Polynucleotides vs Profhilo in Leeds: Which One to Book First
By Sasha, Founder & Head Practitioner, Ministry of Faces, Leeds · October 2026 · 7 min read
If you are weighing up polynucleotides vs Profhilo in Leeds, here is the short version. Profhilo is for skin that has gone dry and a bit slack. Polynucleotides are for skin that has gone thin, red or crepey. Two different jobs, and I use both most weeks.
I get asked which is better three or four times a week, nearly always by somebody who has watched a video about one of them. It is the wrong question. The useful one is which your skin needs first, and often the answer is neither yet.
When I started doing this I had to explain both from scratch. Now people walk in and ask for them by name. I don't think that's because skin has changed. I think people have just got better at looking at their own faces in photographs.
So this is the whole thing, in the order I would say it to you in the chair. The session counts, which bit stings, and the people I send home with neither.
If a clinic offers you a Profhilo course for hollow cheeks, that is a sales process, not an assessment.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Polynucleotides vs Profhilo: what is the real difference?
Profhilo is ultra pure hyaluronic acid injected at ten points across the face to hydrate and firm slack skin. Polynucleotides are purified salmon DNA fragments that calm inflammation and rebuild thin, damaged skin. Profhilo adds water and bounce. Polynucleotides repair the skin itself. Two different jobs, often in the same face.
Profhilo has no crosslinker in it, so it spreads instead of staying where you put it. I place it at five points on each side of the face, ten in total. That is the BAP technique, and anybody doing it properly uses the same ten points.
Illuma Luna is the polynucleotide I use. Purified salmon DNA, which puts some people off, and I understand why. It adds nothing to the shape of your face. What polynucleotides actually do is get the cells that build your collagen working again.
Here is the bit that tends to go unsaid. Profhilo makes tired skin look better fairly quickly. Polynucleotides make difficult skin behave better slowly.
If your skin is healthy and you want to look rested for a wedding in six weeks, that is Profhilo. If it has been red and irritable for two years, that is polynucleotides.
If you only have the budget for one course this year, pick the one that matches your actual problem, not the one with the bigger name.
What I look at | Profhilo | Polynucleotides (Illuma Luna) |
|---|---|---|
Made from | Ultra pure hyaluronic acid, no crosslinker | Purified salmon DNA fragments |
What it does | Hydrates and firms slack skin | Calms and rebuilds thin skin |
Sessions | 2, about 4 weeks apart | 2 to 3, about 3 weeks apart |
How it feels | Warm and heavy, ten small bumps | Stings under the eye, not on the cheek |
Full result | 4 to 6 weeks after session two | 4 to 6 weeks after the last one |
Lasts | Up to 6 months | 4 to 6 months |
Not for | Hollow cheeks or a weak jaw, that is dermal filler | An instant glow for Saturday |
THE ORDER I DO THEM IN
Which one should you book first?
This is the part clinics keep vague, so here it is properly. I decide it on one thing: whether the skin needs calming down before it needs plumping up.
Thin, red or reactive skin: polynucleotides first, always. Two sessions of the Illuma Luna polynucleotide course three weeks apart, then I look again at six weeks.
Dry and slightly slack, no redness: start with Profhilo, two sessions four weeks apart, maintenance at about six months.
Thin, papery under-eyes: polynucleotides or Lumi Eyes before anybody mentions tear trough filler. I do not put Profhilo under the eye at all.
You want both: polynucleotide course first, then Profhilo a fortnight after the last session. Never on the same day.
Neck and chest: Profhilo, because a skin booster for the chest is the one thing I do that covers that area properly.
And if you only ever do one, do the one that matches the problem. I have seen three Profhilo courses in two years on skin that needed repairing. A bit of glow each time, nothing that held.
I have never once regretted treating the inflammation first. I have regretted doing it the other way round.
THE ONES I TURN DOWN
What I would not sell you
Three people get a no from me most weeks, or at least a not yet.
The first is somebody in their late twenties who wants Profhilo because of a video. At 28 your skin is not short of hyaluronic acid. SPF every morning and a retinoid three nights a week will do more over two years.
The cheap ceramide moisturiser from Boots is fine. You do not need the ninety pound one.
The second is somebody whose rosacea is flaring. I will not run Profhilo through inflamed skin and then ask you to judge the result. Polynucleotides first, two sessions, then we look again.
The third brings me a photo of themselves at 30 and wants the cheeks back. No skin booster does that. That is cheek filler, chin filler, or work along the jaw, and if I pretended otherwise you would be back disappointed.
