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It’s not just the edge factor that has made salmon-sperm facials the buzziest beauty treatment on the block—the celeb-approved procedure actually delivers on its purported claims of glowier, healthier-looking skin. But if you can’t get yourself into a medical spa or doctor’s office to try it yourself, you have the next best option: PDRN serums and creams.
To understand why PDRN products have become so popular, you’ll first need to understand PDRN itself. PDRN, or polydeoxyribonucleotide, is the active ingredient in “salmon-sperm” facials. “It’s a fragment of DNA,” says Dr. Eunice Park, dual-board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and the founder of AIREM in New York. (Not outright sperm, as hype would lead you to believe.) According to Brian Murdock, general manager, North America, for K-beauty brand Memebox, PDRN’s restorative properties were first researched back in the 1980s, but subsequently became widely used in Korean skin care and dermatology treatments, including injectables.
Vogue’s Favorite PDRN Skin-Care Products
- Best Overall: Rejuran Turnover Ampoule Anti-Aging Face Serum, $52
- Best With Retinol: Innisfree Retinol Green Tea PDRN Skin Booster Ampoule, $32
- Best Eye Cream: Valmont Vitality Collection Vital Contour Cream, $295
- Best Vegan: VT Cosmetics PDRN 100 Essence, $30
- Best for Fine Lines: Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum, $22
- Best Moisturizer: Gangnam Glow Rejunol Mucin Cream, $29
- Best for Sensitive Skin: Heveblue Salmon Caring Centella Cream, $34
- Best for Redness: IOPE BIO-PDRN Caffeine Shot, $50
- Best With Hyaluronic Acid: Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Capsule 100 Serum, $28
The most common pro-grade treatment you’ll see is Rejuran Healing Essence. This formula uses PDRN derived from salmon sperm cells that are harvested from the fish as they literally swim into the company’s specially designed facility at the end of mating season. Park uses this formula in her practice, noting that many practitioners in Korea will administer the product via multiple shallow injections, not unlike Juvéderm’s skin booster SkinVive. Rather than injecting it, Park applies it to the skin after microneedling or lasering. “It’s like a vitamin boost to the skin,” she says.
PDRN has many skin benefits, with preclinical and clinical studies demonstrating anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties, as well as the ability to synthesize collagen and reduce hyperpigmentation. These benefits have made in-office PDRN procedures wildly popular, so it was only a matter of time until the active ingredient found its way into at-home formulas. “While topical PDRN products don’t penetrate as deeply or work as intensively as injections, they still deliver visible results over time, improving skin texture, elasticity, and overall radiance with consistent use,” says Murdock. This is especially true if you use at-home microneedling devices—those little channels created by a dermaroller will help a PDRN serum penetrate the skin more deeply.
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As we dug into the research for this story, we wondered: Why salmon? “When PDRN was first gaining traction, its use started with salmon-derived PDRN because they found that salmon sperm shared similarities with DNA found in human placenta,” explains Victoria Fu, cosmetic chemist and cofounder of the podcast Chemist Confessions. To determine if your formula actually contains PDRN, just search its ingredient list for the term “sodium DNA.” “These should all include a version of DNA fragments,” says Fu. “However, the labels don’t tell you where the DNA fragments would be sourced from.”
This is important, because in addition to salmon-derived products, there are now plant-based PDRN creams on the market. Yes, most studies are on salmon DNA fragments, but there are a few proving the efficacy of botanical PDRN too; ginseng-derived PDRN is shown to support skin regeneration and barrier function.
Whether you’re looking for a PDRN serum made with salmon or one that will adhere to vegan beauty standards, read on—we’ve found the best PDRN skin-care products to suit a variety of needs, goals, and preferences.
Best Overall: Rejuran Turnover Ampoule Anti-Aging Face Serum
- Why We Love It: This PDRN serum is made by Rejuran, the same company that produces the most popular in-office iteration of the treatment. It gets its power from a concentrated dose of the salmon-derived active in a very small, absorption-friendly molecule size (1/670th the size of pores). For an added boost, the formula features wrinkle-fighting adenosine and skin-brightening licorice root.
- Key Ingredients: Salmon PDRN, adenosine, licorice root extract
- Size: 1.01 fl. oz.
Best With Retinol: Innisfree Retinol Green Tea PDRN Skin Booster Ampoule
- Why We Love It: If you hate the feeling of anything on your skin but want heavy-duty treatment, this PDRN serum is about to become your go-to. Anti-aging mainstay retinol is paired here with green tea–derived PDRN, niacinamide, and Lactobacillus ferment lysate for comprehensive firming, hydrating, and skin-rebalancing benefits in an incredibly fast-absorbing formula. Just be sure to ease into using it if this is your first foray into retinol application! One pump once a night is enough to start.
- Key Ingredients: Green tea–derived PDRN, 1% triple retinol complex, niacinamide
- Size: 0.84 fl. oz.
Best Eye Cream: Valmont Vitality Collection Vital Contour Cream
- Why We Love It: This luxurious Swiss brand has featured salmon-sourced PDRN as its signature ingredient for decades; the new eye cream combines it with silanol, a form of organic silicon that is proven to repair signs of aging, including skin laxity and fine lines. It also has a texture that we can’t get enough of—it’s silky and rich yet lightweight, melting like butter into skin to nourish it without leaving any residue behind.
