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Collagen Season: The June Med Spa Specials I’d Actually Book

June Med Spa Specials flyer at The Med Spa at Southwest Plastic Surgery East and West, El Paso Texas, supervised by Frank Agullo, MD, FACS, double board-certified plastic surgeon

Collagen Season: The June Med Spa Specials I’d Actually Book

Here is something nobody at a med spa will tell you in June. This is the worst month of the year for your face.

The sun is brutal right now. The pool is open. Half of El Paso is outside between ten and four, which is the exact thing that ages skin faster than any birthday. And what does the wellness world sell you in response? A glow facial for the wedding next weekend.

I want to argue for the opposite. Skip the quick fix. June is when you start the slow stuff, the treatments that compound across the summer, so the face you have in September is better than the one you have right now. I think of it as collagen season.

Three things are on our June board. These are the three I would book if it were my money and my face. Here is the honest version of each, the read you would get if you were sitting across the desk from me.

Renew. The Sculptra package, three vials, $1,725.

I have written before that fillers are a tax. I stand by it. So it should mean something that the first special on this list is, in my opinion, the best non-surgical money on the board, and it is not a filler.

Sculptra is a collagen biostimulator. The active ingredient is poly-L-lactic acid, and it does not work the way a hyaluronic acid syringe works. A traditional filler sits under your skin and takes up space on day one. You leave the office full. Sculptra does almost nothing visible on day one. It triggers your own body to lay down new collagen over the following weeks and months, and the result builds slowly, from your own tissue, on your own scaffolding.

That difference is the entire point.

A filler is a thing in your face. Sculptra is your face making more of itself. One of them you have to keep buying to maintain. The other one is, in the most literal sense, an investment in your own collagen.

Why three vials, and why as a package. Sculptra is a series. You spread the vials across a couple of sessions, a few weeks apart, and the collagen builds in layers. The package at $1,725 just locks you into finishing the protocol at a better price. The most common way I see people waste money on this product is paying vial by vial and quitting after the first one, before their own collagen has done much of anything.

Two honest cautions.

One. This is slow. If you want to look different for an event in two weeks, Sculptra is the wrong tool and I will tell you so. The payoff shows up around the eight to twelve week mark and keeps improving after that. Start in June, peak in fall. That is the trade.

Two. Technique is everything with this product. Sculptra has to be reconstituted correctly, given time to sit, and injected in the right plane by someone who understands biostimulators, or you get nodules instead of a result. That is exactly why the package runs under my supervision and not at a strip-mall injectables bar.

Restore. Microneedling with PRP/PRF, $1,500.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you know I once wrote a post about vampire facials. It is still one of the most-read things I have ever published, and the science behind it is the second special on the June board.

Microneedling with PRP/PRF is the grown-up version of that treatment.

Here is the mechanism, in plain English. We draw a small amount of your blood and spin it down to concentrate the platelets and the growth factors they carry. That is the PRP, platelet-rich plasma, or PRF, platelet-rich fibrin, which is the newer preparation that releases those growth factors more slowly and over a longer window. Then we use a microneedling device to create thousands of microscopic channels in the skin, and we drive your own concentrated growth factors down into them.

The needling alone triggers a wound-healing and collagen response. The growth factors pour fuel on that response. The result, over a series, is better texture, smaller-looking pores, softened fine lines, and the kind of glow that is actually new collagen and not just a temporary flush.

What I like about this one for June specifically. It is your own biology, so there is nothing foreign going in. It pairs beautifully with the Sculptra patient who wants surface quality and deep collagen working at the same time. And the $1,500 package price is built around a series, because one session is a nice afternoon and a series is what actually changes the skin.

One rule I will not bend on, and June makes me say it twice. Stay out of the sun. Freshly needled skin that hits the pool the next afternoon is begging for a pigment problem, and an El Paso summer punishes that mistake harder than almost anywhere else in the country. Sunscreen and shade between sessions. Every time.

Revive. A complimentary gift with the purchase of three skincare products.

