As Seen On Fox5 DC: Everything You Need To Know About Vampire Facials

Authored by: Dr. Thomas Nguyen

Vampire facials – sound weird? It’s not just a Halloween fad, this is something we do all year long. Let’s face it, everyone wants to look younger including Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, and other popular Hollywood stars who have made this natural aesthetic rejuvenation procedure more mainstream. Vampire Facials utilize the power of the human blood (PRP Injections) to boost collagen and help with the appearance of aging (wrinkles, fine lines, etc), acne scarring, and dark spots — leaving you with a more glowing and smoother appearance and boosting your confidence! 

1) What exactly is a Vampire Facial?  How does it work to rejuvenate the skin?

What we do in the Vampire Facial procedure is we take your blood, spin it down using a centrifuge, and pull out the healing properties (platelet-rich plasma, “PRP”). Then we put that back into your skin through micro-needling.  

When the blood gets into the skin it helps with collagen production. After the age of 20, you start to lose 1% of collagen each year. This treatment can be used to reduce small fine wrinkles, scarring, and even acne scarring, and also brown spots.

2) Why would someone choose a Vampire Facial over Botox? Can you just go anywhere to have this done?  Or do you need to make sure you go somewhere that specializes in regenerative medicine?

This is a much different process than Botox. Botox is a band-aid. 

With a vampire facial, we’re actually healing the face – or regenerating the skin. When trying to decide where to go for treatment, make sure you do your research. First and foremost this should always be done by a medical doctor, like me.

Secondly, there are a lot of places out there that are using poor-quality products so the treatment may not be as effective. You may have noticed a number of places popping up that do this, including medspas, salons, etc.

BE CAREFUL, and find a place that has a lot of experience with regenerative medicine. My practice has been doing this for over a decade. Experience matters when it comes to many treatments in medicine, but most especially for your face!

3) How long is a Vampire Facial session and is it painful? 

A session is typically 30- 45 minutes and no it is not painful. I make my patients comfortable by using topical numbing, and the procedure goes pretty quickly. If one of my clients is overly anxious I do offer sedation to help ease their nerves. 

4) How do you perform a Vampire Facial?

The procedure is pretty straightforward and painless. I first take blood out of the arm like a routine blood draw. I then spin the blood using a centrifuge to separate the properties of the blood and pull out the PRP – the healing properties of it. Then we do the facial. By using a small micro-needling tool, I move the blood over different areas of your face to create a mask. If you have specific wrinkles, scars, or brown spots you are looking to remove, I will give those areas more attention to make sure the plasma is more concentrated there.   

5) What’s the recovery time for someone who undergoes a Vampire Facial? 

The recovery is pretty straightforward. The face will look a little sunburnt for 24 hours. We ask patients to avoid heavy cosmetics during that time. But that’s it!  After that, you can get right back to normal makeup use and routines. You’ll notice the benefits 2-4 weeks after treatment, with some patients, needing up to 3 treatments.

5) Let’s talk about results — how effective are Vampire Facial treatments?  


My patients have reported excellent results! They describe having younger more rejuvenated skin… their dark spots lighter… their skin shinier… wrinkles reduced… acne scarring is reduced.

 In the best-case scenario, the effects can last up to two years — which is drastically longer than Botox. Some of my older patients, last about one year.

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