PDRN in Korean skincare: what salmon DNA is doing in your toner

PDRN is polydeoxyribonucleotide: short, fragmented strands of DNA, in cosmetics almost always purified from salmon milt. On a Korean ingredient list it is rarely spelled out. It appears as Sodium DNA, and sometimes just as DNA. In a cosmetic it behaves as a large, strongly water-binding polymer that holds moisture at the surface and sits well on reactive skin. What separates one PDRN product from another is not whether the ingredient is present, but how much of it is there and what it is dissolved in. Across the 3,386 ingredient lists we hold on file, counted on 12 September 2026, 230 products from 48 brands declare Sodium DNA. Seventeen of them publish the actual dose, and those numbers run from 100 ppm down to 0.05 ppb. That is a two-million-fold spread behind the same three letters on the front of the bottle.

This article is the honest version. We sell a lot of PDRN, we will show you the dose on every one we can, and we will tell you where the number is too small to be doing the work the marketing implies.

What is PDRN in skincare?

Polydeoxyribonucleotide is a mixture of DNA fragments, typically in the 50 to 1,500 kilodalton range, extracted and purified from the sperm cells of salmon or trout. Salmon DNA is used because the base-pair sequence is close enough to human DNA to be biologically quiet, and because milt is an abundant byproduct of an existing food industry.

In a topical formula, PDRN is doing what any very large, very hydrophilic polymer does well. It binds water, it forms a soft film as the product dries down, and it leaves skin feeling cushioned rather than tight. It is also unusually well tolerated: it carries no acid, no fragrance obligation, and no irritation potential of its own, which is why Korean brands reach for it in the calm, post-procedure, barrier-friendly end of the shelf rather than the aggressive end.

The reason it became a headline ingredient in Korea has nothing to do with cosmetics. PDRN is an established injectable in Korean aesthetic clinics, marketed under names like Rejuran, and the clinic version became famous first. The cosmetic version arrived afterwards, borrowing the name. Which brings us to the question everybody actually wants answered.

Is the PDRN in a toner the same as the PDRN a clinic injects?

No, and any shop that lets you believe otherwise is selling you a misunderstanding.

The injectable is a sterile medical product placed into the dermis by a licensed practitioner at a controlled concentration. A toner is a cosmetic that you wipe across the outside of the stratum corneum. The molecule may share a name, but the route, the dose and the regulatory category are entirely different. A large DNA polymer is not crossing an intact barrier in any meaningful quantity; that is precisely what an intact barrier is for.

What a cosmetic PDRN product can honestly claim is what any good humectant film claims: comfortable, hydrated, calm-feeling skin, and a formula that a compromised barrier is unlikely to object to. That is genuinely worth having. It is not a needle in a bottle, and we will not describe it as one.

Why does the label say Sodium DNA instead of PDRN?

Because PDRN is a marketing name and Sodium DNA is the INCI name. INCI is the international nomenclature every ingredient list is legally written in, and it does not have an entry for "PDRN". The sodium salt of fragmented DNA is filed as Sodium DNA, which is what you will find in the list. A few formulas list plain DNA instead, as VT's Pro Cica Reedle Shot 100 does, and COSRX's PDRN toner declares both Sodium DNA and Hydrolyzed DNA in the same list.

This matters practically. If you want to know whether a product genuinely contains PDRN, you ignore the front of the box and search the ingredient list for the words Sodium DNA. If they are not there, the product does not contain it, whatever the name on the tube says.

How much PDRN is actually in a PDRN product?

Korean labelling practice has a habit the rest of the industry does not: brands often declare the concentration of a headline ingredient in parentheses inside the INCI itself, in parts per million. It is voluntary, it is inconsistent, and it is the single most useful thing on the box. Here is every product on our shelves whose own ingredient list publishes its Sodium DNA figure, ordered by dose.

Read that table twice. The mask at the top carries two thousand times more Sodium DNA than the ampoule near the bottom, and the tinted sun cream at the foot of the list carries two million times less than the mask. Every one of those products is sold as a PDRN product. Every one of those numbers came from the brand's own ingredient list, not from us.

None of this makes the low-dose products bad. VT's Reedle Shot 100 is an excellent cream-ampoule and its ingredient list is genuinely loaded: niacinamide high up, copper tripeptide-1, acetyl hexapeptide-8, hexapeptide-9, tripeptide-1, centella callus extracellular vesicles, the full centella triterpene set, propolis. It is doing plenty of work. It is simply not doing that work with 0.05 ppm of salmon DNA, and buying it for the PDRN is buying it for the least significant thing in the bottle.

What does "vegan PDRN" or "plant PDRN" mean?

It means the product does not contain PDRN.

Several brands market a plant-derived alternative under the PDRN banner, and the ingredient lists show what is really in them. Dr. Althea's Jelly Seal Dewy Mask pairs Nelumbo Nucifera (lotus) leaf extract with real Sodium DNA, so it is a hybrid. VT's R5 PDRN Firming Ampoule lists Polyglucuronic Acid, a bacterial polysaccharide with humectant behaviour that is chemically nothing like a nucleotide, alongside a small amount of Sodium DNA at the end of the list. Isntree's Gim PDRN Hydro Bouncy Ampoule builds its story on Porphyra yezoensis, the seaweed Koreans call gim, and does also declare Sodium DNA further down. Dr. Althea's Aqua Marine Watery Cream is marketed on vegan PDRN and leads on bamboo water and guaiazulene.

All of those are legitimate humectant and soothing formulas. Polyglucuronic acid holds water beautifully. Seaweed polysaccharides are excellent film formers. But "plant PDRN" is a category invented for marketing symmetry, not chemistry, and the honest reading is simple: if you want polydeoxyribonucleotide, look for Sodium DNA in the list and check where it sits.