This is the quiet one on the board and the one I most want patients to actually take.

The deal is simple. Buy three medical-grade skincare products and the gift comes with it. No drama. But the reason I am putting my name behind a skincare promotion at all is that skincare is the foundation under everything else on this list, and it is the part patients skip.

You can biostimulate collagen with Sculptra and resurface with microneedling, and then undo a good chunk of it by washing your face with whatever was on sale and skipping sunscreen. Medical-grade skincare is not the drugstore product with a nicer label and a worse price. It is higher actual concentrations of the ingredients that do the work, a real retinoid, a real vitamin C, a real medical sunscreen, formulated to get through the skin barrier instead of sitting on top of it.

Three products, chosen for your skin, used every day, is the cheapest anti-aging on this entire page. The gift is just the nudge to finally build the routine.

A clean comparison

Special What it is Investment Best for
Renew Sculptra collagen biostimulator $1,725 (3 vials) Building your own collagen over the summer, the long game, not a quick fix
Restore Microneedling with PRP/PRF $1,500 Texture, pores, fine lines, and a real glow from your own growth factors
Revive Gift with 3 skincare products Complimentary gift Committing to the daily medical-grade routine that protects all of it

Where to come, East or West

The Med Spa at Southwest Plastic Surgery runs out of two El Paso locations, and the June specials are valid at both.

The Eastside office is at 1387 George Dieter Drive, Building C, El Paso, Texas 79936.

The Westside office is at 5925 Silver Springs Drive, Suite C, El Paso, Texas 79912.

You can book at either. My Med Spa team works across both sites, the protocols are the same, and you should pick the side of town that fits your week. If you want to see the full menu, the Med Spa page and the microneedling page on our practice site are the place to start.

A note on who is doing the work

When you walk into my Med Spa, you should know whose name is on the room. Mine. I trained in plastic surgery at Mayo Clinic, I am double board-certified, I teach the residents at Texas Tech as a Clinical Associate Professor, and Castle Connolly has named me a Top Doctor thirteen years running. None of that is decoration. The Med Spa is the non-surgical half of my surgical practice, and I write the protocols myself.

That is the only reason I will attach my name to a Sculptra package or a vial of your own platelets. If the standard slips, I do not put my name on it.

Ready to talk?

Call our Med Spa at (915) 590-7907 to book any of the June specials at the Eastside (1387 George Dieter Building C) or Westside (5925 Silver Springs Suite C) office. For surgical or combined consults, call my main office at (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com/appointments. Follow me at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook. #StayBeautiful

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Fifty Hairs From the Back of My Head: YOU by Acorn and the End of the Exosome Hype Cycle

A vial of personalized YOU by Acorn secretome serum, made from the growth factors and proteins produced by the patient's own hair follicle mesenchymal stem cells, paired with microneedling, Morpheus8, or fractional laser for skin and microneedling for scalp rejuvenation. Reviewed by Dr. Frank Agullo, MD, FACS, double board-certified plastic surgeon in El Paso, Texas.

Fifty Hairs From the Back of My Head: YOU by Acorn and the End of the Exosome Hype Cycle

A few weeks ago I sat in a chair in my own clinic and let one of my team pluck fifty hairs out of the back of my head. Roots and all. Not a transplant. Not a vanity moment. A collection.

Those follicles went to Acorn Biolabs, a Canadian company that runs its lab in California. Forty-five days later a small box came back to me with twelve 2cc vials in it. Mine. Made by my own mesenchymal stem cells while they were stressed in culture for fifteen days. Not the cells themselves. The signal those cells produce when they are working.

A week after the box arrived I added two of those vials onto my own face during a Morpheus8 RF microneedling session in my MedSpa. Seven days later my wife looked at me across the kitchen and said, “What did you do? Your face looks better than it did a week ago.” That was not the Morpheus8 alone. That was the bottle with my name on it, delivered through the channels we had just opened.

What YOU by Acorn Actually Is

Acorn calls it YOU. The brand line is YOU for Skin and YOU for Hair. The technical word for what is inside the bottle is secretome.