A woman of 47 came over from Horsforth last spring with eleven products in a bag. Four were actives. Two were retinoids from different brands and she had not realised they were both retinoids. Her skin was not ageing badly, it was irritated.
I took her down to four products, did two sessions of Illuma Luna three weeks apart and injected nothing else for two months. The other seven are still in the bag in her bathroom, where I suspect they will stay.
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Does it hurt, and how long does it take?
Profhilo feels warm and heavy for about a minute after each point, and you get ten small bumps that look like bites. They have always gone by the next morning on mine.
Polynucleotides sting under the eye and almost nowhere else. On the cheek most people say they barely feel it. Under the eye nearly everybody uses the word sharp. I do not entirely know why that one spot is so much worse, and anybody who says they do is guessing.
Both are 20 minute appointments. Neither needs a day off work, and makeup the morning after is fine.
WHAT I PAIR THEM WITH
What I combine skin boosters with
Skin boosters work on quality. They do nothing about movement lines or shape, so most of my plans have two or three things in them.
Anti-wrinkle injections for the movement lines, a hydrofacial a fortnight before a course so I am injecting into clean skin, one of the luxury facials in between sessions, and PRP when somebody wants their own platelets doing the work.
I will say this flatly: the regenerative work coming out of Leeds and Yorkshire right now is as good as anything you will pay triple for in London.
WHO SHOULD WAIT
Who this suits in Leeds, and who should wait
Profhilo suits you if your skin photographs flat and dull, you are around 35 upwards, and your neck and chest look older than your face. That last bit is what nobody treats.
Polynucleotides suit you if the skin under your eyes has gone thin and papery, if you go red easily, or if every active you try stings. They suit somebody at 38 with reactive skin better than somebody at 52 with volume loss.
Wait if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, if you have something happening in six days rather than six weeks, or if you have an active skin infection. Wait a fortnight if you have had filler dissolved.
Booked a course, then nothing much happens for three weeks. That gap is the treatment working, not the treatment failing.
QUESTIONS I GET ASKED
Polynucleotides and Profhilo questions I get asked every week
Which is better, polynucleotides or Profhilo?
Neither, because they treat different problems. Profhilo hydrates skin that has gone slack. Polynucleotides repair skin that has gone thin or reactive. Tell me which sounds like yours at a free consultation and I will tell you which to start with.
Can you have Profhilo and polynucleotides together?
Yes, and plenty of my plans do both. Not on the same day though. I run the polynucleotide course first, then start Profhilo a fortnight after the last session. Book a consultation and I will write the order down for you.
How many sessions of polynucleotides do I need?
Two to three sessions of Illuma Luna, about three weeks apart, then a top up every 4 to 6 months. Most people see something after the first. The full result lands 4 to 6 weeks after the last. Seventy Hyal is three sessions if you want the hyaluronic acid route.
Which is better for the under-eye area?
Polynucleotides, every time. I do not inject Profhilo under the eye. For thin, papery under-eyes it is polynucleotides or Lumi Eyes first, and only then a conversation about filler if a genuine hollow is left.
How long do polynucleotides last?
About 4 to 6 months from a full course, then I top up with one session rather than starting again. Similar to Jalupro, and shorter than most people expect. I compared all of them in my skin boosters comparison.
Do polynucleotides tighten skin?
They firm it rather than tighten it. Skin gets thicker and less papery, which looks firmer in photographs, but it is not a lift. I cannot measure collagen and neither can the people quoting percentages at you.
Where can I get polynucleotides or Profhilo in Leeds?
At our Leeds clinic, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, LS19 6AX, with free parking outside. Patients come from Horsforth, Yeadon, Guiseley, Bramhope, Ilkley, Leeds city centre and Bradford. If you are still weighing up polynucleotides vs Profhilo, book a free consultation and bring both questions.
Book a free consultation in Leeds
I would rather look at your skin than guess from a message. A consultation is free and you leave with an order of treatment written down whether you book that day or not.
Ministry of Faces, Realtex House 2, Leeds Road, Rawdon, Leeds LS19 6AX. Call 0113 517 8178 or book your free consultation.
Have a look through the skin boosters we run, the dermal filler packages if you are combining things, or the gift cards people buy before Christmas. There is also the full polynucleotides guide, and you can book online at any hour.
Sasha is the Founder and Head Practitioner at Ministry of Faces in Rawdon, Leeds. She has been recognised as Best Aesthetic Practitioner UK, and the clinic has been awarded Best Salon.
General information, not medical advice. Individual results vary.
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