Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injection

PRP Injection For Hair Loss

Losing your hair can be emotionally and psychologically impacting. Men and women tend to associate full heads of hair with beauty, youth, and vigor. Losing your hair prematurely or as a result of aging can thus lead you to look older than you feel.

Luckily there are now various hair loss treatments and surgeries available. One of them is Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy. PRP therapy is an effective and lauded technique that stimulates hair growth, particularly after hair transplants. Empirical research has shown its efficacy in enhancing hair thickness and stimulating hair health and growth.

At Care4Hair, we specialize in various hair loss treatments, therapies, and surgeries, including PRP injections. Typically, we recommend and integrate PRP injections 3 months after a hair transplant procedure like FUE. PRP therapy doesn’t take more than 20 or 30 minutes per session. If you were looking to stimulate hair growth and stem hair loss, PRP therapy might be right for you.

What Is PRP?

Platelet Rich Plasma therapy is a hair loss treatment that utilizes the patient’s own blood plasma to stimulate hair growth in already existing follicles. The process has three steps: the drawing of blood, the centrifuging of blood, and the injection of the plasma into the scalp.

Benefits Of PRP Therapy

Growth factors in the plasma nourish hair follicles and stimulate hair growth
The procedure has a short duration of 20 to 30 minutes.
Your recovery will not take long nor be extensive.
Small chance of allergic reaction since PRP solution uses your body’s plasma.

Is PRP Really Effective?

Scientific studies seem to produce generally positive results. On the whole, PRP therapy has been generally successful in mitigating hair loss while increasing hair diameter and growth. Though most clinics may differ in the way they apply the injections, patients studied in scientific reviews have shown better rates of hair growth and health than those who have not. PRP has been found to:

Reduce The Rate Of Hair Loss

Increase Hair Thickness

Increase Hair Density

PRP treatment nourishes the hair follicles in the scalp with platelets and other blood components that contribute to follicle health. In a meta-analysis published in Aesthetic Plastic Surgery in 2019, scientists found more hairs per centimeter squared in patients injected with PRP than those not treated with PRP.

PRP treatment can not only decrease the incidence of hair loss but also stimulate healthier, thicker hair growth. In a pilot study performed in 2014 by Schiavone et al., PRP treatment was linked with thicker, more abundant hair to treat male pattern baldness and was even recommended for further study.

The researchers in the 2019 study mentioned above saw that PRP treatment led to more terminal hair density—or the density of visible, thick pigmented hair—in patients treated with PRP than those not treated. Overall, when combined with hair transplantation surgeries like follicular unit extraction (FUE), PRP treatment has produced better and more aesthetically pleasing results.

How Does It Work?

Blood plasma is a substance rich in blood components called platelets. These components react to bleeding by clumping together and forming clots. They contain growth factors that stimulate cell reproduction and tissue regeneration and are thus indispensably linked with healing. Because of this, platelet-rich plasma has been used in injections in the scalp to stimulate hair growth.

PRP treatment begins with the surgeon extracting a blood sample. The sample is then centrifuged to separate the plasma from the other components in the blood. The solution is then injected into the scalp.

How Can Hair Transplant Surgery Be Combined With PRP Injections?

The most popular hair transplant procedures are Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE). FUE involves the extraction of hair follicles from donor regions of the scalp and their transplantation to recipient regions. Many expert surgeons are implementing PRP therapy into the FUE procedure to promote healthy healing in the affected treatment areas. Patients who have had FUE coupled with PRP therapies have experienced better healing and healthier, thicker hair growth in the affected areas.

Side Effects Of PRP

PRP injections are minor procedures that are not likely to have significant complications or side effects. The procedures involve drawing blood, so you might experience lightheadedness as you might from regular blood examinations. You can, of course, control for this by hydrating and eating well before the procedure.

Following the procedure, you might feel soreness or see bruising at the injection sites. As we mentioned above, the solution used in the injections comes from your blood, so you are not likely to suffer from allergic reactions. You should expect the best and safest treatment at Care4Hair.

A "single injection" is not a very precise measure of the quantity of the solution that is to be injected into the scalp. The injection will likely go wherever needed and in particular areas where small hairs do not have the cellular capacity to grow vigorously and thickly. Your surgeon will develop a personalized injection regimen that will maximize the effect of the solution on your scalp.

The main difference between PRP microneedling and PRP injections is the depth of the injections. In PRP microneedling, small punctures are made in the epidermis that do not exceed a length of 2mm. These are usually done to promote scar healing and remove signs of aging. On the other hand, PRP injections, which aid hair transplant recovery, are deeper within the skin.

No. The PRP solution contains high concentrations of growth factors that promote cell division, tissue regeneration, and hair growth. Your surgeons are also expert professionals and will know where to inject the PRP solution without disturbing the progress of your hair transplant.

Most patients differ in the speed of hair growth and the onset of typical shedding after a hair transplant. However, the end goal of PRP treatment is not to speed up hair growth but to enhance the thickness of hair that is already there and stimulate healing and regeneration following a transplant. Your surgeon "bathes" the newly implanted follicles with the plasma solution, which is rich in growth factors that nourish the cells in the follicle and stimulate hair growth.

PRP injection costs vary across the country, but many practices and facilities can charge upwards of $700 for one injection or session. At Care4Hair, we offer reasonable prices that start at $500 per session. Don’t hesitate to consult our surgeons to find out about promotions or ask any questions you may have.

Platelet Rich Plasma Injection