Disinfecting the roller

[HaleyRyan09]

Hi Sarah, I know you suggest soaking the roller in a disinfecting alcohol to sterilize it. I am worried that I am not doing enough to sterilize the roller. I am using 70% iso alcohol. I just read a horror story about a lady who got a staph infection from her roller from only sterlizing it with hydrogen peroxide and alcohol. Is there something more that I should be doing to prevent infection? I am using a 1.5 mm roller for stretchmarks.

Thank you.

[SarahVaughter]

The killing capacity of an alcohol solution increases with the duration (and temperature), so you should perhaps soak the roller overnight, that makes an enormous difference to merely soaking 20 minutes or so. (You have to think in the lines of 99.9999% vs. 99.999% - a tenfold increase in effectiveness.)

Betadine is a powerful alternative or additional sterilizing agent - better than alcohol, however it may stain the roller. This is harmless but ugly. You can also use it on your skin before rolling, but to wipe it off before rolling. Do not use Betadine if pregnant or breastfeeding.



Many forget that how you store the roller is at least as important as how you sterilize the roller. I've seen someone keeping the roller in its box but without the lid, on top of her washing machine. Next to the washing machine was the toilet.

I've read somewhere that every time you go for a #2 and flush, that many invisibly small water droplets are sprayed out. If they land on the roller - especially when you leave it for a month, there, you can get nasty surprises.

Treat the roller with the respect it deserves - it's a medical instrument. When in doubt, discard it. I mean, if you drop it in the toilet bowl or onto your dog, do not try to sterilize it. There are limits.

Then again, millions of people are dermarolling and you can be very sure that anything that can possibly go wrong, will, one day, and that the story will be for everyone to read on the Internet. I have yet to hear about the first such incidence with our customers, and hope I'll never will :-)

The best  disinfectant for skin is Betadine liquid or cream (containing Povidone-iodine).  Wash the Betadine off with tap water  before you roll and don’t forget to clean your hands with soap before you touch  your face. Betadine is for sale in Pharmacies as well  as online. You can also use Chlorhexidine (around 2%).


https://http://forums.owndoc.com/dermarolling-microneedling/can39t-find-proper-disinfection-alcohol/

[kakalakingma]

Thanks for the valuable information!

I do have a question: should I sterilize the area I will be performing the dermaroller with alcohol 20 minutes before starting? Say my roller station is a table or desk, then I just need to wipe the top with alcohol and not everywhere around of the table, right? Germs cannot move that fast?

[SarahVaughter]

Actually, it's not really possible to sterilize a table, neither is it necessary to do so - basically you should just wipe it down before you start working there. You can clean it the normal way even and don't use alcohol, but don't use a cloth that has been used for something else already. What we are looking for is to remove obvious sources of contamination such as spilt food and old dust, but you don't have to get paranoid about it either :-)

[Katarina]

Sarah, could I use isopropyl 70% USP instead of ethyl alcohol?

[SarahVaughter]

Sorry for this late answer. I have been flooded with email questions recently..

   

  I think it is better to use isopropyl alcohol in combination with ethanol.

   

  We have a customer who soaked her roller in 70% isopropyl bought in a dollar store and her roller got loose needles (isopropyl is a solvent).

   

  Other customers who used isopropyl did not experience this problem but I am not sure what percentage they used.

   

  As a test, we soaked our dermaroller for 48 hours in 45% ethanol and 30% isopropyl without any problems whatsoever.

[andy]

Hi Sarah

Can I use this alcohol for disinfecting the Dermaroller?

It contains :60% ethanol (alcohol), menthol, eugenol, citral, cinnamal

thanks for answer :-)

[SarahVaughter]

It contains oils and that is not a good idea for disinfection.  It is probably an after-shave product or it is intended for massaging overworked muscles/painful joints.

  Since more and more customers are experiencing difficulties in finding an appropriate disinfecting solution, in Autumn we will start selling a powder (to be mixed with water) for dermaroller and skin disinfection. That product will also be suitable to treat active acne with.

[A11]

   
And it should be a liquid, not  a gel, so it shouldn’t contain glycerin.

Can you please expand on this a bit? Why the alcohol used to disinfect the dermaroller shouldn´t be a gel, nor shouldn´t contain glycerin?


Thanks!

[SarahVaughter]

Because glycerin or other gelly substances will stick to the needles and prevent the alcohol from properly reaching the needles. The needles should be cleaned with dishwashing detergent and lukewarm water after your dermarolling session and soaked in alcohol or Chloramine T.

Gels are not very suitable for instrument disinfection.