ELLEMES Medical Spa offers both standard microneedling and the Vampire Facial (microneedling with PRP). Both use the same FDA-cleared SkinPen device. Both create controlled micro-injuries that stimulate collagen production. The difference is what goes into those microchannels — hyaluronic acid serum in the standard version, your own Platelet-Rich Plasma in the Vampire Facial. At $350 versus $700 per session for face-only treatment, the price gap over a three-to-six session series adds up. Whether that gap is justified depends on what you are treating, how your skin heals, and what results you are trying to achieve.
Device clearance and combination treatments: The FDA has not cleared microneedling devices for use with PRP or another product. Clearance of a device for its labeled indication does not establish the safety or effectiveness of that combination. Discuss the exact device, proposed use, alternatives, and risks with the treating clinician.
What Each Treatment Actually Does Differently
The SkinPen microneedling component is identical in both treatments. The device creates thousands of controlled punctures at calibrated depths, triggering your body’s wound-healing cascade — inflammation, then collagen and elastin production, then tissue remodeling over weeks and months. This process happens regardless of what is applied to the skin during treatment.
The difference is in the amplification.
Standard microneedling applies a hyaluronic acid serum during and after the procedure. The HA slides into the microchannels, providing hydration at the dermal level and keeping the skin moist during healing. It does not contain growth factors. The collagen stimulation comes entirely from your body’s natural response to the micro-injuries.
The Vampire Facial replaces that serum with your own concentrated PRP. A blood draw is taken before the procedure, spun in a centrifuge to isolate the platelet-rich fraction, and the resulting PRP — which contains concentrated growth factors including PDGF, TGF-β, and VEGF — is applied directly into the microchannels during treatment. These growth factors signal your fibroblasts to ramp up collagen and elastin production beyond what the wound-healing response alone would generate.
The proposed biological rationale for adding PRP should not be confused with a guaranteed clinical improvement or faster recovery. Ask how the evidence applies to your concern and the exact technique.
When PRP Is Worth the Investment
The value of adding PRP is uncertain for an individual patient. The questions below are useful when discussing whether the additional cost is justified; age or scar severity alone does not establish that the upgrade will produce a better result.
Moderate to severe acne scarring: This is where PRP earns its cost most clearly. Pitted and rolling acne scars require substantial collagen rebuilding in the scar bed to fill depressions. The concentrated growth factors in PRP accelerate and amplify that process, which can translate to either reaching visible improvement in fewer sessions or achieving a greater total reduction in scar depth by the end of the series. For patients investing in three to six sessions specifically for acne scarring, the cumulative benefit of PRP across those sessions is more significant than the benefit from any single session.
Patients with slower healing: Tell the clinician about delayed healing. Adding PRP should not be assumed to compensate for a healing problem or shorten redness by 12 to 24 hours; the underlying risk may need assessment before either procedure.
Skin laxity and firmness concerns: Patients whose primary goal is skin tightening — firmer skin along the jawline, neck, or cheeks — benefit from the additional elastin stimulation that PRP promotes. The growth factors in PRP do not only signal collagen production; they also stimulate elastin fiber formation, which is the protein responsible for skin’s ability to snap back. Standard microneedling produces some elastin as part of the general wound-healing response, but PRP amplifies that signal.
Patients over 45: Age alone does not establish that PRP will add a clinically meaningful benefit. Ask about realistic outcomes for your skin and the evidence for the proposed combination.
When Standard Microneedling Is Enough
PRP is not always the right call. For some patients and some concerns, standard microneedling at $350 per session delivers comparable results and makes better financial sense over a multi-session series.
General texture and tone improvement: If your primary concern is mild skin roughness, enlarged pores, or dull tone — and you do not have significant scarring or laxity — standard microneedling produces meaningful improvement. The controlled micro-injuries alone trigger enough collagen remodeling to smooth texture and improve overall skin quality. The incremental benefit of PRP for these concerns is present but modest, and the $350 savings per session over three to six treatments amounts to $1,050 to $2,100.
Mild, shallow scarring: Patients with very shallow rolling acne scars or minor post-acne texture irregularities often respond well to standard microneedling. The scar bed is close to the surface and the collagen deficit is small, so the body’s natural wound-healing response is often sufficient to produce visible improvement within three to four sessions. PRP would accelerate the process slightly but may not change the final outcome meaningfully for shallow scars.
