i was thinking to buy a microneedling pen

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microneedling AND safety

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American Academy Dermatology microneedling at home safety FDA microneedling devices

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https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/aesthetic-cosmetic-devic…

I’d be cautious about buying one for home use, especially if you want to treat acne scars, deeper wrinkles, stretch marks, or pigmentation.

Microneedling can improve some acne scars and texture by creating controlled micro-injuries that trigger collagen remodeling, but meaningful treatments are usually done with sterile, adjustable devices by trained clinicians. Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology notes its use for acne and acne scars, including relatively favorable safety in darker skin types when appropriately performed (Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology, p. 1441).

My practical take:

For acne scarring or skin rejuvenation: book a consultation with a board-certified dermatologist or reputable medical clinic rather than buy a pen first.
Avoid RF microneedling devices for home use. These are not ordinary pens and have greater risks if used incorrectly.
Do not needle active acne, eczema, psoriasis, skin infection, cold sores, open wounds, or irritated/burning skin.
Be particularly careful if you scar or pigment easily, have keloid history, take isotretinoin, have impaired healing, or are immunosuppressed.
Do not use a pen to force serums, vitamin C, acids, retinoids, PRP, or “exosome” products into the skin. Safety of many combinations has not been established.

The FDA has authorized specific professional microneedling devices for limited uses, including facial acne scars, facial wrinkles, and abdominal scars in people aged 22+, but this does not mean all online pens or cartridges are regulated, sterile, or appropriate for self-treatment. See the FDA device guidance. The American Academy of Dermatology specifically cautions that at-home dermarolling/microneedling can lead to infection and technique-related injury, as summarized in its safety warning.

If you still decide to purchase one, choose a legitimate brand with sealed, sterile, single-use cartridges, clear device traceability, a return policy, and manufacturer instructions. Avoid marketplace listings with vague “medical-grade” claims, reusable cartridges, or promises to remove deep scars permanently. But I would not recommend trying to replicate in-clinic needle depths or treatment schedules at home.

What are you hoping to treat: acne scars, enlarged pores, wrinkles, hair loss, or something else?

how much needed for recovery process

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microneedling AND adverse effects

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microneedling recovery redness 24 72 hours aftercare official clinic patient information

For typical facial microneedling, plan for:

Redness/warmth/tightness: about 24 to 72 hours
Dryness, rough “sandpaper” feel, mild flaking: often days 3 to 5
Looking socially presentable: usually 2 to 4 days, sometimes up to a week after deeper treatment
Skin healing enough to resume active products: commonly around 5 to 7 days, once there is no redness, stinging, peeling, or broken skin
Collagen remodeling and visible improvement: 4 to 6 weeks after a session, continuing for a few months

Deeper needling and RF microneedling generally mean more downtime than superficial treatment. Medical texts describe microneedling as relatively quick-healing because the epidermis is largely preserved, but recovery and complication risk increase with the depth of injury (Fitzpatrick’s Dermatology, p. 1441). The FDA also warns that adverse effects can be short- or long-lasting, so do not treat ongoing redness or irritation as routine. See the FDA microneedling safety information.

For the first 48 to 72 hours: keep it gentle, use bland moisturizer and sun protection, and avoid makeup for at least 24 hours, exercise/heavy sweating, hot showers/saunas, swimming, exfoliants, retinoids, acids, and strong vitamin C products.

Get medical advice promptly for worsening pain, spreading redness, pus, blisters, fever, or redness that is not improving after several days.

i am also a medical student

That helps with understanding the physiology, but I’d still separate knowing the theory from safely self-performing a cosmetic procedure.

For a medical-student perspective:

The immediate visible recovery is the acute inflammatory phase, usually 1 to 3 days of erythema, edema, and increased sensitivity.
Barrier recovery and superficial desquamation typically settle over 3 to 7 days.
The desired biological effect is later: fibroblast activity, neocollagenesis, and remodeling develop over weeks to months, not during the first few days.
Treatment intervals are often spaced around 4 to 6 weeks, so you do not re-injure skin during early remodeling.

The main practical risk with DIY pens is not simply “too much inflammation.” It is loss of control over:

actual needle depth and needle quality
sterile technique and cartridge reuse
excessive passes or overlapping passes
treating inflamed acne or infected skin
introducing irritants or non-sterile products through a disrupted epidermal barrier
post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation, especially in more pigment-prone skin

If you buy one despite this, I would keep the goal modest: superficial texture rather than scar revision, avoid home RF devices, use only sealed single-use cartridges, and do not use it on active acne or with acids, retinoids, or unregulated “mesotherapy/exosome” products. For atrophic acne scars, a dermatology-led plan is usually more effective because scar morphology determines treatment: ice-pick scars often need TCA CROSS, tethered rolling scars may need subcision, and boxcar scars may need focal procedures plus resurfacing.

what about plasma pen for stretch marks how that thing works

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striae distensae AND plasma

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FDA plasma pen fibroblast device safety warning plasma skin tightening burn scars

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PMID: 36217555

A plasma pen is not PRP, and it is not standard microneedling.

How it is supposed to work

Most cosmetic “plasma pens” create a small electrical arc between the tip and the skin. That ionizes air into plasma and delivers localized thermal injury to the epidermis and superficial dermis. You see tiny brown dots or crusts afterward.

The intended sequence is:

Controlled heat injury causes superficial tissue contraction.
Inflammation and wound healing recruit fibroblasts.
Fibroblasts lay down collagen during remodeling.
The device is marketed as improving laxity, texture, scars, or stretch marks.

For stretch marks, the theory is that controlled injury could remodel the atrophic dermis. Stretch marks are dermal scars with thinning/atrophy and altered collagen and elastic fibers. Early red-purple marks are striae rubrae; older white marks are striae albae. Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin describes this pathology and notes that striae often become less conspicuous naturally over time (Andrews’ Diseases of the Skin, p. 595).

