PRP hair therapy, also known as platelet-rich plasma therapy, is a highly specialised form of treatment that has been developed to aid in the healing of various areas of the body. As a treatment method, it was development in the 20th century as a way to accelerate the healing of sports injuries, the treatment has since been adapted for use in beauty procedures and more recently, to be used as method of treating hair loss.
To understand how PRP hair therapy works and what it is capable of, it’s worth starting at the beginning and finding out exactly what platelets are and how they aid the body in healing. Platelets are a naturally occurring component within your blood, alongside the red and white blood cells. When your body sustains an injury that causes you to bleed, the platelets are among the first cells to respond to stop the blood from flowing and promote healing within the wound.
Because of the way they are known to heal wounds, it began to be theorised that the platelets could be used to accelerate healing within other damaged areas of the body. To extract and produce PRP from the blood, a sample is taken and placed into a centrifuge where it is spun at a high speed to separate the individual components of the blood. These are broken down into blood cells, platelet poor plasma (plasma with low platelet levels) and platelet rich plasma (plasma with high platelet levels), with the platelet rich plasma being extracted to be injected into the wound site.
This platelet rich plasma contains a high amount of growth factors and proteins that are responsible for tissue repair in the body, and after decades of being tested with sporting injuries, the focus switched to utilising PRP as an aesthetic therapy for the face and scalp.
Since that point, the PRP hair therapy has been performed across the globe to thousands upon thousands of patients to aid with their hair loss. Available as part of a transplant surgery or as a standalone treatment, PRP hair therapy has provided a number of incredible results to patients looking to stop the loss of the hair and begin new growth.
So what does PRP hair therapy actually do to the hair then?
As we mentioned earlier, the blood is taken as a small sample from the patient and prepared in a centrifuge to be reinjected. Once it’s prepared, it is reinjected into the scalp in a chosen area that is to be targeted, which can range from a small balding area to a more in depth and overall spread. After that, it’s a case of going back to your normal daily life and attending follow up treatments as necessary to maintain the benefits provided.
According to research carried out in 2019 that focused on 11 individual studies, it was found that PRP hair therapy had reduced the rate of hair loss in the majority of patients, as well as increasing the diameter of the hairs and the growth density which in turn, inhibits the appearance of hair loss and baldness. A second review, focusing on 19 studies this time on the topic of androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata, found that most patients had experienced a significant amount of hair regrowth following on from their treatment.
What these studies show is that PRP hair therapy not only slows and ultimately stops the signs and effects of hair loss, it actually promotes the growth of new and existing hair follicles, as well as strengthening any existing follicles within the scalp.
When performed in addition to a hair transplant surgery, whether that is utilising the FUE or FUT method, it’s also seen that the PRP hair therapy provides a number of benefits to the newly transplanted follicles. As seen in the results of the clinical research where it enhance the strength and appearance of hair follicles, it also increased the viability and success rate with newly transplanted follicles, giving even better results than a hair transplant being performed on its own.
The one major concern with platelet rich plasma therapy is the worry over it being a blood based treatment. Thankfully though, because the blood used within the treatment is extracted from the patient themselves during the procedure, the risk of cross contamination can be ruled out and any transfusion risks are not present.
There are some side effects however, as with all forms of medical procedure, that can be present after undergoing a platelet rich plasma treatment. These include things such as mild pain, redness of the treated area, headaches and even temporary hair shedding, although these should ease up fairly soon after your treatment. If you have a history of blood disorders or any form of autoimmune disease, this may rule you out of undergoing the treatment.
Overall though, it is clear that the benefits of the PRP hair therapy treatment seem to massively outweigh the risks and that it is capable of providing amazing results to patients, no matter what their reason to undergo the treatment is.