A secretome is everything a stem cell secretes when it is in contact with a tissue that is asking for help. Not the cell itself. Not a soup of mystery exosomes. The signaling output. The growth factors, cytokines, proteins, collagens, and yes, the exosomes, in the proportions your own cells produce them.

Worth being precise about this, because patients keep getting it wrong. The bottle does not contain stem cells. The cells are banked separately by Acorn and stored as your property. The bottle contains everything those cells produced when the lab put them to work. Two different products from one collection.

The collection is the part patients always ask about first. Acorn is, by their own description, the first hair follicle stem cell platform of its kind. There are roughly 1,500 to 4,500 mesenchymal stem cells at the base of every one of your hair follicles. Pluck fifty of them from the back of your scalp, where the nerve density is forgiving, and the lab in California has more than enough cells to bank a quarter of them and put the other three quarters to work making your secretome.

The math the lab will tell you is straightforward. Roughly 34 times more concentrated than the best platelet-rich plasma you could draw on your best day. About 5 billion exosomes per vial. No preservatives. Stable refrigerated for 18 months. Pluck to first dose: about 45 days right now.

Where It Sits Next to PRP, PRF, and Exosomes

The regenerative aesthetics shelf is crowded and most of it is hype. Here is how I sort the actual contenders in 2026.

What it is Source Blood draw? Dose consistency Where it fits in 2026
PRP (platelet-rich plasma) Your own blood, single spin Yes Drops with age, varies day to day Reasonable for younger patients with healthy blood. Less predictable as you age.
PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) Your own blood, slower spin Yes A little steadier than PRP Good scaffold for under-eye and orthopedic work. Still less age-dependent than PRP, but not a step change.
Generic donor exosomes Cultured donor stem cell media, vialed and shipped No Manufacturer dependent. Often nothing but the empty carriers. I do not use these. An exosome rubbed on intact skin goes nowhere, and “five trillion exosomes” on a label tells you nothing about what is inside the carriers.
Recombinant pure PDGF (Ariessence) A single recombinant growth factor in HA No Identical dose every kit, single molecule Excellent post-microneedling topical when you want one specific signal at a controlled dose.
YOU by Acorn secretome Your own hair follicle mesenchymal stem cells, expanded and stressed in lab. The bottle is the secretome only, the cells are banked separately. No (one painless follicle pluck) The same biology your body made, concentrated Default when the patient wants the broadest, most personalized regenerative signal we currently know how to deliver, applied through microneedling, Morpheus8, or fractional laser channels.

The table is not exhaustive. But it captures the choices a patient is realistically being offered today.

Why the Exosome Conversation Is Finally Getting Honest

For two years patients have walked into consultations holding bottles of donor-derived exosomes someone sold them. I will say what most of my colleagues already think.

An exosome is a carrier. An empty Easter egg unless you know what is inside it. Most of the donor exosome bottles on the market in 2026 are sold without published assays of payload. Worse, exosome companies are supposed to filter everything but the exosomes out of the product. So even if there is a useful signal floating in the supernatant, it gets discarded before it ships.

YOU by Acorn flips that conversation. The product contains about 5 billion exosomes per vial. It also contains the proteins, the cytokines, the collagens, the growth factors that live alongside them in your own biology. Acorn measures and reports those concentrations. You are getting a controlled, characterized, autologous regenerative signal, not a black box.

That is the difference. And it is why this is the first stem-cell-derived treatment in the United States I have been willing to use on my own face.

What It Can and Cannot Do

I will never tell a patient we can turn back the biological clock. The founder of Acorn, Drew Taylor, says the same thing in the same words, and that is part of why I trust the company.

What we can do is meet your tissue with the youngest version of your own signaling that is still bankable. The first time a patient does a collection, the lab cryopreserves a quarter of the cells. Those cells will sit, frozen, at the age you were when you collected. Every subsequent secretome run draws from that same starting point. Five years from now, ten years from now, your secretome is still being made from the version of you that walked into the room today.

