PRP (platelet-rich plasma) is a treatment used by doctors to speed up the healing process in different parts of the body. It might be able to help you regrow your hair.
Hair loss caused by androgenetic alopecia, a prevalent disorder in which hair follicles shrink, is commonly treated with this medication. Hair loss in males is the term for this in men. Although PRP is a novel technique, some scientific evidence can help with hair growth.
We’ll go over how doctors utilize PRP to treat hair loss and what studies have to say about its efficacy in this post.
What is PRP?
Understanding how PRP works necessitates knowledge of platelet function in healing.
Platelets, like red and white blood cells, are found in the blood. Platelets have been some of the body’s “first responders” whenever a person gets a cut or a wound. They arrive to halt the bleeding and encourage healing. A medical practitioner will take a blood sample and place it in a centrifuge machine to create PRP. This machine spins at a high speed, separating the blood’s constituents. The platelets are then extracted for injection by the medical practitioner.
PRP is made up of various growth factors and proteins that help speed up tissue restoration. Researchers first thought that PRP could help regrow hair through the reverse of the process during androgenetic alopecia, like hair loss caused by injury to hair follicles.
PRP now has grown in popularity as a treatment for hair restoration. PRP has been utilized to treat tendons, muscles, and ligaments injuries, including those sustained while participating in sports.
Is PRP effective for hair loss?
The simple answer is that the science isn’t completely conclusive that PRP can help anyone regrow and otherwise keep the hair. Here’s a quick rundown of some hopeful findings from PRP and hair loss research:
- In a 2014 research of 11 persons with androgenic alopecia, it was discovered that injecting 2 to 3 cubic centimetres of PRP into the scalp every two weeks for three months increased the average number of follicles from 71 to 93. Even though the sample size is too small to be definitive, it does suggest that PRP could be able to assist improve the number of hair follicles that actively nourish healthy hair.
- The number of hair, the thickness of those hairs, and the strength of said hair roots all improved in a 2015 study of 10 persons who received PRP injections every 2 to 3 weeks for 3 months. This research adds to the findings of prior PRP and hair loss investigations. However, a sample size of ten people is also still insufficient to be definitive.
- Six-month research performed in 2019 evaluated two groups of people who used different hair treatments. Minoxidil (Rogaine) was utilized by one group of 20 people, while PRP injections were used by another group of 20 people. Thirty persons completed the trial, and the findings revealed that PRP was far superior to Rogaine in terms of hair loss. However, the study discovered that your platelet count can alter how effective your plasma is at treating hair loss.
Apart from treating male pattern baldness, there isn’t much study on PRP for hair development, and little information there isn’t definitive.
So, what’s the big deal? PRP is believed to contain proteins that assist hair to regrow by performing numerous different functions:
- assisting in the clotting of your blood
- promoting cell growth
PRP with Hair Loss: What Are the Risks?
Before the actual process, make a list of all medications you’re taking, including supplements and herbs.
Many clinics would advise avoiding PRP treatment hair loss at the initial visit if you:
- are taking anticoagulants
- you’re a chain smoker
- having a history of drug and alcohol abuse
You may also be turned down for treatment if you’ve been diagnosed with one of the following conditions:
- acute or chronic infections
- cancer
- chronic liver & skin disease
- hemodynamic instability
- hypofibrinogenemia
- metabolic disorder
- platelet dysfunction syndromes
- systemic disorder
- low platelet count
- Thyroid disease
- Sepsis
Cost
Usually, the cost of the PRP process for hair loss therapy varies according to the type of operation, whether micro-needling or A-cell is used, and the total number of treatments required. One treatment costs between $1000 to $1500 on average, and it takes at least 2 – 3 sessions. The more drastic your hair loss is likely to be, the more procedures you’ll need.
How long would it last?
PRP is not a treatment for hair loss. As a result, to sustain natural hair growth benefits, a user will have to get numerous PRP treatments throughout time. The same can be said for typical treatments for androgenetic alopecia, such as topical minoxidil (Regaine) or oral finasteride (Propecia).
The frequency with which a person should receive PRP will be determined by its condition and the results of their initial therapy. When hair loss has been controlled, the doctor may also recommend maintenance injections every 3–6 months.
PRP safety
PRP for hair loss and the scalp is thought to be quite safe because of the following reasons:
- Immunologically neutral, PRP therapy has no risk of allergies, hypersensitivity, or foreign-body reactions.
- PRP preparations and application must be done in a sterile environment at all times. If a patient has an underlying medical condition that causes him or her to be susceptible to infection, PRP can be very helpful.
- PRP does have a very short duration of inflammation at wound sites, which reduces the need for injections.
Although the use of PRP somehow doesn’t require FDA approval, the device used to create PRP must have received FDA approval in the United States. The FDA has not yet approved PRP as a hair restoration drug.
PRP can be utilized for hair restoration by itself and has excellent outcomes. PRP is injected into the scalp using fine needles. The growth factors found in blood cells then go to work, causing hair to grow. Women and men can both benefit from this therapy. This procedure produces fuller, healthier-looking hair as a result.
Conclusion
PRP has been shown to promote new hair development, according to studies. However, more study is needed to clarify if PRP is helpful due to the constraints of these trials, including small sample sizes and heterogeneity in technique and procedure among clinicians.
Medical researchers must also determine the best candidates for PRP treatment and create uniform treatment regimens. Anybody with mild-to-moderate hair loss who’s interested in PRP should consult a doctor and see if they may benefit from the procedure.
