Vampire Facial (PRP Microneedling): What It Is, Cost and Results

A "vampire facial" is PRP microneedling: the provider draws a small amount of your blood, spins it in a centrifuge to separate the platelet-rich plasma, spreads that plasma over your face, and then uses microneedling — a device studded with tiny needles — to help the plasma absorb.

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) describes the process with numbers: a small amount of blood — about 2 to 4 tablespoons — is drawn from the arm, the centrifuge separates the platelet-rich layer, and that layer is reapplied by injection or microneedling.

The whole procedure takes about 45 minutes to an hour.

The name is a brand.

The official Vampire Facial site, as we read it in October 2026, says the name is trademarked by physician Charles Runels, MD, and that only listed members of its Provider Group hold a license to use the "Vampire" name.

A med spa offering the same blood-spin-and-needling process under a name like "PRP facial" or "PRP microneedling" is describing the procedure, not the trademarked brand.

It is also a different procedure from a "vampire facelift," which injects PRP together with hyaluronic acid filler rather than needling the plasma across the skin.

The regulatory footing is where the treatment is easy to misread.

Microneedling devices themselves are devices the FDA has legally authorized to improve the appearance of facial acne scars, facial wrinkles and abdominal scars in patients aged 22 or older.

But the FDA also states that microneedling devices are not approved for delivering cosmetics, topical medications, vitamin solutions, drugs, or blood products such as platelet-rich plasma into the skin.

So the vampire facial pairs an authorized device with a use the FDA has not approved.

That is what this page means whenever it says the treatment is not approved — and it is why the evidence and safety sections below matter.

Split the answer by component, because the honest answer does.

The microneedling device carries the FDA's authorized indications: improving the appearance of facial acne scars, facial wrinkles and abdominal scars, in patients aged 22 or older.

The AAD describes microneedling more broadly than that list: a medical treatment that punctures the skin to stimulate collagen, used for acne scars, dark spots, large pores, melasma, stretch marks, texture and fine lines — but those are clinical-practice uses, not the narrower list the FDA has authorized.

The PRP half is where the evidence thins out.

The AAD says there is little evidence that PRP for skin rejuvenation works or does not work, and calls it "still an unproven treatment," with the best number of sessions, spacing, dose and equipment all still unknown.

Acne scars are the better-supported combination.

The AAD says microneedling with PRP for acne scars typically takes 3 to 5 treatments every 2 to 4 weeks, and that studies found this plan can fade acne scars by 50% to 70%; its acne-scar guidance also says PRP used with microneedling can lead to less visible scarring.

Now the exclusion lists.

The AAD says PRP skin rejuvenation is not recommended for people with hepatitis C, HIV or AIDS, any type of blood cancer, cardiovascular disease that requires a blood thinner, or skin cancer in the area to be treated.

The FDA's microneedling suitability list is longer.

It says microneedling may not be suitable if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, take isotretinoin now or have taken it in the past 6 months, have a bleeding disorder or take blood thinners, are immunosuppressed, have an active skin infection or a cold-sore outbreak, have a history of keloids or uncontrolled diabetes, or have a tan.

It also flags darker skin types because of the risk of the skin darkening or lightening after the procedure.

These lists are what the two sources publish — they are not a personal screening, and they do not describe the ideal candidate.

Whether the treatment suits you is a question for the licensed provider who examines your skin.

The only national figure we can cite is the AAD's: it estimates that a PRP skin treatment session in the United States costs $250 to $1,500, and that insurance does not cover it because it is cosmetic.

Treat that as an older estimate — the AAD page carrying it is undated and references 2018 — not a current med spa price survey.

The pricing unit is the session — the AAD's estimate is per treatment session — and the plans behind it are series.

The AAD says most patients who get results from PRP have 3 or more treatments, and for acne scars its plan is 3 to 5 treatments every 2 to 4 weeks.

The per-session price is therefore only part of the bill.

When you ask a med spa for pricing, ask three things: what a single session costs, what the full plan costs, and whether the blood draw and PRP preparation are itemized separately or folded in.

A package price that assumes a series you have not agreed to is not a discount.

We did not confirm a current national average price for the vampire facial, and we will not invent one.

Prices at individual med spas can differ by location, provider and what is included, so the numbers to collect before you book are each facility's own per-session and full-plan price.

For a fuller breakdown, see our guide to PRP microneedling cost.

Set the frame first: the AAD calls PRP for skin rejuvenation an unproven treatment, with little evidence that it works or does not, and unanswered questions about how many sessions, how they are spaced and what dose is used.

What the AAD does say: most patients who get results from PRP have 3 or more treatments, full effects appear within a few weeks to months, and results can last as long as 18 months.

That is one source's summary of the experience so far, not a promise for any one person.

For what results can look like, see PRP and microneedling before and after.

The controlled evidence is limited.

In a 2018 JAMA Dermatology randomized split-face trial, 19 participants were analyzed after PRP was injected into one cheek and saline into the other: dermatologist-rated photoaging scores showed no significant difference between the two sides, although the participants themselves rated texture and wrinkles as more improved on the PRP side at 6 months.

Read the details — a single PRP injection, not microneedled PRP — so the trial is indirect evidence for the vampire facial.

For acne scars, the numbers are stronger.