That is the actual longevity claim. Not “younger.” More like a savings account, in cells, that pays out signals every time you make a withdrawal.

How It Gets Delivered

YOU by Acorn is a topical applied through microchannels, not an injectable. The currently approved use is application after microneedling, Morpheus8 RF microneedling, or fractional laser resurfacing on the face, and microneedling on the scalp for hair. The procedure opens thousands of microchannels into the dermis. The secretome is reconstituted with the topical hyaluronic acid that ships with the kit, dropped onto the freshly channeled tissue, and microneedled or rolled in while the channels are still open. The window closes within hours. That is when the signal reaches the compartment that is asking for it.

For face protocols I typically reconstitute two of the 2cc vials per session. For scalp work I run YOU as a microneedled scalp treatment in series. Patients who already trust their PRF or PRP scalp regimen do not have to choose; we layer YOU into their existing schedule for one or two sessions and let them tell us what they prefer.

Who Is the Right Candidate

Anyone scheduled for microneedling, RF microneedling, Morpheus8, fractional laser resurfacing, a medium-depth peel, or a hair restoration protocol who wants the most personalized regenerative topical we currently have. Anyone who has been quietly buying donor exosomes and wants to stop. Anyone who has had inconsistent PRP results and suspects, correctly, that their blood quality is part of the variable. Anyone in their forties, fifties, sixties, even seventies whose PRP drop-off has been measurable to them.

Anyone planning to bank for a family. Acorn’s family plan is two adults and up to four kids on a single banking subscription. The cells are yours, stored as your property, retrievable at any time.

What I Have Done With Mine, Honestly

I treated myself first. That has always been my rule for anything new in the practice. I have been on GLP-1s for the past year, dropped about twenty pounds, and there is no question my skin would have lost more elasticity than it has if I had not been keeping up with my MedSpa protocol. So I scheduled a Morpheus8 session in my own clinic, microneedled two cc of YOU by Acorn into the freshly channeled tissue, and went home. One week later my wife noticed before I did. The Morpheus8 alone is good. The Morpheus8 with YOU was different.

I am telling you the personal experiment because you should know what your surgeon is willing to do to himself before he offers it to you.

Why Choose Dr. Agullo for Regenerative Aesthetics in El Paso?

Double board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Mayo Clinic plastic surgery fellowship. Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Affiliate Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years. Texas Super Doctors Hall of Fame, 2025. Aesthetic Everything Top Plastic Surgeon, 2026. The Acorn Secretome was named a 2026 NewBeauty Award winner and Acorn was on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies of 2026, and we are early adopters in West Texas.

We are a clinic and a MedSpa under one roof. Surgery on one side, regenerative aesthetics on the other, the same surgeon planning both. That is not a marketing line. That is the only way the next ten years of this category get done responsibly.

Ready to Talk?

If you are thinking about microneedling, hair restoration, a peel, or a Morpheus8 course, and you want to understand whether banking your stem cells now and running secretome through your protocol makes sense for your skin and your decade, the most useful forty-five minutes of your year is a consultation with the surgeon who would actually plan it. I will tell you whether YOU by Acorn is right for you, whether you are better off with PRP or recombinant pure PDGF for the procedure you are considering, and whether the procedure itself is the one you actually need.

Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com. Follow along on social at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook. #StayBeautiful

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Renew, Restore, Revive: The May Med Spa Specials I’d Actually Book

May Med Spa Specials flyer, Renew Restore Revive promotions at The Med Spa at Southwest Plastic Surgery East and West, supervised by Frank Agullo, MD, FACS, double board-certified plastic surgeon in El Paso, Texas

May is the month of Mother’s Day, hot weather creeping back, and somebody in the group chat asking, again, what I think she should get done before her sister’s wedding.

So this is my answer in writing. Three things on the May board at our Med Spa. Three I would actually book. Honest read on each.

If you have read me before, you know how I feel about wellness specials. Most of them are spa theater. Pretty room, candle, tiny outcome. The point of writing this post is the opposite. The three on this list move skin or move ink, and they move it in ways I can defend with a straight face the next morning when I scrub in.

