Does overall health and medications affect PRP or other hair loss treatment results? (Photo)

Thank you for your question. You state you’re 43-years-old and experiencing hair thinning. Your biopsy confirmed your thinning is consistent with androgenetic alopecia. I understand you’re also on a number of medications: SSRI, Clonazepam, Valtrex, and steroids for low blood pressure. You’re asking if the presence of herpes and low blood pressure negatively impacts the benefits of platelet-rich plasma.First a bit of information about myself — I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and a Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, practicing in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. I’m also the founder of Trichostem™ Hair Regeneration Centers, which offer a non-surgical hair loss treatment alternative that combines platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with extracellular matrix for the management of male and female pattern hair loss. When we manage patients, we often encounter similar scenarios where healing can be affected by the use of steroids. Basically, I gauge the situation by asking the patient how well and how fast they heal after a cut, because there are so many diseases and conditions that do require the use of immunosuppressives, including steroids, and it is one part of the long-term picture that they can’t be on this medication. In my practice, we effectively use a treatment called Hair Regeneration which combines PRP and extracellular matrix. This treatment consists of a concentration of wound-healing and growth factors that are necessary when you get a cut. There are factors in it that stimulate blood supply, develop collagen, and basically repair a specific area. We’ve developed this treatment over many years, developed a treatment protocol, and have seen impressive results. So far with this treatment, more than 99% of both men and women will stop having progressive hair loss and experience thickening of their existing thinning hairs.We keep track of our patients’ progress for up to an average of 18 months, and we’ve collected more than 5 years’ worth of clinical data that support the long-term benefit of Hair Regeneration. Some patients do well on just one injection, and sometimes do a second injection in certain patients, not as a way to maintain the treatment, but as a way of strengthening the benefits of the first treatment. We are able to take people with more advanced hair loss and improve the quality and thickness of hairs that are extremely fine and almost imperceptible.We’ve been very successful with Hair Regeneration, and you can still consider this as a potential option for you. It’s also important to understand the limitations of female pattern hair loss. In your case, you only have either minoxidil or a hair transplant as options. With your existing issue with low blood pressure, and that minoxidil can rarely but still potentially affect blood pressure because it is systemically absorbed, I understand your hesitancy not to use it. Hair transplants, on the other hand, simply do not make as much of an impact as it does on male pattern hair loss simply because female pattern hair loss is more global and diffuse.That being said, I think a treatment like Hair Regeneration is probably a viable option for you. I suggest that you look for a resource where Hair Regeneration is offered and try to learn more about the treatment so that you can perhaps consider this as a way to manage your thinning hair. It’s interesting because as more and more people are learning more about this treatment, we are actually seeing younger and younger women in their 20s and 30s, who have biopsy confirmed androgenetic alopecia, coming in for the treatment.I hope that was helpful and I wish you the best of luck!This personalized video answer to your question is posted on RealSelf and on YouTube. To provide you with a personal and expert response, we use the image(s) you submitted on RealSelf in the video, but with respect to your privacy, we only show the body feature in question so you are not personally identifiable. If you prefer not to have your video question visible on YouTube, please contact us.

PRP is one of the most popular treatments for hair loss at this time.  More and more research is being done to evaluate different aspects of it.  There is not enough information to know what medications might interfere with PRP treatments, but good nutrition is important for hair health whether or not PRP treatments take place.  There is no available information on PRP and herpes infections that I am aware of. 

I suggest seeing a cosmetic dermatologist with expertise in hair loss. A formal evaluation is needed to determine what is best.  Dr. Emer.