The AAD says microneedling with PRP typically takes 3 to 5 treatments every 2 to 4 weeks, and that studies found this plan can fade acne scars by 50% to 70%.

Do not borrow numbers from the vampire facelift.

Cleveland Clinic says the facelift — PRP injected together with hyaluronic acid filler — shows plumping from the filler right away and smoothing from the PRP after about two weeks, with results lasting about 12 to 18 months.

That is a filler procedure's timeline, not the microneedling facial's, and the same source notes researchers have not yet done extensive studies of PRP for facial rejuvenation.

Expect needles, and plan for a short recovery — this is not a no-downtime treatment.

The FDA's list of common microneedling risks includes discomfort, burning, bruising and bleeding.

The AAD's description of what follows a PRP treatment: a bit of pain, bruising and swelling afterwards, which tend to go away within a few days.

For the recovery window, the closest sourced description is the AAD's microneedling guidance, which calls downtime minimal: redness — or darker shades on darker skin — a sunburn-like feeling, burning or swelling that usually clears within a few days to a week.

The AAD says people can return to work immediately but should wait 24 hours before applying makeup.

Two caveats keep this honest.

That recovery description is for microneedling generally; we found no sourced downtime figure specific to microneedling with PRP, so ask the med spa what its patients typically experience.

And "minimal" is not "none" — the next section covers the risks that make sterile technique matter.

Start with the FDA's microneedling list.

Common risks: dryness, rough skin, tightness, redness, itching, peeling, discomfort, burning, bruising, bleeding and crusting.

Less common: pigment changes, lines on the face, cold-sore reactivation, swollen lymph nodes and infection.

Skin tone carries a specific caution: the FDA flags darker skin types because of the risk of the skin darkening or lightening after the procedure.

The risks that set this treatment apart from plain microneedling come from the blood.

The AAD says the biggest PRP risk is how blood is handled: the blood must be kept sterile to avoid infection, and the facility should use transfusion-center-style checks so that you receive only your own blood.

Because the device punctures skin, reuse is a specific hazard.

The FDA says re-using a microneedle cartridge is unsafe, even if the cartridge is cleaned, and tells patients to ask whether a new cartridge is used for each patient and each session.

The FDA also states plainly that the risks of off-label uses of microneedling devices, of combining them with other products, or of using microneedling products it has not evaluated are not known — and the vampire facial is a combination treatment.

One documented US episode shows what failed infection control can do.

In the CDC investigation described below, testing of 198 former clients and partners of the spa involved found no additional HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C beyond the original cluster.

The most direct alternative is the same device without the blood: microneedling alone, whose FDA-authorized uses — facial acne scars, facial wrinkles and abdominal scars in adults 22 or older — stand on their own.

Adding PRP does not add an approved indication, and the AAD's verdict on PRP for skin rejuvenation is that the evidence either way is thin.

What the add-on adds is the sterility requirement around the blood: the handling checks the risks section describes, on top of microneedling's own side effects.

For acne scars, the comparison evidence is limited but not empty.

The AAD's acne-scar guidance says PRP used with microneedling can lead to less visible scarring, and a 2025 network meta-analysis of 68 randomized trials with 4,480 patients ranked laser combined with PRP or filler best for reducing acne scar severity, with microneedling the most tolerable for pain.

Those are group rankings from acne-scar studies, not a verdict on your face.

A "vampire facelift" shares the name and the blood but is a different procedure: PRP injected together with hyaluronic acid filler, rather than microneedled across the skin.

Other resurfacing and collagen-stimulating treatments have their own guides — chemical peels, microdermabrasion and radiofrequency microneedling such as Morpheus8 — each with its own evidence, risks and recovery.

Which option fits is not answerable from a menu.

It depends on what is being treated, the type and depth of any scars, your skin tone, your budget and how much downtime you can take — questions to work through with a licensed provider who examines your skin.

If acne scars are the concern, our acne scars guide maps the treatment options by scar type.

Frame it as medicine first.

The FDA notes that microneedling may count as a medical procedure, not a cosmetic one, when the device is intended to change the structure or function of tissue, and that more than one session may be needed.

A treatment that draws your blood, spins it and needles it into your face is more than a facial in the salon sense.

State rules on who may perform it were not verified for this page beyond two states, and neither rule covers every provider.

In Massachusetts, the state nursing board's ruling for nurses says microneedling is regulated as acupuncture, that a nurse needs a current Massachusetts acupuncture license to perform it, and that PRP may not be combined with microneedling.

In North Carolina, the Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners' guidance, effective July 25, 2022, allows licensed estheticians to perform microneedling with a device no deeper than 1 mm, but prohibits any product, device or technique that penetrates beyond the epidermis; that guidance covers microneedling and does not mention PRP.

The same menu item can sit under different rules across state lines, so start with our guide to med spa laws by state and check your own state before you book.

What the national sources publish is a checklist rather than a license title, and it is what we would put in front of any med spa before booking:

The unlicensed spa in the CDC report had no autoclave and stored blood tubes in a food refrigerator — conditions inspectors recorded at the spa behind the cluster above.

Ask the questions, compare what each spa near you answers, and our how to choose a med spa checklist walks the full vetting.

Nothing on this page tells you whether a vampire facial suits your own skin; that decision belongs to you and a licensed provider who has examined it.