Renew. Laser tattoo removal at 20 percent off per session.

Tattoo removal is the special on this list that earns its 20 percent discount the loudest, because tattoo removal is not one appointment. It is a course. Most patients need somewhere between six and ten sessions, spaced out about six weeks apart so the body has time to clear the broken pigment.

That spacing matters more than people realize. Stack the sessions too close and the skin punishes you. Space them right and the pigment lifts cleanly, with no scarring, on most colors and on most skin types.

Twenty percent off, applied across a full course, is real money. On a sleeve or a back piece it is the difference between thinking about it and doing it. May is also a strategically smart time to start. By the time the first holiday party season hits, a patient who started in May has three or four sessions in and is well past the point where the tattoo is the loudest thing on her arm.

What I want a tattoo removal patient to know going in.

We use medical-grade laser tattoo removal. The pigment, broken into smaller particles by the laser, is then cleared by your immune system, which is why the spacing between sessions exists. Color matters. Black is the most cooperative. Reds and warm yellows take more work. Cosmetic eyebrow tattoos and amateur work are usually the fastest cases. Old, deep, layered ink is the longest road. Whatever the case, sun avoidance between sessions is non-negotiable.

If you have been postponing it, this month is the time.

Restore. The Mother’s Day Radiance Facial, $125.

I am picky about facials. Most of them are smell-good and feel-good and do not actually change anything that I, as a surgeon, would be able to see two weeks later.

The Mother’s Day Radiance Facial my Med Spa team built for May is the exception. It is a real treatment facial, structured around exfoliation, deep cleansing, and active serums chosen by the aesthetician based on what your skin is actually doing that day. It is not a candle and a vibe. It is a $125 piece of skin care that earns its slot.

Who I would book this for.

A daughter buying for her mom. A mom buying for herself, which I am increasingly seeing and approving of, because a $125 facial bought without permission from anyone is a healthy line item in the budget.

The patient who has been working too hard, in too much sun, and whose skin looks duller than her actual age. This facial is a reset.

The pre-event patient. Wedding next month. Reunion. Big trip. A radiance facial twelve to fourteen days out is the right window. Long enough for any redness to settle, close enough that the glow is still on the skin when the photos happen.

What this facial is not. It is not a chemical peel. It is not a laser. It is not going to undo a decade of sun damage in one sitting. It is the maintenance layer of a real skin program. Used as such, it is excellent.

Revive. The Mother’s Day Refresh, $3,650. Nurses’ discretion.

This is the special I would have written off as marketing copy if I were not the one signing off on the protocol.

The Mother’s Day Refresh is a $3,650 facial balancing package. Dermal filler plus upper-face neuromodulator (the wrinkle-relaxer in the forehead, brows, and crow’s feet area), with the specific products and quantities chosen at the appointment by the injecting nurse based on the patient’s actual face, in the room, that day.

The phrase “nurses’ discretion” is the part I want to talk about, because that is what makes this package interesting.

Most filler-and-tox packages are sold by the syringe. One syringe of this, twenty units of that, on every face that walks through the door. That is convenient for billing. It is not great for outcomes. Faces are not standardized. A patient with a heavy lower lid and a flat midface needs a totally different distribution of filler than a patient with deep nasolabial folds and a strong cheekbone.

The Refresh package solves that by giving the nurse the budget to spend where the face actually needs it. If your forehead lines are loud, more goes there. If your cheekbones are flat, more filler in the malar area. If your upper lip is fine and your jaw is what is bothering you, the package goes where the work is.

This is how I want injectables done. By a nurse who has been trained to look at the whole face and to allocate product accordingly, not to count units off a price list.

Two real cautions.

One. This is a refresh, not a redesign. If your face has changed materially in the last decade, what you actually want is a surgical conversation with me, not a filler package. Filler is a tax. A facelift is an investment. I have written that line before and I will keep writing it, because it keeps being true.

