab the needle straight in. In dry needling for pain relief, the needle is inserted perpendicular to the skin. This hurts more. It is more likely to draw blood.

How Does Dry Needling for Pain Relief Work? How Well Does It Work?

Dry needling for pain relief, ironically, is itself painful. Inserting the needle into a muscle is sufficiently pain-inducing that the muscle can go into a spasm. In medical terms, the insertion of the needle interrupts a neurological feedback loop that perpetuates pain. There will be pain from the needle, but once that pain has subsided, the other pain does not come back. 

People who don't get relief with opiates, capsaicin creams, muscle relaxers, massage, hydrotherapy, ice packs, ultrasound, exercise, or TENS (transdermal electroneural simulation) often benefit from this form of dry needling.

READ How to Remove Keloid Scars?

Don't Try This at Home

However, this application of dry needling is also something you don't want to try at home. Why?

• Some people experience a vasovagal response to being poked with needles. They pass out. You really don't want to pass out when you're holding a needle.
• The needles used in this form of dry needling are typically 50 to 80 mm (2 to 3 inches) long. That's long enough to damage internal organs in children, and it's long enough to reach an artery in an adult. You only want to receive this form of dry needling from someone who is well informed of human anatomy. Not everyone's internal organs are in exactly the same place. Sometimes the lungs are just 3 cm (a little over an inch) beneath the skin of the torso, even in adults. Penetrating the lungs can result in a condition known as pneumothorax.
• Inserting a dry needle into the buttocks muscles, especially in children or very thin adults, can result in permanent injury to the muscle. A wet needle, the kind used to inject a medication, does not carry the same risk.
• If you are someone who passes out when getting shots, at the very least you need to be lying down when you receive dry needling treatment.

Applied by a trained professional, either a physical therapist or a physician, dry needling sometimes relieves pain that no other treatment can. Don't be your doctor's training case, however. Always go to someone who has experience with the technique.