Ingredient Beauty BenefitsRoute · Injection
PDRN: all 51 Korean products are prescription-only, and the scar trial missed its main score
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.
Last checked Sep 16, 2026
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- What it is
Purified fragments of DNA taken from salmon milt and injected. Hence the Korean nickname, 'salmon injection'.
- What it is used for
Shallow injections repeated over several sessions, in the hope of skin repair and less inflammation.
- How it is said to work
It is said the short DNA fragments bind a particular cell receptor and push the response toward repair.
There are no numbers and no citations in this box. What has been established, and how far, is below.
At a glance
- Session length
- 20–30 min
- Pain
- Moderate
- Downtime
- 1–3 days
- Sessions
- 3–5 sessions
- How long it lasts
- 3–6 months
- Relative cost
- Lower
- How well established
- Ingredient data
“Reported in a trial” means a number a study on this page actually reported. “Typical range” is not a measured value but roughly how it is usually done, and it varies by clinic and by person.
Cost is not an amount but a band: where this procedure falls when the ones on this site are lined up per session, or per area treated. Real prices differ several-fold by clinic and by how much is treated, so they are not given here. Surgery is measured on a different scale and cannot be compared with this band.
This is not how large the effect is but how well confirmed it is. It shows the highest grade among the findings on this page.
PDRN consists of DNA fragments obtained from salmon. It is described as acting through the adenosine A2A receptor on tissue repair and inflammation.
In Korea it is an injectable prescription medicine. In the national drug register, 51 products with sodium polydeoxyribonucleotide as the active ingredient are all classified prescription-only. It requires a prescription and a procedure, and this page covers only what has been established.
What is established
Preventing surgical scars: the scar score did not reach statistical significance
Forty-four patients who had open thyroidectomy were randomised to PDRN or an untreated control group (NCT05149118). The treatment group received two injections on days 1 and 2 after surgery, and scars were assessed three months later.
The modified Vancouver Scar Scale came out at 1.619 ± 1.244 for treatment and 2.500 ± 1.540 for control. The direction was as hoped, but p = .059 did not clear the conventional threshold of .05.
Among the subscores, vascularity was significantly lower (0.476 ± 0.512 vs 0.900).
A trial whose main score misses significance cannot be used as evidence that something prevents scarring. There were 44 participants. Hence not established — not that it does nothing, but that this trial did not show it.
And what this trial looked at was surgical scars, not skin ageing.
- Randomised controlled trial in people · 44 participants · 13 weeks · Compared with no treatment · Funding not declared · Endpoint scores from blinded assessors PMID 35713247 · abstract read
All 51 products registered in Korea are prescription-only
The Korean drug register lists 51 products with sodium polydeoxyribonucleotide as the active ingredient, all prescription-only (checked 16 September 2026).
That means a doctor's prescription and a procedure. This page does not cover dosing or technique — those are settled in consultation.
Cosmetics with 'PDRN' on the label are not this
Search the Korean functional-cosmetic filing register and several products come up with 'PDRN' in the product name.
A cosmetic you apply and a prescription medicine you inject are different things. A shared name does not make them do the same job, and the evidence on the cosmetic side has nothing to do with the trial on this page.
That applied PDRN does anything resembling the injection is not established. Given the molecule size, the same question arises as with topical collagen.
Known risks
- Pain, swelling, bruising and redness at the injection site are reported.
- Anything injected carries a risk of infection and foreign-body reaction.
- It comes from salmon. If you have a fish allergy, say so before the procedure.
- If something goes wrong, tell the clinic that performed it.
What is not established
- Evidence for skin ageing has not been verified on this page. What was checked is the surgical-scar trial, and even there the main score missed significance.
- How many sessions at what interval change what is not established.
- Nor is how long any effect lasts.
Whether to have it done is a decision to make with a doctor.
What this article relies on
Unless marked otherwise, a paper was read to the abstract. Only papers whose full text we opened are marked as such.
- 의약품안전나라 — 의약품등 정보검색 (품목 허가사항)식품의약품안전처 · Checked on 2026-09-16
- 의약품안전나라 — 기능성화장품 제품정보(보고)식품의약품안전처 · Checked on 2026-09-16
- PubMed — 미국 국립의학도서관 문헌 데이터베이스National Library of Medicine · Checked on 2026-09-16