Two. If you have never been injected before, the Refresh is a good first step but go in with realistic expectations. The result is a quieter, more rested version of you. Not a different face.

A clean comparison

Special What it is Investment Best for
Renew Laser tattoo removal 20 percent off per session Anyone with old or unwanted ink, ready for a real course
Restore Mother’s Day Radiance Facial $125 A reset for tired skin, or a thoughtful gift for mom
Revive Mother’s Day Refresh $3,650 Filler plus upper-face wrinkle relaxer, nurse-curated, full-face balance

Where to come, East or West

The Med Spa at Southwest Plastic Surgery runs out of two El Paso locations.

The Eastside office is at 1387 George Dieter Drive, Building C, El Paso, Texas 79936.

The Westside office is at 5925 Silver Springs Drive, Suite C, El Paso, Texas 79912.

You can book at either. The Med Spa team works across both sites and the protocols are the same. Pick the side of town that is easier for you that week.

A note on who is doing the work

I want every patient who walks into my Med Spa to know who is supervising the room. I do. I am Frank Agullo, MD, FACS, double board-certified, Mayo Clinic plastic surgery fellowship alum, Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years. The Med Spa is not a side hustle. It is the non-surgical arm of my surgical practice, and the protocols are written and overseen by me.

That is the only way I would put my name on a $125 facial or a $3,650 refresh package. The standard is the standard.

Ready to talk?

Call our Med Spa at (915) 590-7907 to book any of the May specials at the Eastside (1387 George Dieter Building C) or Westside (5925 Silver Springs Suite C) office. For surgical or combined consults, call my main office at (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com/appointments. Follow me at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook. #StayBeautiful

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After the Needles: The Growth Factor That Earned Its Spot Next to My Morpheus8

A patient receives radiofrequency microneedling at the cheek, illustrating the post-procedure window when topical recombinant pure PDGF (Ariessence pure PDGF+) is applied. Reviewed by Dr. Frank Agullo, MD, FACS, double board-certified plastic surgeon in El Paso, Texas.

After the Needles: The Growth Factor That Earned Its Spot Next to My Morpheus8

Last month a longtime patient sat down on my Morpheus8 table, looked at the small kit on the tray, and asked me where the blood draw was. We had done platelet-rich plasma after every one of her treatments for the past five years. Tube, centrifuge, twelve-minute wait, supernatant painted onto freshly needled skin, small bandage on the inner arm at the end. That was the rhythm of the visit.

I told her we were doing something different this time. A small kit, mixed in a minute, no needle in the arm. Same idea as PRP. A cleaner version of the same idea.

The product is called Ariessence pure PDGF+. The molecule inside is recombinant platelet-derived growth factor BB. I have been using it on a subset of my Morpheus8 patients since the start of the year, and over the past few months it has quietly replaced PRP in my MedSpa for most post-procedure protocols. This is the long version of why.

What PDGF actually is

Platelet-derived growth factor is one of the body’s lead first-responder proteins at any tissue injury. When platelets release at a wound site, PDGF recruits fibroblasts to lay down collagen, calls in the cells that build new microvasculature, and helps coordinate the rest of the early healing response. It is the most studied tissue growth factor in regenerative medicine. Four FDA-approved drug products contain it. Over the past twenty-eight years, more than five and a half million patients have been treated with PDGF-containing FDA-approved products in non-cosmetic medical indications such as periodontal regeneration and diabetic foot ulcer healing. The molecule has a long safety record.

For most of the past decade, the way clinicians delivered PDGF to skin in an aesthetic context was indirect. We drew the patient’s own blood, spun it down, and applied platelet-rich plasma to freshly microneedled skin. PDGF was in there. So were dozens of other proteins, in concentrations that varied with the patient and the centrifuge run.

Recombinant pure PDGF is the next step. The protein is produced in cultured cells from a human gene sequence and purified to a single active species. The label calls it sh-Polypeptide-59 Dimer. There are no human-derived components in the formulation. The dose is controlled by the manufacturer and is the same in every kit.

