Microneedling for Hair Growth: What the Studies Found

Not yet medically reviewed. This page has not been reviewed by a licensed professional. It summarises published research, cited below, and is not medical advice. Medical disclaimer

In small trials, people who had microneedling on top of minoxidil grew more hair than people on minoxidil alone, and three meta-analyses of those trials agree on the direction. The trials are short (12 to 24 weeks), mostly single-center, and mostly unblinded for the patients. The largest one, published in 2026 with 245 women, found no added benefit from microneedling at all. Microneedling on its own has very little controlled evidence. The one trial of a home-use device found no statistically significant difference between any of its groups. Nobody has published a study of microneedling for beard growth.

So the evidence supports “possibly helps minoxidil work better, in a clinic, for pattern hair loss”, and not much beyond that.

The key trials at a glance

Each row is a controlled trial of microneedling for pattern hair loss (androgenetic alopecia); all but Faghihi’s describe themselves as randomized in the abstract. Results are given as each paper reports them; the units differ between papers, so the numbers cannot be compared across rows.

Trial Who Groups Needling used Length Result as reported
Dhurat 2013, India 100 men (94 analyzed) 5% minoxidil vs minoxidil + microneedling 1.5 mm roller, weekly, until mild redness 12 weeks Mean hair-count gain 91.4 vs 22.2 in a 1 cm² tattooed area; 82% vs 4.5% of patients rated themselves over 50% improved
Kumar 2018, India 68 men (60 analyzed) Same comparison 1.5 mm roller, weekly for 4 sessions then every 2 weeks for 4, until pinpoint bleeding 12 weeks Gain of 12.52 vs 1.89 hairs per square inch; the authors call the result “not cosmetically significant”
Bao 2020, China 60 men Minoxidil vs microneedling alone vs both Electric microneedle, every 2 weeks, 12 sessions (depth not in abstract) 24 weeks Density gain 18.8, 23.4 and 38.3 hairs/cm²
Faghihi 2021, Iran 60 adults aged 18–45 Minoxidil vs + 1.2 mm needling vs + 0.6 mm needling Every 2 weeks 12 weeks The 0.6 mm group beat minoxidil alone on hair count and thickness; for the 1.2 mm group, only the investigators’ rating was significantly better
Liang 2022, China 120 women (115 completed) 5% minoxidil vs + oral spironolactone vs + microneedling Electric, 0.7–1.0 mm, every 2 weeks, 12 sessions 24 weeks Density 99.7 → 130.0 hairs/cm² with microneedling vs 101.4 → 111.3 on minoxidil alone
Zhang 2022, China 40 women 2% minoxidil vs + microneedling Weekly (depth not in abstract) 24 weeks “Effective rate” 85% vs 45%
Adistri 2024, Indonesia 36 men 5% minoxidil vs + microneedling 0.6 mm, every 4 weeks 12 weeks Mean density gain 95.6 vs 52.4 hairs/cm²
Sohng 2021, Korea 29 patients Home device alone vs home device + minoxidil vs minoxidil Home-use device, twice a week 6 months No statistically significant difference within or between groups
Liu 2026, China 245 women (234 completed) 2% minoxidil vs + monthly needling vs + needling every 2 weeks 36-needle cartridge, 500–550 µm 24 weeks All groups improved; no significant difference between them

The first trial, and why it is not the whole story

Dhurat and colleagues’ 2013 pilot study from Mumbai describes itself as the first study of microneedling in male pattern hair loss. Men treated with a 1.5 mm roller once a week on a shaved scalp gained a mean of 91.4 hairs in the counted square centimeter, against 22.2 for minoxidil alone. Forty men in the needling group reached a +2 to +3 rating from blinded investigators; none in the minoxidil group did. The paper declares no funding and no conflicts.

Three features limit it. It ran for 12 weeks. Patients knew which group they were in, and the self-rated outcome (82% vs 4.5% reporting more than 50% improvement) is the one most open to that bias. And the size of the gap rests partly on how little the minoxidil group improved: 22.2 hairs, with 2 of 44 patients rating themselves more than 50% better. A 2015 follow-up by the same lead author added microneedling for four men whose hair had stopped improving on finasteride and minoxidil, and reported that the response held over 18 months of follow-up. Four men without a control group is a case series.

The closest replication we found shrank the effect. Kumar’s 2018 trial used the same 1.5 mm roller and the same 12 weeks, and found a gain of 12.52 vs 1.89 hairs per square inch. Statistically better; the authors themselves wrote that it was not cosmetically significant.

