PDGF in Fort Worth

What PDGF actually is

When skin is injured, platelets arrive first and release a set of signaling proteins that tell the surrounding tissue to start repairing. Platelet-derived growth factor, PDGF, is one of the most important of them. It recruits the cells that rebuild tissue and prompts them to make new collagen.

That is the same mechanism PRP and PRF rely on. Spinning your blood concentrates platelets so that, once placed, they release PDGF and other growth factors where you want repair.

Ariessence PURE PDGF+ skips the blood. Its active ingredient is rhPDGF-BB: recombinant human PDGF-BB, made in a lab and designed to be identical to the PDGF-BB your own platelets release. BB is the form of PDGF most involved in repair. It comes in a sterile hyaluronic acid solution.

This is not a new molecule. Pure rhPDGF-BB has around three decades of research and medical use behind it, including more than 100 randomized trials, and it is the active ingredient in four FDA-approved products for chronic wound care and for regenerating bone and soft tissue, among them GEM 21S, used in gum and bone surgery. What is new is using it in aesthetics, where it is applied to the skin as a cosmetic product after procedures.

PDGF or PRF: which one, and when

They are close relatives, and the choice is mostly practical.

• No blood draw. PDGF comes ready to use. For anyone who dislikes needles in the arm, faints with blood draws, or simply wants a shorter appointment, that matters.
• Consistency. The amount of growth factor in PRP or PRF depends on your own platelet count that day. A purified product delivers the same concentration every time.
• Where PRF still wins. PRF is your own tissue, holds together as a soft matrix, and can be injected, which is why it remains the choice for under-eye skin quality. See the PRP and PRF page.

Lindsey will recommend whichever fits the procedure and your goal. Sometimes that is one, sometimes the other, and occasionally neither is needed.

When it is used

PDGF does its best work when it can reach the deeper layers of the skin, which is why it is applied immediately after a procedure that opens tiny channels:

• Microneedling and Morpheus8, where it replaces or adds to the serum applied afterwards.
• Fractional laser such as Halo or MOXI, where recovery time is the main thing people weigh before booking.

It is not a standalone facial. Put on intact skin with nothing to help it in, a growth factor has little to work with. Its job is to make a good procedure recover better.

What the research shows so far

The most relevant study is a 2025 randomized pilot trial in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Women had a single Morpheus8 treatment followed either by pure PDGF or by a standard healing ointment. At 30 days, a dermatologist who did not know which group each patient was in rated the PDGF group about a full point better on a standard improvement scale. Every patient in the PDGF group said they would recommend it, against half of the comparison group, and there were no adverse reactions.

It was a small study (12 women completed it), it followed a single treatment for a month, and several of its authors work for or consult for the company that makes the product. So the aesthetic evidence is early, and larger studies are under way, including a trial of an injectable form for under-eye hollows that is not yet available.

What is well established is everything underneath it: PDGF-BB is central to how skin repairs itself, and the same molecule has a long safety record across wound care and bone regeneration. In aesthetics, the early results are encouraging, and what patients notice first is the recovery. That is the reason to add it.