Does the format matter more than the dose?

Often, yes, and this is where most PDRN buying goes wrong.

Sodium DNA is a surface-acting humectant. Everything that determines whether it performs happens in the vehicle around it: how long the product stays on the skin, what occludes it, and what else is competing for the same water.

• A rinse-off cleanser is the worst possible vehicle. The Medicube whip cleanser genuinely carries 50 ppm, which is a serious figure, and almost all of it goes down the sink. Buy it because it is a good gentle cleanser, not because of the PDRN.
• A sheet or gel mask is the best. Twenty minutes of occluded contact is exactly the condition a large humectant needs. That is why the two highest declared doses on our shelf are both masks.
• A toner is a genuinely good vehicle if you follow it with something. Purito's Oat PDRN toner is the cleanest example we stock: 19 ingredients, 80 percent oat seed water, meadowfoam seed oil for a soft milky feel, dipotassium glycyrrhizate for calm, and its 5 ppm Sodium DNA printed openly in the list. It is an honest, gentle, well-built product that declares exactly what it is doing.
• A serum or cream buys you residence time, which is why the format is worth paying for even at a modest dose.

Which PDRN products are actually worth buying, and for what?

Sorted by what the ingredient list supports rather than by the name on the front.

If you want PDRN with a genuine dose behind it

Go to the masks. Centellian24's Madeca Lab PDRN Glow Gel Mask declares 55.9 ppm Sodium DNA and 20 ppm madecassic acid in the same list, which is a rare thing: two headline ingredients, both quantified, on one label. Medicube's PDRN Pink Vita Coating Sheet Mask tops the table at 100 ppm and adds cyanocobalamin and soluble collagen.

If you want PDRN in something you use every day

Medicube's PDRN Pink Cica Soothing Toner is the most interesting daily formula we carry, and not because of the DNA. It is built on a citrate buffer with gluconolactone, a polyhydroxy acid that exfoliates with far less sting than glycolic, and then it stacks five peptides: copper tripeptide-1, acetyl hexapeptide-8, palmitoyl pentapeptide-4, palmitoyl tripeptide-1 and palmitoyl tetrapeptide-7. That is a serious peptide list for a 250 ml toner. Buy it for the peptides and the PHA; the PDRN is a bonus.

If you want the microcapsule version

Anua's PDRN Hyaluronic Acid Capsule 100 Serum is the one with the visible suspended capsules, and its list is unusually coherent: glutathione, hydrolyzed collagen, niacinamide and eight distinct hyaluronic acid forms, from hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid down to sodium acetylated hyaluronate. The capsules are a delivery and stability play, and the texture is genuinely lovely under makeup.

If you want it in a barrier cream

Centellian24's Expert Madeca Cream Active Renew puts Sodium DNA fourteenth, immediately followed by madecassic acid, asiaticoside, asiatic acid and centella extract, then glutathione and caffeine. It is a cream where the PDRN sits inside a full centella triterpene stack rather than standing alone. Note that it also carries lavender, bergamot, orange peel and rosemary oils, so it is not a fragrance-free choice.

If you want the calmest possible version

Dr. Althea's PDRN Reju 5000 Cream is a silicone-gel cream with centella asiatica leaf water second in the list, Sodium DNA fourteenth, and sh-Oligopeptide-1 (EGF) at the end. Biodance's Caviar PDRN Jelly Serum Mist is the outlier format, a jelly mist built on caviar water with salmon egg extract and calcium lactate, and it is the easiest way to get PDRN over the top of makeup at midday.

What will PDRN not do?

It will not replace a retinoid. It will not resurface texture, it will not clear congestion, and it will not treat pigmentation. It has no exfoliating action, no comedolytic action and no melanogenesis pathway. If your concern is any of those, a PDRN product is a comfortable supporting act and the wrong lead.

It also will not fix a barrier by itself. A humectant film holds water; it does not supply the lipids that stop water leaving. If your skin is genuinely compromised, pair PDRN with ceramides and cholesterol, which is the logic behind the barrier-first routine we set out separately.

Where PDRN sits in a routine

Straight after cleansing, on damp skin, before anything occlusive. A humectant works by holding water that is already there, so applying it to a face you have just towelled bone dry is working against the mechanism. Toner, then serum, then seal.

It layers with everything. There is no interaction to manage with acids, retinoids, vitamin C or niacinamide, which is genuinely unusual and is a large part of why Korean formulators put it in everything. If you are running an active routine and want a night off, a PDRN mask is the least disruptive thing you can put on your face.

Start here

If PDRN is new to you, the cheapest honest test is a toner you can use twice a day for a month: the Purito Oat PDRN toner if you want the gentlest possible version with the dose printed on the box, or the COSRX 5 PDRN B5 Vital Soothing Toner if you want 280 ml of a panthenol-and-niacinamide base with alpha-arbutin and centella behind it. Then add a mask when you want the concentrated version.

Every product above is the Korean-market formula we carry, keyed to its own barcode rather than its name. Browse the full Korean-market serums and ampoules shelf, or work through the PDRN ranges brand by brand at Medicube, VT Cosmetics, Anua, Centellian24, Purito Seoul, Biodance, Dr. Althea and Isntree. If you want the shorter route, the toner shelf is where most people start.

And if you are wondering whether the version we ship is the version sold in Seoul rather than a US reformulation, that is a fair question with a documented answer: read how we define an original Korean formula, or see the brand-by-brand findings in our comparison of Korean and US formulas.