What the meta-analyses say

Three pooled analyses of randomized trials point the same way:

  • Abdi 2023 (10 trials, 466 patients): microneedling with minoxidil increased total hair count over minoxidil alone (standardized mean difference 1.76). The increase in hair diameter was not statistically significant. No scarring or serious adverse events were reported in any included study.
  • Pei 2024 (13 trials, 696 patients): combined microneedling beat any single treatment on hair density and diameter, with no difference in adverse reactions. Doctors rated the combination higher; patients’ satisfaction did not differ significantly.
  • Ahmed 2025 (12 trials, 631 patients): hair count improved (standardized mean difference 1.32), and so did diameter. Heterogeneity was high (I² = 88%), meaning the trials disagreed a lot about how big the effect was. Adverse events were more frequent with needling (74 vs 59), mostly mild.

A network meta-analysis by Gupta and colleagues (27 trials, 1,110 patients) ranked 5% minoxidil plus microneedling first for hair density at 6 months, about 13 hairs/cm² ahead of minoxidil alone. In the same analysis, microneedling alone ranked fifth of six options and was 17 hairs/cm² behind the combination.

None of these analyses could include the 2026 trial below; it was published after all of them.

The 2026 trial that found nothing

Liu and colleagues in Guangzhou randomized 245 women with mild to moderate pattern hair loss to 2% minoxidil alone, or minoxidil plus microneedling every four weeks, or every two weeks. Needling used a 36-needle cartridge at 500–550 µm. After 24 weeks, every group had more non-vellus hairs than at the start, and the differences between groups were not significant on the primary outcome or any secondary one. The authors’ conclusion: microneedling at that depth and either frequency “did not provide additional clinical benefit over 2% topical minoxidil alone”.

It is one trial, single-center and open-label, with no patient-reported outcomes, and it used the weaker 2% minoxidil. It also used a depth near the bottom of what earlier trials used. Even so, it is the largest randomized test of the idea we found, and it is negative.

Does microneedling alone grow hair?

There is no sham-controlled trial of microneedling by itself for pattern hair loss. What exists:

  • Bao 2020 had a microneedling-only arm of 20 men: density rose 23.4 hairs/cm² over 24 weeks, against 18.8 on minoxidil and 38.3 with both. The abstract reports that the three groups differed overall; it does not give a direct comparison of microneedling alone with minoxidil.
  • Bao 2022, from the same group, compared minoxidil, microneedling alone every 3 weeks, and the combination in 71 men followed up for 6 months after the last session. The abstract says the combination beat both single treatments and gives no figures for the needling-only group.
  • Aggarwal 2020 treated one half of each of 30 men’s scalps with microneedling and the other half with microneedling plus platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Both halves improved (10.8 vs 14.6 hairs/cm²), and the difference was not significant. There was no untreated half, so this shows that both sides changed, not that needling caused it.
  • Sohng 2021, the only trial of a home-use device, found no significant change with the device alone.
  • A 2026 review of dermaroller-only studies (Tieu and colleagues) found two human studies that qualified. One reported more hair; the other found no improvement in density or coverage.
Microneedling Is Useless, Dangerous, and Overhyped
byu/noeyys intressless

That gap is the argument in an r/tressless thread titled “Microneedling Is Useless, Dangerous, and Overhyped”: its search snippet says the studies people cite are “usually microneedling with minoxidil, meaning the most likely thing happening is increased absorption”. The trials cannot separate those two explanations either. A 2020 letter by Sharma, Dhurat and colleagues proposes a third in its title: that microneedling improves the minoxidil response “by upregulating follicular sulfotransferase enzymes”. PubMed has no abstract for it.

A 2026 paper in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology that reported microneedling alone as effective for mild hair loss was retracted within months of publication.

Women with pattern hair loss

The evidence for women is mixed in a way the meta-analyses do not show. Two Chinese trials were positive. In Liang 2022, adding needling every two weeks to 5% minoxidil raised density from 99.7 to 130.0 hairs/cm² over 24 weeks, against 101.4 to 111.3 with minoxidil alone; hair shaft diameter rose in all three groups with no difference between them. The authors list a small sample, exclusion of severe cases and unblinded treatment as limitations, and the study was funded by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation. In Zhang 2022 (40 women, weekly needling), the combination group’s “effective rate” was 85%, against 45% on minoxidil alone.

