PDGF+ With Microneedling: Why I Add It to Your PRP

When you have microneedling here, PRP from your own blood is included in every treatment. PDGF+, a manufactured growth-factor serum, is an add-on that costs extra, and for most patients I recommend adding it.

Since that recommendation costs you money and earns us some, you should know exactly what it rests on. Part of it is published research, which is thinner than the marketing suggests. Part of it is what I see in my own patients, which I’ll label as exactly that.

What comes with every microneedling treatment?

Microneedling needs something on the skin so the device can glide, and whatever you use goes straight down the thousands of channels the needles open. Most clinics use a cosmetic hyaluronic acid serum.

We use platelet-rich plasma. A small amount of your blood is drawn, spun to concentrate the platelets, and applied as the glide medium; what’s left goes back on afterward as a mask. It’s included in the price, and it isn’t going anywhere.

Two reasons it’s our standard. It comes from you, so there’s no preservative, fragrance or botanical in it for freshly opened skin to react to. And it has the better-studied evidence: a 2022 meta-analysis of 14 studies and 472 patients with acne scars found that adding PRP to microneedling roughly tripled the odds of a better-than-50% improvement compared with microneedling alone. Most of those studies weren’t randomized, so it’s a strong signal rather than a settled number.

What is PDGF+?

A topical serum built around recombinant human PDGF-BB, one of the growth factors your platelets carry, made by engineered yeast rather than taken from anyone’s blood. It’s applied to the skin right after treatment, while the channels are still open.

Its advantage over PRP is consistency. What’s in your PRP depends on your blood that day; platelet counts vary from person to person and from one visit to the next. Every vial of PDGF+ holds the same amount of the same molecule.

It is a topical, and the manufacturer labels it for cosmetic use on the skin only. We don’t inject it, and nobody should. I’ve covered that, and the molecule’s regulatory history, in PRP vs. PDGF+.

Why do I recommend adding PDGF+ to your PRP?

Because of what I see afterward. Patients who have both tend to look better at the 30-day mark than patients who had PRP alone, and they tell me they recover faster in the first few days.

That is my clinical impression across the patients I treat. It isn’t a measured comparison, nobody was randomized, and judging skin by eye is subjective, including mine. I’m telling you because it’s the honest reason I recommend it, not because it proves anything.

The reasoning behind it is simple enough. PRP gives you a mixture of growth factors in whatever concentration your blood provides that day. PDGF+ adds a known dose of one of them on top. You get both.

What does the research actually show?

Less than you’d hope, and you should hear that from me.

The best trial so far is a 2025 randomized study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Patients had a single RF microneedling treatment, then either PDGF+ or a standard aftercare moisturizer. Twelve people finished it, eight in the PDGF+ group and four in the comparison group. Those treated with PDGF+ scored better on a blinded global assessment of improvement at 30 days; at 7 days the difference wasn’t significant. Two of the authors work for the company that makes the product, and the evaluating physician consults for it. The authors themselves call the sample small.

A 2026 split-face trial in five patients compared PDGF+ with the patient’s own processed fat after laser and microneedling, and found no significant difference between the two. The company’s founder is a co-author.

No published study has compared PDGF+ with PRP, and none has tested PDGF+ added on top of PRP, which is how we use it.

Fact vs. Fad: “PDGF+ is proven to work better than PRP” is not something any study has shown. What’s published is narrower: in one small, company-linked trial, PDGF+ after RF microneedling did better at 30 days than a plain moisturizer. My recommendation goes further than that paper does, and the difference between the two is my clinical judgment, which you’re free to weigh as you see fit.

What if I don’t want my blood drawn?

Then PDGF+ is your route. Some people dislike needles in the arm; some have veins that turn every draw into an event. PDGF+ needs no blood draw at all, and it’s applied the same way after treatment. It’s still a paid add-on rather than a swap, because PRP is what’s included.

Is PDGF+ necessary?

No. Microneedling with PRP alone is a good treatment, and it’s the combination with the larger body of evidence behind it.

If your budget only stretches to one thing, spend it on doing a proper series rather than on the add-on. Depth, technique and enough sessions drive most of the result: treated shallower, microneedling works on tone, texture and glow; treated deeper, it reaches etched lines and acne scarring. The standard starting course is three sessions about four weeks apart. If early laxity is the main concern, Morpheus8 may be the better tool, and PDGF+ can be added there too.

Who performs microneedling here?

Microneedling, like our injectables and regenerative procedures, is performed by Dr. Raneiro or me, unless you select Martha Villarin, APN, at booking. Laser hair removal and facials are performed by our licensed medical aestheticians.

Whichever provider you choose, your PRP is drawn, prepared and applied as part of the treatment, and PDGF+ is added at the end if you’ve chosen it.

References

Kang C, Lu D. Combined effect of microneedling and platelet-rich plasma for the treatment of acne scars: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in Medicine. 2022;8:788754. doi:10.3389/fmed.2021.788754 (14 studies, n=472; mostly non-randomized)

Lynch SE, Huxel ST, Bond R, Biron JA, Gold MH. Recombinant pure PDGF improves aesthetic results and patient satisfaction following RF microneedling: a prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2025;24(9):e70425. doi:10.1111/jocd.70425 (n=12 completed, 8 vs 4; manufacturer-affiliated authors)

Claytor RB, Fuentes PM, Tolan GC, Durairaj KK, Quigley R, Lynch SE. Recombinant platelet-derived growth factor BB vs autologous nanofat to enhance recovery after CO2 laser and microneedling: a split-face, randomized controlled trial. Aesthetic Surgery Journal Open Forum. 2026;8:ojag033. doi:10.1093/asjof/ojag033 (n=5, split-face)