Does it work for stretch marks?

There is some preliminary evidence for a different technology called cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP). A small split-body randomized trial of 23 people treated one side every two weeks for five sessions and found improved appearance scores versus untreated skin. But it also reported small scabs, shallow wounds, and rash, and it is not strong enough evidence to make a consumer plasma pen a standard or reliable treatment. The trial is available as a 2022 randomized study.

Do not equate that clinical CAP device/protocol with inexpensive online “fibroblast plasma pens.” They may use very different energy delivery, quality control, and safety features.

Why I would not self-treat stretch marks with one

For a large area such as abdomen, thighs, hips, or breasts, you are essentially creating many tiny thermal burns. Risks include:

prolonged crusting and delayed healing
infection
post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation or hypopigmentation
grid-like or atrophic scarring
uneven treatment and worsening of texture
hypertrophic/keloid scars in susceptible individuals

Risk of pigment change is particularly relevant in Fitzpatrick IV-VI skin types. Do not use it if you have a personal keloid history, active dermatitis/infection, impaired wound healing, or a tendency to pigment heavily after injury.

Also, device terminology can be misleading. A U.S. FDA-cleared “Plasma Pen” may be cleared for destruction/removal of skin lesions and tissue coagulation, not for treating stretch marks or cosmetic tightening, as shown in the FDA device clearance document. Clearance for one indication does not establish safety or effectiveness for another.

Better-supported options to discuss with a dermatologist

No treatment reliably erases stretch marks, but dermatology practices more commonly consider:

Fractional lasers: can improve texture and color to a variable degree.
Pulsed dye laser: mainly for newer red/purple striae.
Non-ablative fractional laser or RF microneedling: potentially useful for texture, generally with more controlled energy delivery than a plasma pen.
Sometimes microneedling, often in a series, depending on skin type and mark stage.

Dermatology references describe several laser and light approaches with variable success, with fractional treatments aiming for collagen and elastin remodeling. Results are improvement, not removal.

Bottom line: for stretch marks, I would skip a home plasma pen. It is a high-risk way to produce thermal injury over a broad area, with limited evidence that consumer pens produce worthwhile, durable improvement. If your marks are recent/red versus old/white, and your skin type is known, a dermatologist can match the modality to the mark and pigment risk.

what about picosecond laser blue pen

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picosecond laser AND striae distensae

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picosecond laser blue pen stretch marks 450 nm home device FDA

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PMID: 40272374

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site:fda.gov picosecond laser 1064 755 532 "stretch marks" FDA

If by “picosecond laser blue pen” you mean a small handheld blue-light or “pico” pen sold online, I would not buy it for stretch marks.

There are three very different things that marketing often mixes together:

Product	What it actually does	Use for stretch marks
True picosecond laser	High-energy, ultra-short laser pulses, usually 532 nm, 755 nm, or 1064 nm, delivered by a professional console with controlled fluence and often a fractional handpiece	Some emerging evidence, mainly with fractional 1064-nm picosecond Nd:YAG in clinics
Blue LED pen/mask	Low-energy blue light, usually around 405-470 nm	Mainly marketed for acne-related bacteria, not established for striae
Cheap “picosecond blue pen”	Often unclear technology and output, sometimes only a blue LED or low-power diode	No good reason to expect meaningful remodeling of stretch marks

A true picosecond laser is typically a medical laser system with a console, articulated arm or handpiece, foot switch, eye protection, and energy controls. FDA-cleared picosecond Nd:YAG systems commonly use 1064 and 532 nm and are generally indicated for tattoos and certain pigmented lesions, not self-treatment of stretch marks. See an FDA picosecond laser record.

Also, “blue” can be misleading:

Blue laser describes the emitted wavelength.
Blue tattoo ink describes the pigment being targeted.
A 1064-nm picosecond laser can be used for dark tattoo ink, including some blue/green pigments, but it does not emit blue light.
Online ads often conflate these terms to make a device sound like a clinical pico laser.

Could professional picosecond laser help striae?

Potentially, but it is not a simple at-home procedure. A 2025 split-abdomen randomized trial compared professional fractional picosecond 1064-nm Nd:YAG with fractional CO2 laser for old white abdominal stretch marks. Both improved texture and atrophy after four sessions spaced four weeks apart, but neither significantly reduced mark length or width. Adverse effects included erythema, edema, crusting/scaling, itch, pain, and post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation. Reported healing time with the pico side was about 10 days. Read the trial abstract.

That evidence does not validate an online pen, particularly one described as blue. The current evidence base is small, device-specific, and uses supervised treatment parameters.

Why a blue pen is a poor match for stretch marks

Stretch marks are atrophic dermal scars: the treatment target is dermal collagen and elastin remodeling, not superficial blue-light exposure. Dermatology references list variable results with professional PDL, IPL, fractional ablative/non-ablative lasers, and 1064-nm Nd:YAG approaches, but also state that laser outcomes for striae can be disappointing. Dermatology 2-Volume Set, p. 1520.

A blue-light pen is unlikely to produce enough controlled dermal remodeling to change old white striae. If it is powerful enough to injure skin, then you face a burn, dyspigmentation, and scar risk without reliable dosing or evidence.

Bottom line:

Do not buy a “blue pico pen” for stretch marks.
A real fractional picosecond 1064-nm laser is a clinic procedure, not a pen-level DIY treatment.
If your marks are new red/purple striae, vascular-targeted options may be considered. If they are older white striae, fractional laser, RF microneedling, or supervised microneedling are more reasonable topics to discuss with a dermatologist. None will erase them completely.

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