From the birth of 19th-century vampire fiction through today, the specter of the blood-drinking undead has captivated mere mortals. In earlier times, vampires were creatures to fear. As portrayed in contemporary media — in everything from the "Twilight" book and film franchise to cableTV series — they are beings to admire for their eternal youth and beauty.

Now physicians offering skin and beauty treatments have taken inspiration from the vampire myth to come up with a novel way for men and women to maintain their youthful countenance. While the old stories speak of drinking blood as the vampire’s sustaining factor, Alabama emergency room physician Charles Runels devised a way to incorporate an individual’s own blood-derived growth factors to rejuvenate face and skin. His trademarked procedure is being used in medical spas throughout the world.

On Oahu, the Vampire Facelift and Vampire Facial, are being offered at Honolulu MedSpa.

"People get scared when they hear the word ‘blood,’ but once they get over the idea of drawing blood, they see it’s really an elegant procedure that provides excellent results," said MedSpa founder Choon Kia Yeo, an American Board of Surgery-certified general surgeon.

The Vampire Facelift came to his attention last year when Kim Kardashian had a semblance of the procedure done for the cameras on an episode of "Kim and Kourtney Take Miami." The reality-TV star released dramatic photos of blood smeared across her face, which had nothing to do with the reality of the procedure.But since then, it’s become a popular procedure in Hollywood.

There is already precedence for use of micro-needling and fillers to rejuvenate the skin and give faces more youthful contours. The only thing new is that instead of a commercial product or filler, with the Vampire Facial and Facelift, the substance used is a patient’s own blood, containing his or her own antibodies, enzymes, lipids, stem cells and human growth factors which Yeo calls "fertilizer for the skin.".

To start, a registered nurse draws 10 cubic centimeters of blood, enough to fill a test tube. The blood is placed in a centrifuge to separate platelets from red blood cells to yield 5 cc of PRP, or platelet-rich blood plasma — a yellowish viscous liquid — to be used in facial or facelift procedures.

The plasma is injected into the skin through a micro-needling process for the Vampire Facial, devised to improve the skin’s appearance, or combined with a filler product such as Juvederm for the facelift procedure, which resculpts the face.

For the 45-minute facial, which costs $650 at Honolulu MedSpa, the micro-needling employs the counterintuitive knowledge that injuring the skin with tiny perforations speeds improvement as the body rushes to repair the injury by producing collagen and elastin.

The blood plasma is spread over the skin, and a micropen containing 11 tiny needles is used to deliver the nutrient-rich plasma into the skin. Topical anesthesia is used to numb the skin to what patients describe as a "prickling sensation."

Such procedures are already common, but in the past have relied on synthetic products. Those who opt for PRP simply prefer the certainty of using their own body fluids.

According to the Washington Post, the PRP market is expected to grow to $126 million by 2016, bolstered by stories of high-profile athletes who have injected it into the site of an injury to speed recovery. Among them: tennis star Maria Sharapova, who turned to it for a shoulder injury, and Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward, who used it to overcome a knee injury in time for the team’s 2009 Super Bowl win.

However, earlier this year, the Cochrane Collaborative, a group of independent medical experts, examined 19 trials of PRP and concluded there is insufficient evidence to recommend PRP for musculoskeletal soft-tissue injuries.

And as of 2011, there were no conclusive studies demonstrating its effectiveness for skin rejuvenation. PRP is now also being studied for hair growth.

Evidence for efficacy of the facial has primarily been anecdotal, such as with Honolulu MedSpa client Sterling Keeley.

"The Vampire Facelift was instant. For me, having the hollows on my temples and cheeks filled in with the Juvederm, as well as the plasma serum, immediately made me look five years younger," she said.

The facelift, at $1,500, includes one syringe of a Juvederm filler. The results are said to last up to 12 months, and up to two years for Juvederm Voluma XC, which is offered as an upgrade.

During the facelift, a patient’s plasma is mixed with Juvederm and injected with a blunt-tip cannula in areas of the face that need volume to re-create the taut fullness of youth. The filler provides the scaffolding that elevates skin, while the PRP is said to help stimulate tissue growth.

Yeo said it takes about a month to see the best results, and his clients have ranged in age from 28 to one 72-year-old man who described his deep smile lines as "grand canyons" that needed to be filled up. He’s now urging his wife to follow suit.

Honolulu MedSpa is at 1650 Liliha St. Suite 102. Call 528-0888.