I am continually amazed at the number of women suffering from hair loss. With men… it’s pretty obvious. As my wife said, “Men can shave their heads and it’s cool and stylish. What are women to do?”. In my practice, patients are achieving great results with hair loss treatments utilizing a combination of PRP mixed with other proprietary growth factors and vitamins.
The Hair Restoration procedure utilizes your own platelet rich plasma to increase the number and thickness of hair. The injections stimulate a wound response that signals your body to send platelets and other nutrients to that area for healing. Your own body utilizes it to heal yourself when there is damage to tissue, like when you skin your knee as a child. This same response is what is occurring when we inject or microneedle the scalp with PRP.
First, I’ll draw blood from your arm and spin it in a specialized centrifuge to separate out the red blood cells from the plasma. It then continues to spin, which concentrates the platelets within the plasma. This is then mixed with our custom formulation of growth factors. The platelets and extra growth factors, stimulate stem cells which results in an increase in the number and thickness of hair follicles. While the blood is being prepared, a numbing cream will be applied to your scalp. Once the scalp is numb, I’ll inject it with a local anesthetic before the PRP injections. This gives you the most pain-free experience possible.
The procedure usually takes about an hour.
What is PRP?
The underlying premise is the same for all of the PRP procedures. Blood is drawn from the patient’s arm, and that blood is placed in a specialized centrifuge. This centrifuge first separates the blood products and concentrates the platelets. We then utilize this platelet rich plasma (PRP) for our hair treatment.
For effective hair regeneration, PRP treatments must contain a high enough concentration of essential growth factors and must be delivered to the areas of the hair follicle where the stem cells are in the highest concentrations – at the middle and the base of the hair follicle. This requires tiny scalp injections of highly concentrated PRP into the appropriate scalp layers. We anesthetize the scalp with topical solution of numbing medicines then deliver the PRP & growth factors with tiny needles the size of an acupuncture needle. The concentrated growth factors & cytokines within the activated platelets recruit, then direct, the Stem Cells and other specialized cells in the scalp microenvironment to awaken the hair follicles into an active growth (anagen) phase. Not only will new hair follicles grow, the hair will also thicken and darken over time.
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been used in dentistry and in orthopedics for years. Sports stars such as Tiger Wood and Peyton Manning have shortened their wound healing time considerably using this procedure.
In my practice, I am using platelet rich plasma to regenerate tissue in aesthetics (the Vampire Facelift and Facial), in men who suffer from erectile dysfunction (the P-shot), in women to help with sexual issues and urinary incontinence (the O-shot), as well as to help restore breast volume and shape. I have also been using PRP in both women and men, to restore hair growth. The PRP that’s injected resorbs within 3-5 days. Then in about 2-4 weeks tissue growth begins, with maximal results being seen at 3 months. The duration of effect is between 12-24 months, depending on the individual and which procedure is chosen.
PRP Results
Results begin to develop in conjunction with the typical hair growth cycle, about 4 to 8 months after the injection procedure. Hair will feel and appear thicker and more dense depending upon the area treated, with results in the hair line typically being more noticeable to patients.
Follow up visits are an important part of the comprehensive plan to protect and renew hair with PRP. Results will be assessed every four to six months post-procedure, and progress will be tracked annually to determine when a follow up procedure may be advised to keep hair growth thriving. Positive effects last for months or even years after the procedure before needing an update or booster injection series.
A series of PRP procedures may be recommended to optimize hair growth, depending on your expectations for results, the nature of your hair loss progression, and your overall response to the treatment. At Juanderful Aesthetics, we believe that PRP should be combined with daily prescribed topical hair formula plus the FDA approved LaserBand 82 for the most effective results.
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