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Hydra Pen H3 H5 Replacement Cartridges
Hydra Pen H3 H5 Replacement Cartridges
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Hydra Pen H3 and the Hydra Pen H5 are built on the same cartridge system, so the same head seats on either.
The five heads, and where each one lands
Depth comes from the pen, not the head: the depth dial on both the H3 and the H5 runs from 0 to 1.0 mm, so the same head can be run shallow on the face and at the top of the dial on the neck. What a head decides is how much skin one pass covers.
| Head | Best for | Depth to run it at |
|---|---|---|
| 12-pin | Working to a line rather than a region — the hairline, a jaw edge, a narrow zone you can follow closely | 0.25–0.5 mm |
| 24-pin | The middle of this range and the head most owners come back for — whole-face passes at facial depth | 0.25–0.5 mm |
| 36-pin | Neck, jawline, décolletage and larger areas where you would rather take fewer passes per zone | 0.5–1.0 mm |
| Nano-Round | The surface head with a round contact face — pressing a serum in, the under-eye area, and the light finish at the end of a session | no needle length |
| Nano-Square | The same idea on a square contact face, for working along a straight edge rather than around a curve | no needle length |
Safe depth by concern is in our needle depth guide, and the head-by-head walkthrough is in our cartridge guide.
The dial stops at 1.0 mm — check that before you order
This is the one number to be clear about, because it is the difference between the Hydra Pens and the rest of the range. On the H3 and the H5, needle length is set on the pen and the dial ends at 1.0 mm. That is enough for serum infusion across the face, the neck, the décolletage and the under-eye area, and it is where these two pens are designed to work.
It is not enough for the depths body work or deeper resurfacing calls for. Those need a pen with a longer dial — the M8S, A10 and X5 reach 2.5 mm — and above 1.5 mm is work for a trained practitioner rather than a home routine. If you arrived here expecting 1.5 mm or beyond from an H3 or an H5, this is the point to check first.
Filling it, and keeping the flow even
The cartridge body is the reservoir. The barrel is clear and carries a fill scale, so you can see how much is left without taking the head off, and you fill it before the head goes on the pen. Serum, a hyaluronic acid, a skin booster or a skin cocktail all go in — this is the whole point of the Hydra line.
One thing to be clear about, because it is the most common misunderstanding on these pens: nothing is injected. The head opens channels across the surface and the serum moves along them as you pass. It is not mesotherapy and it is not a needle-free injection, and no setting on the pen changes that.
Flow is set on the pen, and the setting matters more than most people expect:
- Set the flow before you start. The control is awkward to adjust once a pass is under way, and stopping mid-pass to change it is how a session turns uneven.
- Thin serums run fast. A watery hyaluronic acid at a high flow setting will pool on the skin before the head has moved far. Start lower than you think you need.
- Thick serums need more. The H5 gives you a three-level flow setting precisely so you can match it to how thick the product is; on the H3 it is the adjustable infusion control on the pen.
- Keep moving. If the head starts to drag, the skin has run dry underneath it. Lift, add serum, carry on — that is the fix, not more pressure.
Both pens are built to keep serum moving forwards rather than drawing it back up into the barrel, so a cartridge that stops feeding is almost always a flow setting or a dry patch rather than a faulty head.
EMS belongs to the pen, not to the head
If you have read about the H5 and its EMS function, the cartridge question is a short one: there is no EMS cartridge. This listing carries the same five heads whichever functions you are running, and there is no variant here to choose for it. EMS is part of what the H5 handpiece does — the H3 does not carry it — and it is a setting on the pen rather than a property of what you fit to it. If you want to know what the setting does on your device, your manual is the source to read; what it does not change is the head you order.
What a sealed H3/H5 pack looks like
- One sterile blister per head, with manufacturing and expiry dates printed on it.
- Single use. A head is spent when the session ends — a reused one drags rather than cutting clean channels, see can you reuse Dr. Pen cartridges?
- A listing you can verify. We are an authorised Dr. Pen retailer and stock arrives through the official supply chain — how to verify your Dr. Pen.
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❓ Frequently Asked Questions
I own both an H3 and an H5 — do I need a separate pack for each?
No. The H3 and the H5 are built on one cartridge system, so a head from this listing seats on either pen without an adapter, and it makes no difference which of the two you own. That is the reason the two models share one listing rather than having one each. What they will not do is seat on a Hydra Pen H6, which runs its own H-series cartridges, or on a Bio Pen or an A or M series pen — our cartridge compatibility guide lists which models group together if you own more than one.
Why does the depth stop at 1.0 mm on this pen?
Because that is the range these two pens are designed around. The Hydra H3 and H5 are infusion devices: the job is to open channels and drive product through them, and that work sits in the upper millimetres. The dial therefore ends at 1.0 mm. Deeper work needs a longer dial — the M8S, A10 and X5 go to 2.5 mm — and past 1.5 mm it belongs with a trained practitioner rather than a home routine. If your routine is built on deeper body work, choose a different pen; if it is facial hydration, texture and the hairline, 1.0 mm covers it.
The cartridge pulls serum back up instead of pushing it out — what is wrong?
Work through three things in order, because it is almost never the head. First, the flow setting: both pens are built to keep serum moving forwards rather than drawing it back, so a weak setting reads as a cartridge that has stopped feeding. Second, how much is in the barrel — the clear body and its fill scale let you check the level without removing anything, and near the end of a fill the flow becomes uneven and the head starts to drag. Third, angle and pressure: laid over too flat, or pushed in too hard, the head seals against the skin and the serum has nowhere to go. Set the flow before you start, keep the pen moving, and add serum the moment it drags.
Can I put a thicker serum, a cream or a skin booster in the cartridge?
Serums, hyaluronic acids, skin boosters and skin cocktails are what these cartridges are made for. Thickness is the thing to think about rather than whether a product is allowed: the thinner the product, the faster it runs, so a watery serum needs a low flow setting or it pools before the head has travelled. A thicker product will not feed at a low setting and needs the flow opened up. Creams are a poor fit for the barrel — they do not travel evenly and they block the feed rather than metering through it. Whatever you load, use a product intended for topical cosmetic use and patch test first.
The Nano heads do not prick the skin at all — is that correct?
Yes, and it is the reason they exist. Nano-Round and Nano-Square are the two surface heads in this range: a fine contact face rather than a row of needles, so there is no puncturing sensation to feel and no depth setting that will make either of them behave like a 36-pin. They are for pressing a serum into the surface, for the under-eye area and the upper lip, and for the light finish once a needling pass is done. If you opened the box expecting the feel of a needling head, that expectation is the thing to change rather than the head.
Does switching on the H5's EMS change which head I need?
No. There is no EMS cartridge and no EMS variant in this listing — the same five heads are the ones you fit whether you run the function or leave it switched off. EMS is part of what the H5 handpiece does, not a property of the head, and the H3 does not carry it at all, so an H3 owner is choosing from exactly the same five heads. Order the head that suits the area and the depth you are working at, and treat the EMS setting as a separate decision made on the pen.
