Is Dermarolling In Any Way Carcinogenic?

Can demarolling cause cancer? Or is there any way that dermarolling treatment can induce the formation of cancer?

Let’s take a look first on the dermarolling process, how it works, including the pros and cons. You will also be able to look into if there’s any possible way that it can cause cancer.

Most promising skin care treatment!

Microneedling with the use of dermaroller is a cheap and simple means of removing various types of scars including acne scars, burn scars, post-traumatic scars, stretch marks and many others. It is an effective treatment modality with little downtime and satisfactory results. However, it has a peculiar side effect particularly in Asian skin type which is known for having either dark or brown colored skin which is prone to post inflammatory hyperpigmentation.

This procedure is known to be minimally invasive as it uses fine needles to puncture the skin. It creates micro wounds that stimulate the release of growth factors which will induce collagen production. Despite the micro injury, the epidermis remains relatively intact; hence it will limit any adverse events such as the increase risk of infection. The indications for dermarolling therapy have grown significantly over the past years. As a matter of fact, it has become one of the widely used treatments in dermatology.

Microneedling is a safe and seem to be an overall effective therapeutic option for wide array of dermatologic condition. More randomized and larger controlled trials are needed to provide more comprehensive data on the use of dermarolling for various kind of dermatologic condition in different types of skin.

What you put into your skin can be carcinogenic?

Dermarolling therapy is a simple procedure used to induce the release of growth factors for the formation of new collagen and elastin. Although there are few caveats that you should not be tempted to if you don’t want to increase the risk of having cancer.

Doctors strongly advice not to use anything carcinogenic together with dermarolling such as the substance called parabens. These cosmetic substances are usually applied after rolling.

Parabens are widely use preservatives in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products. It is an effective preservative in many kinds of formulas. These compounds are used because of its fungicidal and bactericidal properties.

It can be found in commercial moisturizers, shampoos, personal lubricants, shaving gels and topical or parenteral pharmaceuticals, makeup, toothpaste and spray tanning solutions. It is also used as food additives.

Parabens are effective preservatives. It is preferred among other preservatives because of its low cost, long history of use and inefficacy of other natural alternatives such as grapefruit seed extract or GSE. This is probably the reason why parabens are very common commercially. Ā Although, there are no effective direct links between cancer and parabens have established, studies are looking into it as a potentially carcinogenic substance particularly if you used it more than the recommended amount.

Just the thought of putting some nasty chemicals deep into your skin can be scary. So you have to be very careful in choosing the products that you used together with dermarolling. It is strongly advice that you use products with lower levels of parabens. Make sure that when you buy any topical or serum products, the company that you are buying to is accredited and with safety standards.

Don’t compromise the safety of your skin to low quality products. You should only purchase to legitimate sources.

Why parabens are considered carcinogenic?

The synthetic compound called xenoestrogens mimics endogenous estrogen by binding and activating the estrogen receptors. Exposure to some xenoestrogen and estrogen are associated with cell proliferation and increased risk of breast cancer. Studies have provided evidence of estrogenicity of parabens but yet it is among the most widely used xenoestrogens in personal care and cosmetic products.

Parabens are generally considered safe but previous cell-based studies using parabens was not able to take into account the signaling cross talk between human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family and estrogen receptor alpha.

In a journal study published in Environmental Health Perspective by Pan and colleagues last 2016, they reported that the HER ligands enhanced the potency of Butylparaben or BP to stimulate the oncogene expression and proliferation of breast cancer in vitro via ER alpha. Ā This suggests that parabens might be active at exposure levels. This finding was not previously considered toxicollgically relevant from the previous studies. The past researches may not test these possible effects in isolation.

The authors also pointed out that their data showed lower doses of butylparaben were required to stimulate proliferation of breast cancer in the presence of heregulin or HRG which is a HER ligands. It was observed based from the exposure in vivo of breast tumors to both HER ligands and parabens. This indicates that there is a potential synergy relevant to the proliferation of cancer cells in humans.

The researches recommend the need to assess HER ligands to enhance the potency of parabens in the normal breast tissue and with breast tumors. The authors also suggest the reevaluation of the potency of xenoestrogens in presence of HER ligands.

Can dermarolling cause cancer?

Dermarolling cannot cause cancer. You may only increase the risk of having breast cancer if you use it together with a topical agent containing high levels of parabens. You are also at risk if you have a genetic risk of having breast cancer particularly if you have the receptors for cancer. If your mother or sisters have cancer, there is a higher risk that you will have breast cancer.

Although, the parabens in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products are generally considered safe, Pan and colleagues noted the revealuation of products containing parabens as the toxicology levels was not clearly established from previous research.

In summary

It is safe to use dermaroller but you have to be very careful in choosing the topical product that you used together with skin needling. It is best to consult a dermatologist, so you can be given an advice on the appropriate topical agent that suits your skin.

And also, if you are buying offline or online, make sure that you read the product labels so you would now the content of the product. It is also best to buy to accredited retail stores only. Remember, the benefits of a certain products should outweigh the risks.

Works Cited

Dogra S1, Yadav S, Sarangal R. (2014). Microneedling for acne scars in Asian skin type: an effective low cost treatment modality. J Cosmet Dermatol. 

Shawn Pan, Chaoshen Yuan, Abderrahmane Tagmount, Ruthann A. Rudel, Janet M. Ackerman, Paul Yaswen, Chris D. Vulpe, Dale C. Leitman (2016). Parabens and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Ligand Cross-Talk in Breast Cancer Cells. Environ Health Perspect. 

Related Posts About Dermarolling:

Is Dermarolling Safe? Effects of Derma Roller’s From A Doctor’s Point of View Dermarolling Therapy for Asian Skin: A Low Cost Yet Effective Treatment you Should Never Miss! Is Dermarolling Therapy Effective for Melasma? What Your Dermatologist Have to Say About it? Diet and Dermarolling Therapy: Is there Any Food that you Should Not Eat While Having Dermarolling Therapy?!