How We Collect and Check Microneedling Prices

Where things stand

What we measure

One standard professional facial microneedling session, in US dollars, before tax and tip, with nothing added. No PRP, no RF, no paid serum. That is the only unit that goes into the median. Other variants are recorded in their own columns and never mixed in.

Where prices come from

1. A public price list. On the clinic's own website or booking page.
2. A direct quote. We ask the clinic through its own form or email, from a research address that states the purpose: price research for a consumer price guide. These replies are at most 30 percent of any sample. We never pretend to be a patient.

We do not use prices from third-party directories or review sites. We do not scrape sites whose terms forbid it. In those cases we capture the page by hand and note the date.

What we record for each clinic

One row per clinic brand per city. A chain with several branches counts once. For each row we keep:

• City, state and ZIP code.
• The kind of provider: dermatology or plastic surgery office, medical spa, licensed esthetician or day spa, or other.
• The source address, whether it was a price list or a quote, and the date we checked.
• The single-session price, and whether it was a range.
• Any package total and the number of sessions in it.
• The RF price, if the clinic publishes one.
• Whether the quote includes add-ons, and whether the price is a first-visit promotion.
• Who captured it, and a saved copy of the page with a file fingerprint.

If a clinic publishes a range, we use the midpoint and flag the row. Flagged ranges are at most 30 percent of a sample. First-visit promotions and quotes with add-ons stay out of the median.

What we publish

For each sample: the minimum, the 25th percentile, the median, the 75th percentile and the maximum, plus the number of clinics, the kinds of providers and the date. The typical range is the middle half of clinics, from the 25th to the 75th percentile. We never publish an average, because a few extreme prices distort it, and we never print a “from” price without a sample behind it.

The clinics in published samples are anonymous. We do not name them.

Second check

Before a figure goes live, a second person or session reopens at least 20 percent of the sources, and at least three for each city. If any price differs from the saved one by more than 10 percent, we re-check that whole sample.

When a number is allowed to appear

• National figures. At least 30 clinics in at least five metro areas, at least three kinds of provider, and no kind above 60 percent of the sample.
• RF figures. At least 10 clinics that publish an RF price.
• Groupon deals. At least 10 offers captured on the same day.
• A city page. At least eight distinct clinics in that city, each with a price checked in the last 90 days, at least two kinds of provider with none above 75 percent, clinics in at least three ZIP codes, a second check, and findings that are specific to that city. A clinic is never counted in two cities.

When a page falls short of its minimum, the page stays out of search and nothing is guessed to fill the space.

How long a price stays current

Each page shows the date its prices were checked. After 120 days without a new check, the page says its prices are over four months old. After 180 days it is removed from search until we check again. If a re-check no longer meets the minimum, the page is withdrawn.

Limits

• Only clinics that publish a price or answer us appear. That may lean toward medical spas.
• Prices change. The date is part of the figure.
• A sample describes the clinics we checked. It does not predict the quote you will get.

Ask to leave the sample

A clinic that wants its price removed from a sample can ask through the contact page. We take it out at the next update.