Then the 245-woman 2026 trial found no difference. A 2025 network meta-analysis by Xia and colleagues, which predates it, ranked microneedling plus minoxidil as the most effective of seven combinations it compared for women.

How deep and how often the trials needled

This is what the trials used, not a recommendation. Depth for the scalp and other areas is covered in our depth guide.

Schedule Depth Trial
Weekly 1.5 mm roller Dhurat 2013
Weekly, then every 2 weeks 1.5 mm roller Kumar 2018
Every 2 weeks 0.6 mm and 1.2 mm Faghihi 2021
Every 2 weeks 0.7–1.0 mm, electric Liang 2022
Every 2 or 4 weeks 0.5–0.55 mm, 36-needle cartridge Liu 2026
Every 3 weeks Not in abstract Bao 2022
Every 4 weeks 0.6 mm Adistri 2024
Twice a week Home-use device Sohng 2021

A 2022 systematic review (English and colleagues, 22 studies, 1,127 subjects) found depths of 0.5 to 2.5 mm and schedules from weekly to monthly across the literature, and rated study quality low (Jadad scores 1 to 3 out of 5). All three authors list their affiliation as Perfect Hair Health, a San Francisco company; the paper declares no funding and nothing to disclose.

Two findings bear on depth. Faghihi’s 0.6 mm group outperformed minoxidil alone on hair count, and the abstract reports no such hair-count gain for the 1.2 mm group. Ahmed’s 2025 meta-analysis found no difference in hair count between trials using 1 mm or less and those using more. Neither settles it.

Some home routines run more often than any clinic trial did. An r/tressless thread titled “Microneedling + topical minoxidil is the most underrated …” has a search snippet advising “2 to 3 times per week”. Only one trial needled that often, the home-device trial, and it found nothing significant.

Microneedling + topical minoxidil is the most underrated combo.
byu/6ftmetalGuy96 intressless

Rollers, stamps and pens

Most of the positive early trials used a roller with 1.5 mm needles, applied in clinic until the scalp reddened or showed pinpoint bleeding. Several Chinese trials used electric microneedling devices. We found no trial of a stamp for hair loss. Our roller and stamp pages cover the hardware.

The trials whose methods we read (Dhurat, Kumar, Adistri, Liang) all needled as a clinic procedure, with skin preparation and, in some, topical anesthetic. The single home-device trial, with 29 patients, is the only direct evidence on self-treatment.

How long do results last?

No controlled trial reports results more than about a year after treatment began. Most trials stopped at 12 or 24 weeks. Bao 2022 followed men for 6 months after the last session, and the abstract reports the combination as superior without saying what happened after treatment stopped. The 18-month figure from Dhurat’s 2015 case series covers four men who stayed on finasteride and minoxidil throughout.

Is microneedling worth adding if you're already on fin + min?
byu/Fit-Health478 intressless

A thread titled “Is microneedling worth adding if you’re already on fin + min?” has a search snippet stating that a “2020 study shows that regrowth from microneedling and microneedling + minox lasted longer after stopping treatment than minoxidil alone”. We could not match that claim to any abstract we retrieved.

With PRP and other add-ons

Microneedling is also used to push platelet-rich plasma (PRP), growth factors and drugs into the scalp. The PRP results do not line up:

  • Shah 2017 (50 men, 6 months): microneedling with PRP plus minoxidil beat minoxidil alone on patient and investigator ratings.
  • Jha 2019 (93 patients, three groups): minoxidil plus PRP plus microneedling left the most patients with a negative hair-pull test, meaning less shedding (87.1%, against 64.5% with PRP and 48.4% with minoxidil alone).
  • Aggarwal 2020 found no added effect of PRP over microneedling alone.
  • Gupta’s network meta-analysis ranked PRP with microneedling last of six options for hair density at 6 months.

Trials of microneedling with topical finasteride, dutasteride, exosomes and growth-factor solutions exist, mostly small; English’s review counted growth-factor solutions among the add-ons that improved results.

For context on what microneedling is up against: a 2024 network meta-analysis of single treatments for male pattern hair loss (Gupta and colleagues) found oral 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (finasteride, dutasteride) more effective than oral minoxidil and newer options including microneedling.

Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata (patchy, autoimmune hair loss) has its own small set of trials:

  • Aboeldahab 2021: 80 patients with mild scalp alopecia areata had either microneedling or superficial cryotherapy every 2 weeks for 6 sessions and were followed for 3 months. Excellent or good responses were similar; the mean SALT score (severity) change was significantly larger with microneedling.
  • Ali 2023: 75 patients; microneedling combined with topical vitamin D3 or bimatoprost gave more regrowth than microneedling alone at the end of treatment, though by 3 months of follow-up the two combinations no longer differed from each other.
  • Abd ElKawy 2022: 30 patients; microneedling followed by triamcinolone (a steroid) reduced SALT scores more than fractional CO₂ laser followed by the same steroid.

The FDA’s microneedling page says the procedure “may NOT be suitable” for anyone who has or had “auto-immune disease”; our safety guide covers the full list. These trials treated an autoimmune hair condition anyway, under clinic supervision. No study we found looked at whether needling can trigger new patches in people with alopecia areata.

Beard growth: no studies

We found no published study of microneedling, rolling or stamping for beard growth. PubMed searches for microneedling with “beard” or “facial hair” returned nothing relevant. Every beard claim for a roller is an extrapolation from scalp trials, and those trials paired needling with minoxidil.

Minoxidil itself has been tested on the beard: a 2016 randomized, placebo-controlled study of 3% minoxidil lotion for beard enhancement was published as a letter in the Journal of Dermatology. PubMed carries no abstract for it, so we do not report its numbers.

Safety on the scalp

The trials reported mostly itching, redness and short-lived irritation, and Abdi’s meta-analysis found no scarring or serious adverse events in any included trial. Rare problems appear in case reports rather than trials:

  • A 2026 case report described a scalp abscess that spread to the skull bone in a 28-year-old man using a derma roller and minoxidil. Our aftercare guide has the details and covers applying minoxidil after rolling.
  • A 2026 case report from Turkey described a basal cell carcinoma, a skin cancer, at the frontal hairline of a 31-year-old man who had used a microneedling device daily for 3 months before the lesion appeared. The authors call it the first such case; one case cannot show cause.
  • A 2026 case report from Brazil described dissecting cellulitis of the scalp, a scarring inflammatory condition, after repeated sessions of drug microinfusion with a tattoo machine set to 1.2 mm. The patient was also on long-term testosterone, which the authors treat as a possible contributor.

Is any microneedling device FDA-cleared for hair loss?

No. Every (non-RF) microneedling clearance in our FDA verification file is for prescription use, and the indications we hold are acne scars, wrinkles, abdominal scars or skin resurfacing. The Dr. Pen clearance (K230420), for example, covers “the appearance of facial acne scars in adults aged 22 years and older”. None of the 46 FDA decisions in the file, radiofrequency devices included, names hair loss in the indication text we hold. The full list is on our FDA clearance page.

What is still unknown

  • Whether microneedling does anything without minoxidil. No sham-controlled trial exists.
  • Whether the benefit is better absorption, wound-healing signals, or both.
  • The best depth and schedule. Trials ranged from 0.5 to 2.5 mm and weekly to monthly, and the largest trial at about 0.5 mm found no benefit.
  • Whether results last after stopping, beyond a few months.
  • Whether home rolling matches clinic needling. One trial of 29 people found no significant effect.
  • Anything about beards or stamps.

FAQ

Does a derma roller help hair grow? Possibly, when combined with minoxidil. Small trials and three meta-analyses found more hair with the combination than with minoxidil alone, but the largest trial (245 women, 2026) found no difference. On its own, a roller has little controlled evidence.

What depth did hair studies use? Between 0.5 and 2.5 mm across the literature; the early positive trials used 1.5 mm rollers, later ones 0.5 to 1.2 mm. That is a description of the studies, not a recommendation; see the depth guide.

How often did trials do microneedling for hair? Weekly to monthly, most often every 2 weeks. Only the home-device trial needled twice a week.

Does a derma roller work for beard growth? Unknown. No published study has tested it.

Does microneedling help women with hair loss? Two trials in Chinese women found added benefit with minoxidil; a larger 2026 trial of 245 women found none.

Sources

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  • FDA, 510(k) summary K230420, Dr. pen Microneedling System, Guangzhou Ekai Electronic Technology Co., Ltd., cleared 2023-08-11, prescription use: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf23/K230420.pdf
  • FDA, Microneedling Devices (“The procedure may NOT be suitable for you if you”, checked 2026-10-06): https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/aesthetic-cosmetic-devices/microneedling-devices