Younger patients with healthy healing: Patients in their 20s and 30s with robust healing responses and good baseline collagen production typically see strong results from standard microneedling. Their fibroblasts respond aggressively to the controlled injury without needing the additional growth factor boost that PRP provides. If you heal quickly from cuts and injuries in general, your wound-healing response is likely robust enough to get excellent microneedling results without PRP.
Budget-conscious patients: At the listed prices, six standard sessions and three PRP sessions each total $2,100. That arithmetic does not establish which produces more collagen or better results. Choose a clinically appropriate plan rather than purchasing a session count to match a budget.
The Cost Math Over a Full Series
Since most patients need multiple sessions, the per-session price difference compounds. Here is what the total investment looks like for face-only treatment at ELLEMES.
Standard microneedling — 3 sessions: $1,050 at full price. Package pricing (three-session bundle with 10% discount) brings this lower.
Standard microneedling — 6 sessions: $2,100 at full price. Package pricing (five-session bundle with 15% discount) reduces the per-session cost further.
Vampire Facial — 3 sessions: $2,100 at full price. Package discounts apply.
Vampire Facial — 6 sessions: $4,200 at full price. Package discounts apply.
The gap between three sessions of standard microneedling and three sessions of PRP microneedling is $1,050. Over six sessions, it is $2,100. Whether that difference is justified depends on the factors above — scar severity, healing speed, age, and the specific results you are targeting. For patients adding neck treatment, the price difference is proportionally similar ($425 vs. $775 per session).
ELLEMES offers multi-session packages for both treatments that reduce the per-session cost. Ask about package pricing during your consultation.
Can You Start With Standard and Switch to PRP Later?
Yes, and some patients take this approach deliberately. Starting with two or three sessions of standard microneedling lets you assess how your skin responds to microneedling in general — how much collagen you produce, how quickly you heal, and how much scar improvement you see — before committing to the higher-cost PRP version.
If results plateau, reassess the diagnosis, response, risks, and alternatives before changing treatment. Switching to PRP should not be treated as automatically compatible or as a reliable way to overcome a plateau.
The reverse approach also works. Some patients start with PRP for the first three sessions to establish a strong collagen foundation with maximum growth factor signaling, then switch to standard microneedling for maintenance sessions where the incremental benefit of PRP is smaller.
What Neither Treatment Will Do
Regardless of whether you choose standard microneedling or the Vampire Facial, both treatments have the same fundamental limitations.
Deep ice-pick scars: Narrow, deep pits that extend well into the dermis respond modestly to both treatments. The SkinPen cannot fully reach the base of these scars, and even PRP’s growth factors cannot rebuild collagen in a space the device does not access. For deep ice-pick scarring, chemical peels (TCA cross technique) or laser resurfacing may be more effective as a primary treatment.
Active acne: Microneedling over active breakouts — with or without PRP — risks spreading bacteria and worsening the condition. Active acne should be managed first through appropriate acne treatment before beginning a microneedling series of either type.
Pigmentation: Microneedling can mildly improve hyperpigmentation by accelerating cell turnover, but it is not the most efficient treatment for brown spots, melasma, or post-inflammatory discoloration. A BBL Photofacial or targeted pigment treatment addresses these concerns more directly. PRP does not add meaningful pigment-correcting benefit beyond what standard microneedling provides.
Significant volume loss: Microneedling improves skin quality at the surface and dermal level. It does not replace lost facial volume. Patients with hollowed cheeks, temples, or jawline definition concerns need a volumizing treatment like Sculptra or dermal filler to address the structural deficit. Microneedling — standard or PRP — can then improve the skin quality overlying that restored volume.
How Your Aesthetician Makes the Recommendation
When you come in for a consultation at ELLEMES Medical Spa in the Buckhead and Dunwoody area, your aesthetician evaluates your skin concerns, your scar types and depths (if applicable), your skin’s healing characteristics, your age, your budget, and your timeline. Based on that full-picture assessment, she recommends one option over the other — or suggests starting with one and transitioning to the other as your skin responds.
This is not an upsell conversation. For patients whose concerns are best served by standard microneedling, that is what gets recommended. For patients whose scarring, skin laxity, or healing profile would genuinely benefit from PRP, the Vampire Facial is recommended with a clear explanation of why. If a completely different treatment — HydraFacial for hydration and maintenance, Vivace RF microneedling for tightening, or a MOXI laser session for pigmentation — would serve you better than either microneedling option, your aesthetician will say that directly.
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ELLEMES Medical Spa is located at 5505 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs, GA — serving patients from Buckhead, Brookhaven, Dunwoody, and greater Atlanta.