Blood is composed of a liquid, plasma, and small solid elements (red cells, white cells and platelets). Platelets play an important part in blood clotting, but they also contain many different proteins, growth factors, which play an important role in healing injuries.
PRP consists of concentrated platelets, up to 5-10 times greater than found in the blood, and thus an increased concentration of blood borne growth factors. For a number of years PRP has been used to speed the effectiveness of recovery from injuries. Famous athletes such as Tiger Woods and Rafael Nadal, the tennis star, have been treated with PRP for a variety of injuries. Some of the athletes so treated have felt that PRP treatment has led to their quicker recovery and return to competition.
More recently PRP has been used for other purposes particularly for skin rejuvenation and the correction of hair loss. There have been numerous studies showing increased hair growth after a series of PRP treatments. PRP does not help for long standing hair loss but it appears to be beneficial in at least some cases of relatively recent hair loss.
There have also been numerous reports of PRP being used in conjunction with skin rejuvenation treatments (microneedling, laser treatments) resulting in more rapid healing and improved cosmetic results. It’s important to emphasize that there have not yet been controlled studies confirming this however, the procedure appears to be quite safe with little downside.
PRP treatment involves drawing your blood, usually while you are being numbed for a procedure. The blood is then centrifuged and the platelets are concentrated in part of the plasma. This fraction of the plasma is removed and then placed on the skin before and again after the accompanying procedure is performed. In the treatment of hair loss the PRP is injected directly into the scalp in the areas of greatest hair loss. Some physicians are also directly injecting PRP into areas treated with lasers or microneedling
If you would like to learn more about how PRP treatment could benefit you, please call 209-751-4292 to schedule a consultation.
