What is PRP therapy for hair loss?

In the past few years, the beauty industry has started to look into newer and more intricate ways to help promote youth and beauty and one of the more common treatments that is being performed nowadays is a PRP therapy, otherwise known as a “vampire facial”. A PRP therapy (or platelet-rich plasma therapy) is a specialised treatment that uses the platelets and plasma that are naturally found within your blood to help to give you a youthful and radiant complexion.

Therapies involving the use of a patients blood have been performed by medical professionals since the early 1990’s to aid with healing problems such as tendon and ligament injuries, before moving into the beauty industry in the 2000’s and now moving into the world of hair transplants to help combat the effects of hair loss.

So how does a PRP therapy for hair loss work then?

Let’s start with the scientific part, your blood is made up of two major components (red blood cells and plasma) and it’s the plasma that is used to carry out a PRP therapy for hair loss. The plasma is made up of your white blood cells and your platelets which are known to be rich in something known as growth factors (which in layman’s terms are the most potent and capable healing cells within the human body). This is where the name platelet-rich plasma comes, it’s blood plasma that is rich with platelets.

Now for how it works, at the start of a PRP therapy the patient will have a small amount of blood drawn from their arm (in a similar way to if a blood test was being performed) which will then be placed into a centrifuge to be processed. The centrifuge spins the blood at a high speed which separates the red blood cells from the plasma, allowing the surgeon to extract the plasma specifically to be used within the treatment. This newly separated and processed plasma is then injected into the scalp at the same level as the hair follicles which stimulates renewed production and growth in the affected area.

As with anything involving blood it may sound a little spooky and scary, but there is very little risk associated with it as a treatment method due to the fact that the blood is extracted direct from the patient so any transfusion risks are removed and the level of discomfort is considered very low.

So what about the results then?

As with anything, consistent results are key and ensuring that a full treatment plan is followed religiously is vital for this. PRP therapy for hair loss usually has a treatment performed once each month for a period of three to four months and then again every three to six months following this, although this will depend on the response and results shown by the individual patient. By following this plan, results will start to show and become visible around the two to three month mark and should continue to improve from this point.

The first results of PRP therapy for hair loss is a decreased amount of shedding of the hair which is followed by regrowth and increased length and strength to the hair. Although it can take a considerable amount of time (purely down to the fact it’s performed over a course of treatments), PRP therapy for hair loss is medically and scientifically backed as a viable solution to combat the effects of hair loss.