Shereene IdrissBoard Certified Derm, Founder and Chief Nerd

The Microneedling + PRP trend is all wrong…

13 Oct 2026 · 2 min

Watch on YouTube

1:35

In this YouTube segment, Shereene Idriss, a 42‑year‑old skincare professional, explains why the popular microneedling and platelet‑rich plasma (PRP) trend is often misapplied. She frames microneedling as a "silent investment" that stimulates collagen over time, emphasizing that the treatment’s benefits are long‑term rather than immediate. Idriss warns against monthly microneedling sessions, which she says cause unnecessary skin trauma, and recommends limiting treatments to three or four per year during one’s 30s. Regarding PRP, she describes it as a blood‑derived “fertilizer” containing growth factors that can improve skin quality only if the skin’s environment is receptive. She prefers injectable PRP over topical application and advises a trial of three spaced‑one‑month‑apart injections targeting the most problematic area (e.g., under‑eyes). She stresses documenting results with extensive photos and waiting two to three months after the final session before deciding whether to continue, highlighting the distinction between a strategic skin investment and wasteful spending.

Chapters

The women in New York are getting PRP under their eyes and microneedling all over their face.
I'm 42, and here's what I wish I knew in my 30s about microneedling. What I like to call a silent investment in your skin because it's about stimulating collagen over time. But in my 30s, I thought it was absolutely a useless treatment because I didn't see a dramatic overnight change. And now at 42, I wish I appreciated microneedling more. And that is the whole point of microneedling. It is a long-term game. So this is where I think people are missing the point. where they are constantly traumatizing their skin every month, getting a microneedling treatment and simply inflaming their skin, which is counterproductive. So if you are in your 30s, I would cap out my microneedling sessions to maximum 3 to 4 times a year and most definitely not a monthly treatment. But PRP is a slightly different story. So PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma. It's derived from your blood and it is not a home run for everybody. One way I like to think about PRP is that it's a fertilizer that's going to have growth factors that can help and repair and improve your skin quality. Only if your environment allows it to. So not everyone's going to see a meaningful difference. And personally, I much prefer injecting PRP into your skin rather than simply applying it on top. But before you sign yourself up for years of PRP, I would tell you do a series of 3 treatments spaced 1 month apart and have it injected in an area where you see the biggest difference, like your under eyes. And make sure to take a shit ton of pictures, but give it time. So after the 3rd treatment, wait 2 to 3 months to really see if you see a meaningful difference and to see if it's worth worth continuing, because there is a huge difference between investing in your skin and just spending a shit ton of money on it.