Why topical, and why right after a microchanneling procedure

Topical PDGF on intact skin is a moisturizer with an interesting label. The protein is too large to cross an intact stratum corneum in a meaningful concentration. Healthy skin keeps macromolecules out. That is the barrier doing its job.

Topical PDGF in the brief window after Morpheus8, RF microneedling, fractional laser, or a medium-depth peel is a different story. The procedure has just opened thousands of microchannels into the dermis. The growth factor reaches the compartment that is asking for it. The window closes within hours.

That is why this product is sold to clinicians, not on a shelf at Sephora. Without a procedure to pair it with, you have an expensive serum.

The Gold 2025 study

In September 2025, Gold and colleagues published a randomized, evaluator-blinded, controlled trial in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Subjects between thirty and sixty years old got a single Morpheus8 session and were randomized to receive either bland Aquaphor or topical recombinant pure PDGF-BB immediately after. Patients were graded at seven and thirty days using the Clinical Global Aesthetic Improvement Score and Canfield Visia objective imaging.

The PDGF group did better. The difference on the global aesthetic score at thirty days was statistically significant. The PDGF group performed favorably on six of the seven Visia metrics. Patient-reported outcomes were better on the experience measures. No serious adverse events were reported.

The manufacturer is explicit about one caveat in the published reprint, and I will repeat it. The exact formulation in the Gold trial is not identical to the marketed Ariessence product. The trial supports the use of topical recombinant pure PDGF-BB after RF microneedling as a category. It is not a label claim for a specific commercial bottle. I tell patients this clearly. They appreciate it.

Where it sits next to PRP, PRF, and exosomes

The regenerative aesthetics category is crowded. Here is how I sort the actual contenders in my room.

What it is Source Blood draw? Predictability of dose Where it fits in 2026
Aquaphor (bland emollient) Petroleum jelly No Total, no biological signal Default barrier, comparator in trials
PRP (platelet-rich plasma) Patient’s own blood, single spin Yes Variable, patient to patient Reasonable. Less predictable than recombinant.
PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) Patient’s own blood, slower spin Yes Slightly more consistent than PRP Some practices prefer it. Not a step change.
Exosomes Cultured stem cell media (donor-derived) No Manufacturer-dependent. Regulatory status unsettled. I have not adopted these.
Ariessence pure PDGF+ Recombinant rhPDGF-BB in HA serum No Identical dose every kit Default after Morpheus8, RF microneedling, fractional laser, or medium-depth peel.

The table is not exhaustive. Topical recombinant epidermal growth factor preparations also exist, for instance. But it captures the choices a patient is realistically being offered today.

Who is the right candidate

Anyone scheduled for Morpheus8, RF microneedling, fractional laser resurfacing, or a medium-depth chemical peel who wants the cleanest possible thirty-day skin. Anyone who has always disliked the blood draw side of PRP. Anyone who has had wildly different PRP results over the years and wants to know whether a controlled dose evens out the experience.

It is not a stand-alone serum. It is not an injectable. It is not a substitute for sunscreen, a retinoid, or the procedure itself. Patients with active facial infection, active inflammatory dermatoses on the treatment area, or any contraindication to the underlying procedure are not candidates until those issues resolve.

What it is not

Ariessence pure PDGF+ is sold as a topical cosmetic. It is not an FDA-approved drug. The Cosmetic Product Listing number is on file with the agency. Cosmetics in the United States do not require FDA pre-market approval. The agency does require honest labeling, prohibits drug-style claims, and oversees safety and adverse-event reporting. Ariessence operates within those constraints.

The product is not approved to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any disease or condition. It is not for injection. The four FDA-approved PDGF-containing drug products (GEM 21S, Augment, Augment Injectable, Regranex) are unrelated formulations approved for non-cosmetic indications. Their decades of safety data inform the molecule’s general safety profile. They do not transfer regulatory approval to the cosmetic.

I tell patients all of this before we add it to a treatment plan. The Ariessence label does the same.

