Microneedling vs. Microneedling With PDRN: What's Different?

Microneedling is sometimes called collagen induction therapy, and the mechanism is as simple as the name suggests. A pen with a cartridge of ultra-fine needles passes over the skin, creating controlled microchannels, and the skin's own healing response follows. Nothing is injected. The needles open channels; the skin does the rest.

On our menu it is priced by area. The face is $225, the neck or the décolletage can be added for $50 each, and a series of three starts from $600. For the fullest results we recommend a series of three, and the American Academy of Dermatology likewise describes more than one session as typical for the results people want.

PDRN stands for polydeoxyribonucleotide. It is a compound derived from salmon DNA, which is where the treatment's nickname comes from, and it arrives at the treatment room as a serum rather than as anything that swims. That is the whole of the fish connection.

In a PDRN visit, the needling happens exactly as it does in plain microneedling. Then the serum is applied, so that it travels through the channels the needles have just opened rather than sitting on top of intact skin. That is the extra step, and it is why the two treatments sit together on the menu rather than as two unrelated things: the needling is what makes the serum's journey possible.

What PDRN is expected to do for your particular skin is the part we keep for the consultation. It is a real question with a real answer, and the answer depends on what your skin is doing and what you want from it, which is not something we can read from here.

They are the same for both, because the needling is the same and the PDRN is applied through the channels it opens. Right afterwards the skin is typically flushed and can feel like a mild sunburn; the American Academy of Dermatology describes those reactions as usually disappearing in a few days to a week, and advises waiting twenty-four hours before makeup goes back on.

That is the honest size of it: a few quiet days rather than time off. Most people plan a visit for the start of a calm stretch, so the flushed days fall somewhere nobody is looking closely. We will tell you what to plan for before anything is booked, and if your calendar says this week is wrong for it, we will say so.

Here is the whole comparison in one place. Every price is from our menu, and both treatments are priced by area, with the neck and décolletage as add-ons.

We would rather look than guess. The consultation is free, it is a real appointment with a medical professional, and it ends with a recommendation you can take home and think about. Sometimes that recommendation is plain microneedling. Sometimes it is the PDRN version. Sometimes it is neither, and we will say that too, because sending you into a series you do not need is not a plan we want our name on.

If you already know you want a series, the consultation is also where the calendar gets built: three visits, spaced over weeks, placed where the flushed days are easy to give. Bring your calendar and your questions. We will bring the honest read.