The dermaroller was one of last year’s surprise cosmetic procedure hits, despite looking rather menacing. The dermaroller is a needle-studded roller designed to help the skin on the face look more youthful by puncturing the skin with pins. This makes the skin bleed and is said to help stimulate the body’s natural healing process, increasing the collagen in the skin and helping the overall look and feel of the skin.

Advocates of the procedure are said to include Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie.

The dermaroller’s inventor, cosmetic surgeon Dr Michael Prager, has now extended his concept for use on the rest of the body. Whilst the dermaroller for the face uses pins which are between 0.5mm and 1.55mm long, his new dermaroller uses pins which are 3mm long. This means that the roller can be used on other areas of the body which suffer from sagging or stretch marks.

Firstly a local anaesthetic is applied to the area to be treated. The dermaroller is then rolled across the skin. The roller pieces the tiny blood vessels in the top layer of the skin – in a centimetre square, there will be around 250 tiny puncture marks. The bleeding releases platelets which helps to repair and regenerate the connective tissues and stimulates the production of collagen – the same sort of theory that is behind facial peels and laser skin procedures.

After the dermaroller has been applied to the area, topical treatments are used to help increase the positive effects. Typically, Transderm is used. Transderm is a needle-free injection system which delivers hyaluronic acid and pentapeptides into the skin. A topical cream is then applied to help stimulate collagen production further. This cream will need to be applied to the area daily for a couple of weeks after treatment.

The dermaroller system is an out-patient procedure and generally will not require an overnight stay. There will be bruising and tenderness around the treated area however painkillers will probably not be necessary.

Although the dermaroller procedure has many fans around the world, some cosmetic surgeons are not so sure about the technique as there are no clinical trials that have proved the efficacy of the treatment. There is also no guarantee that the procedure will produce the anticipated results.

However at around £500, the dermaroller is a lot cheaper than a tummy tuck and thanks to this price tag, the body Dermaroller is sure to be a popular procedure.