Why I added it to my MedSpa stack

PRP after microneedling has earned its place over the years. I am not knocking it. A controlled, recombinant dose of the lead growth factor in the platelet release is, on the data we have today, a little better.

Workflow is the second piece. PRP requires a draw, a centrifuge, a twelve-minute wait, and a patient who is okay with a needle in her arm before a needle in her face. Ariessence is mixed in under a minute on the same tray as everything else. My MedSpa team prefers it. My patients prefer not having to roll up a sleeve.

The third piece is consistency with how I think about aesthetic medicine. Preservation, precision, controlled dosing, predictable outcomes. PDGF is the most studied tissue growth factor in regenerative medicine, with more than a hundred clinical trials and a twenty-eight-year FDA-approved drug heritage in non-cosmetic indications. Bringing the recombinant pure version into the cosmetic side of the practice fits.

From Vampire Facials to recombinant pure PDGF

If you have followed me for a while, the throughline matters. The 2019 piece on this blog argued for PRP after microneedling. The science was right then. The recombinant era is a refinement, not a refutation. The molecule is the same lead actor in the platelet release. The vehicle is cleaner and the dose more dependable. I would rather a patient be reading a 2026 update than a 2019 piece pretending to still be current.

Why choose Dr. Agullo for skin in El Paso?

Double board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery and the American Board of Surgery. Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Mayo Clinic plastic surgery fellowship. Clinical Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Affiliate Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. Castle Connolly Top Doctor for thirteen consecutive years. Texas Super Doctors Hall of Fame, 2025. Aesthetic Everything Top Plastic Surgeon, 2026. Morpheus8 in active rotation in our MedSpa, paired with Ariessence pure PDGF+ as the post-procedure topical when the indication fits.

We run a clinic and a MedSpa under one roof for one reason. The arc of facial aging is decades long, and you should not have to drive across town to handle it.

Ready to talk?

If you are thinking about Morpheus8, an RF microneedling course, fractional laser, or a peel, and you want to understand what your skin care protocol should look like in the thirty days after, the most useful forty-five minutes of your year is a consultation with the surgeon who would actually plan it. I will tell you whether Ariessence pure PDGF+ is the right add-on for your treatment, whether you are better off with a different combination, or whether the procedure you are asking for is not the one you actually need.

Call (915) 590-7900, text 1-866-814-0038, or book online at agulloplasticsurgery.com. Follow along on social at @RealDrWorldWide on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, @Agullo on X, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook. #StayBeautiful

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Glitter All the Way!

Glitter all the way

At the base of any skin care routine, you’ll find a cleanser, a moisturizer, and a protector. Sure, you may find a toner, or an exfoliant, too. But those basic three are given for just about anyone.

Recent trends have put glitter in just about everything, but did you know it’s even in your sunscreen?! Yes, brands like Unicorn Snot and Beach Gypsy offer sunscreen that will make you glitter in the sunshine! It can be a win-win, if you’re not looking too closely at the possible environmental effects of the plastic glitter pieces!

Is It Safe For Your Skin?

This is the real question you should be asking. Facial skin is especially thin and easily damaged.  Burning and aging easily happen if you aren’t diligent! Your daily SPF protection is a layer of defense against UVA and UVB rays that can prematurely age and/or burn your skin. It’s a pretty important part of your skin care that you don’t want to mess with.

Concerns have been raised about the possibility of glitter refracting light back to the skin or simply negating the performance of the sunscreen it’s imbedded in. Fortunately, the most likely problem with glitter is that it can act as an irritant. Be especially careful when applying on your face to avoid the eyes and nose.  If you find yourself with a rash after wearing the sunscreen, you should wash it off and discontinue use.

Whether you love to glitter up or simply want to look natural and refreshed, there’s no better place to go than Southwest Plastic Surgery.  Dr. Agullo and his team will help you look and feel your best. Follow us for more information: @RealDrWorldWide on Snapchat and Instagram, @Agullo on Twitter, or @AgulloPlasticSurgery on Facebook.