- Key Ingredients: Salmon-derived PDRN and silanol blend, apple stem cells, liposome RNA
- Size: 0.5 oz.
Best Vegan: VT Cosmetics PDRN 100 Essence
- Why We Love It: This vegan-sourced PDRN serum boasts a 10% concentration of super-tiny molecules of ginseng-derived DNA fragments that absorb readily into skin, along with niacinamide and multiple ceramides to help amp up your hydration levels. The milky serum also contains plant oils and squalane, which creates a glass skin effect for a serious glow.
- Key Ingredients: Ginseng-derived PDRN, ceramides, niacinamide
- Size: 1.01 fl. oz.
Best For Fine Lines: Medicube PDRN Pink Peptide Serum
- Why We Love It: The Barbiecore pink hue of this TikTok-approved PDRN serum comes courtesy of its rose-derived active, which also gives the formula a delicate, unobtrusive scent that we love. Even better is the product’s performance—it helps even out uneven texture, whether that’s fine lines, enlarged pores, or even mild acne scars, to leave your skin looking as velvety and fresh as a garden rose.
- Key Ingredients: Rose-derived PDRN, peptides, niacinamide
- Size: 1.01 fl. oz.
Best Moisturizer: Gangnam Glow Rejunol Mucin Cream
- Why We Love It: The ingredient list of this PDRN cream reads like a who’s who of K-beauty all-stars—beyond salmon-derived PDRN, you’ll find snail mucin and cica, as well as niacinamide, multiple weights of sodium hyaluronate, and several ceramides. The gel-cream’s blend of hardworking ingredients helps skin stay hydrated, nourished, and calm while working to firm and brighten texture and tone.
- Key Ingredients: Salmon-derived PDRN, snail mucin, niacinamide
- Size: 3.7 fl. oz.
Best for Sensitive Skin: Heveblue Salmon Caring Centella Cream
- Why We Love It: This best-selling PDRN cream is a must-try for those with easily sensitized skin. The first and most concentrated ingredient in the formula is cica leaf water, providing powerful skin-soothing benefits as soon as you slick it on. Additionally, it offers salmon-sourced PDRN, purslane extract, madecassoside, and several forms of hyaluronic acid, so you can expect this comforting cream to leave your skin soft, smooth, and even.
- Key Ingredients: Salmon-derived PDRN, cica leaf water, sodium hyaluronate
- Size: 3.38 fl. oz.
Best for Redness: Iope Bio-PDRN Caffeine Shot
- Why We Love It: If your skin is prone to flushing, fast to sensitize, and acne-prone, give this serum a try—it helps quell redness to leave skin calm and hydrated. Its cooling, watery texture absorbs quickly without any residue, making it an easy addition to a morning skincare routine. Green tea–sourced PDRN and beta-glucan work in tandem to provide lasting hydration, while the caffeine helps calm stressed skin.
- Key Ingredients: Green tea–derived PDRN, caffeine, beta-glucan
- Size: 1.01 fl. oz.
Best With Hyaluronic Acid: Anua PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Capsule 100 Serum
- Why We Love It: Considering salmon-sourced PDRN offers excellent hydrating properties, it makes sense to pair it with humectant hero hyaluronic acid, which this formula contains at a concentration of 3%. Hydrolyzed collagen supports this duo by fortifying the skin barrier to prevent water loss, leaving skin plump and plush.
- Key Ingredients: Salmon-derived PDRN, hyaluronic acid, hydrolyzed collagen
- Size: 1.01 fl. oz.
Does PDRN really work?
Yes, PDRN can absolutely provide some impressive benefits, including helping the skin heal, boost collagen production, and improve elasticity, says Murdock. The studies we mentioned earlier also show that PDRN can help address hyperpigmentation and prevent skin damage—however, it’s important to remember that most evidence of PDRN’s efficacy was proven using the ingredient as an injectable or as applied topically to broken skin, such as after microneedling or ablative laser.
How long does it take to see the results from PDRN?
According to Park, her patients that get treated with PDRN see changes to their skin immediately after treatment, especially if they’re prone to dryness. “Patients who will typically slather Aquaphor on their skin, but their skin is still so dry—they notice a measurable improvement in just the absorptive quality to their skin after PDRN,” she says, adding that she sees significant improvement to patients’ acne scarring when alternating PDRN treatment with fractional laser.
For topical products, like the PDRN serums and creams above, you’ll need to be a little more patient. “You might notice hydration and mild skin improvements quickly, but bigger changes take several weeks and likely won’t be as dramatic as injectable PDRN,” says Murdock.
Do topical PDRN products work as well as in-office treatments?
No, and that’s kind of the point—in-office treatments are professional-grade products, stronger than what you’d use at home because an expert is administering them, either via injection or topically to skin they’ve just treated with a powerful laser or other device. That allows for in-office PDRN treatments to penetrate the skin far more deeply than an at-home PDRN cream ever could. Deeper penetration of an active translates to more dramatic improvement in a faster amount of time. However, the more affordable and convenient nature of at-home PDRN skincare make them worthy of consideration.
Meet the Experts
- Dr. Eunice Park is a dual-board-certified facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon and the founder of AIREM in New York.
- Brian Murdock is the general manager, North America, for Memebox.
- Victoria Fu is a cosmetic chemist and the cofounder of the podcast Chemist Confessions.