PRP Hair Restoration

There are many benefits of using PRP treatment to promote healing for hair growth and helps in hair restoration. Highly concentrated growth factors in the form of platelets have been shown to generate new hair growth, thicken thinned out hair, and make hair grow thicker and healthier. If the hair follicles or hair roots are healthy, the growth of the hair is healthy. Hair follicles survive on the nutrition they get from blood supply.

If we introduce platelets by administering platelet rich plasma (PRP) in the area of damaged hair follicles, it amplifies the body’s naturally occurring wound healing mechanism.

First, 60 ml of blood is collected from your vein. It’s very similar to having a routine blood test performed at your doctor’s clinic. The blood is collected and placed in a sterile FDA approved container designed to process out the platelets, stem cells and growth factors. The container is then placed in a centrifuge where your blood is spun for 14 minutes. When the centrifuge has stopped spinning, your blood components have now been separated. The concentrated platelets have been separated from your normal whole blood. The PRP that contains abundant growth factors and stem cells is now ready to be applied to the scalp.

The PRP now has to be applied to the scalp where hair loss has begun. It is important to prepare the scalp to receive the PRP. For this, the scalp is stimulated to activate the wound healing process. Topical anesthesia is applied on the portion of the scalp where PRP will be injected. To prepare the scalp for PRP application, a special micro needling roller device is used. The Roller uses 200 very fine needles to pierce the epidermis creating micro wounds thereby stimulating collagen formation. The resulting ‘micro-channel effect’ also helps to infuse the PRP into the area thereby increasing the effectiveness. Since it uses less pressure, the pain is minimal. Immediately after using the roller the highly concentrated PRP is injected in many different areas of the scalp.

ACell is the by-product of urinary bladder tissue of pigs that is stripped of all of it’s cells before introducing to humans. It has remarkable regenerative properties and works by recruiting huge numbers of adult stem cells to the site of injury. It provides growth factors and proteins necessary for tissue regeneration. It does not require the harvesting of tissue, but PRP is harvested into the tissue. A premixed combination of PRP and Acell is thought to both prevent and regenerate hair in people facing genetic hair loss.

Acell is available in a powder form, and when mixed with PRP, it is injected into the affected scalp. This combination acts like a hair evolution accelerator.

The procedure takes one to two hours depending on amount of hair loss. Since an inflammatory process is initiated at the wound site, there may be mild pain or discomfort felt by the patient at the site where PRP is injected. Patients are advised not to take any anti-inflammatory medication since it may interfere in the natural healing process of PRP. Patients generally see results after 3 months and some patients elect to receive this therapy once a year.

PRP does not pose any danger of allergy, hypersensitivity, or foreign-body reaction and it is a safe choice for many patients.