Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy — which uses components from your own blood — is a type of regenerative medicine that helps your body heal itself naturally. This minimally invasive therapy can treat a variety of injuries and diseases, and it can also help restore natural hair growth. However, it’s not right for everyone.
At Balcones Dermatology & Aesthetics, board-certified dermatologist David A. Bushore, MD, offers PRP hair restoration services and also provides comprehensive hair evaluations to determine if PRP therapy is an option. In this blog, Dr. Bushore explains what PRP therapy is, how it can help regrow hair, and reasons why it may not be an option for some people.
Your blood contains a number of elements, including platelets. Platelets help your blood clot, and they also help spur healing and tissue regeneration. When it comes to hair restoration, platelets help stimulate your hair follicles to produce new hairs.
You may benefit from PRP injections if you have hair loss due to androgenetic alopecia (female and male pattern baldness). This condition causes your hair follicles to shrink in size, so the resulting hairs grow thin and weak.
Injecting PRP into your hair follicles can help boost blood circulation throughout your scalp and also attract stem cells to the area to heal weak follicles. As your follicles get stronger, the hairs they produce can get thicker and stronger. Injections can also increase the rate of your overall hair growth.
The PRP that board-certified dermatologist David A. Bushore, MD, uses in your treatment comes from your own blood. First, Dr. Bushore takes a sample of your blood. Then, he places it in a quick-spinning centrifuge, which separates your platelets from the other components in your blood.
Then Dr. Bushore injects the resulting PRP serum into areas around your scalp where your hair is thinning or missing. You may need multiple injections to maximize your results.
While you won’t see immediate hair growth after your injections, your follicles should grow stronger over time and start producing new hairs within 4-6 weeks of treatment. You should see optimal results of PRP therapy within 3-6 months of your injections.
While the PRP injection process is generally well-tolerated by patients, some people may not qualify for therapy. Before starting treatment, board-certified dermatologist David A. Bushore, MD, completes a hair and scalp evaluation and reviews your medical history to determine if PRP therapy is right for you.
If you’re not a candidate, he can suggest other treatments or things you may be able to do to become a candidate. Here are three reasons why you may not be a candidate for PRP hair restoration:
Smoking reduces the volume of PRP that can be extracted from your blood. Additionally, the toxins in cigarette smoke can interfere with PRP’s ability to stimulate new hair growth.
If you have an underlying thyroid disease or blood disorder, there may not be enough platelets in your blood, so the PRP you produce may not be optimal for hair restoration.
Taking blood thinners can reduce the efficacy of PRP injections for new hair growth. If you’re at risk for developing blood clots and need to take blood-thinning medications, PRP therapy may not be right for you.
To find out if PRP hair restoration is an option for you, call 512-459-4869 or book an appointment online with Balcones Dermatology & Aesthetics today.
