PRP (platelet rich plasma) treatment has
been around in the medical world for more than 25 years. In recent times it has
become a very popular and effective method of treatment for sport injuries
(relating to chronic pain in the knees, ankles, shoulders and tennis elbow) as
well as facial skin rejuvenation. PRP is
typically performed by extracting 10-20mls of blood, centrifuging the blood and then extracting the plasma (which carries
the platelets) and injecting the PRP into the relevant area.
In only the last few years, hair loss
clinics have begun offering PRP treatment to help maintain and potentiallyincrease the thickness of a person’s existing thinning hair. The problem is
that these clinics follow the same generic PRP treatment plan (as if they are
treating sore joints) and end up achieving very limited (or no) results when it
comes to combatting hair loss. The patient, due to their own bad experience
ends up convinced that PRP does not work for hair. There are a number of things
many people are not aware of when it comes to PRP for hair loss. Below are 6
key points:
1. A Person’s Scalp has much more
surface area than a joint!
When having PRP injected into the scalp to
combat hair loss, the patient is treating a MUCH LARGER SURFACE AREA than a
joint such as their knee or elbow. For this reason, extracting the same 10-20mls
of blood is nowhere near enough to treat half a scalp (or full scalp for that
matter). Let’s put it another way. If you normally have 1 teaspoon of sugar in
your small coffee to achieve your desired taste, but suddenly decide to have a
large mug of coffee which is triple the size, will 1 teaspoon achieve the same
desired taste? NO! If the mug has 3 times the volume of the small coffee you
will need 3 teaspoons of sugar to match the same level of sweetness. It is
common sense!
2. The amount of PRP available to
inject is only a fraction of the initial blood sample obtained!
If 15mls of blood is extracted and has been
put through all the correct PRP
procedural steps, what you end up with is only 2.5 - 3mls of true platelet rich plasma to inject! Now think
of a person that wants a large portion of their scalp treated, like 250cm2 of surface
area. How much benefit will 2.5mls of PRP that is distributed over such a large
surface area offer? If 2.5mls is shared between 200-300 separate injection
sites within the scalp, how much is each injection site receiving?! The results
not surprisingly will usually be very disappointing.
At Newin Institute we extract a minimumof 60mls of blood to treat hair loss and sometimes substantially more
depending on the size of the balding region. Using these higher blood volumes is perfectly
safe and it does not result in more side effects than the smaller doses of PRP.
3. A large percentage of THE
PLATELETS in our blood ARE DORMANT!
Platelets are known to carry granules which
contain clotting factors and growth factors. But be aware that almost all
platelets (which are disc shaped fragments) float around in the plasma in a dormant state. This means that they serve a minimal purpose
and certainly will not release growth
factors unless they are first called upon or “activated”. This takes place
through trauma or injury. An open wound or an injured joint, acts as a signal
for dormant platelets to activate (and
change shape into rounder cells with many legs) which in turn releases the
granules that contain the growth factors. It is these growth factors that cause
cells to multiply and form new tissue, which is the primary basis of what PRP
treatment is about.
Injecting PRP (as it is) into the scalp for
the purpose of treating hair loss produces limited to no results. This is
because most of the platelets remain dormant.
They don’t have a reason to activate which means that very few platelets
will begin releasing growth factors to nourish the thinning hair.
Newin Institute uses a special system which
activates the dormant platelets through scientifically proven wavelengths of
energized light. This step occurs after
the centrifuge process is complete and immediately before the PRP is injected
into the scalp.
This single step not only makes PRP for
hair loss much more effective by accelerating the regeneration process, it also
has strong anti-inflammatory properties. This means that almost all of the minor
discomfort that is experienced within PRP patients during the following days is
no longer a problem (especially when treating joints).
To further increase the release of growth
factors within the thinning region, we use medical
grade micro-needling (1.5mm deep) which can only be used by Doctors on
patients. This is done to create “trauma” within the dermis (second) layer of
skin close to the bulb of the hair prior to injecting the PRP. What we obviously want are for the growth
factors to circulate and work within the root of the hair.
There are cosmetic
grade micro-needling rollers available (0.2 – 0.5mm needle depth max which
only penetrates the epidermis) which are permitted to be used by nurses or
purchased by customers for personal use. Unfortunately, these cosmetic grade rollers are not as effective
in accelerating the PRP benefits for hair. The reason for this is because the activated
platelets are attracted to the surface of the skin only which makes it almost useless
for hair regeneration but greater a great tool for skin rejuvenation PRP.
To
be continued in Part 2….
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