In two phase 3 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials (730 participants in total), both the primary and key secondary endpoints were significantly better than placebo (P < .0001 for each). All 59 products registered in Korea are prescription-only.
On acne scars it was matched against a 1064 nm picosecond laser across the two sides of the face and lost, 42% against 55% ECCA reduction. Pain and side effects were also higher on this side. And a separate trial reported normal wound healing when treating within one month of finishing isotretinoin — with 10 people.
An injectable prescription medicine. In a randomised trial of 44 thyroidectomy patients, the scar score was 1.62 against 2.50 but at p = .059 it did not reach significance; only the vascularity subscore did. Cosmetics with 'PDRN' in the name are a different thing.
The phase 3 crow's-feet trial of Rejuran (PMID 25473210) was retracted by the journal in 2016. What remains is a 20-person exploratory trial and an uncontrolled 42-person observational study. We could not verify the Korean regulatory classification against a primary register.
We read four randomised trials of monopolar radiofrequency. All of them — including a multicentre study analysing 212 people — used another device as the control, and all of them concluded 'not inferior'. We found no trial comparing it against doing nothing.
An independent systematic review in 2025 counted every study of this technology — eight, three of them in pigs. The clinical studies are five, 112 patients in all, and there is not one randomised comparison. That review wrote that larger cohorts, longer follow-up and comparisons with other minimally invasive techniques are needed. The 2026 paper that followed is retrospective, single-site, 10 patients and single-sex, and its conclusion calls it 'an effective alternative to injectable fillers' — with no filler comparison arm.
The firmest randomised trial we found compares what to prepare skin with before photodynamic therapy. In it, microdermabrasion partially removed the stratum corneum on histology, and drug uptake came in below ablative fractional laser and similar to microneedling and curettage. There is no randomised trial on this page measuring whether it improves wrinkles or texture.
In a 2023 systematic review of 16 studies, brow lift measured 0.47–1.7 mm and submental area fell 26–45 mm². In the same data, 92% were classed as improved by the treating physician — but only 42% of patients said so themselves. The gap between those two numbers is the honest size of this procedure.
Search the literature on polydioxanone (PDO) threads and you get retrospective chart reviews, uncontrolled observational studies, technique papers and complication case reports. We found no randomised controlled trial at all. That is the most important item on this page.
In a 27-person split-face trial, microinjection and mesoneedling did not differ in mMASI change (SMD −0.39, 95% CI −0.93 to 0.15, p = 0.157). Yet satisfaction was significantly higher for mesoneedling (p = 0.007) — and erythema, scaling and oedema were significantly higher on that same side (p < 0.001). No trial with the drug removed is on this page.
A 26-week, multicentre, double-blind, sham-controlled trial — a rare quality of design for this layer. But 160 were randomised and 91 dropped out of the analysis, and the primary endpoint did not reach significance in any individual arm. Only a pooled analysis of the three active arms beat sham (p = .033, 28.5 hairs per cm²). Two device companies appear in the author affiliations.
The most widely cited one-year follow-up study of this procedure was retracted in January 2026 (Skin Res Technol 2026;32(1):e70317). What remains are uncontrolled series of 10 and 20 people and a retrospective comparison of 171. We found no randomised controlled trial at all.
Whether to have it done is a decision to make with a doctor.
The whole list, without paging through it.
Ingredient Beauty Benefits