Can PRP hair loss treatment help to slow down aggressive MPB balding?

Question

I've been diagnosed with androgenic alopecia. The progression was steady until it speed up last year. I've lost much density in last couple of months and hair loss seems to continue aggressively. I can't/don't want to use Propecia or Minoxidil due to side effects. My question is, how effective is PRP for slowing MPB down? Is it any good as a stand-alone treatment or just waste of money?

Jeff Rapaport, MD · Answer

In my opinion, PRP is effective in decreasing hair loss, increasing the thickness of the existing hair and possibly regrowing hair that has been dormant for three  less than years. It will not regrow overtly bald areas. Results are usually better on younger individuals and those who have lost the least amount of hair.( Lower Hamilton). Hope this helps. Good luck.

Amiya Prasad, MD · Answer

Thank you for your question. You are asking whether or not PRP can be effective for male pattern hair loss. You state in some of the details you noticed your hair loss has become a little faster. You’re asking if PRP be a standalone treatment for male pattern baldness, or if it is a waste of money.

I can certainly give you some guidance on this question. A little background: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I’m also the founder of TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration Centers, a system we developed in our practice using PRP with material called extracellular matrix, which I’ll explain more about later, which is a non-surgical solution for male and female pattern hair loss. We treat patients from all over the world, so I’ll give you some perspective on how we do our evaluation and make a decision about recommending this particular treatment.

To begin with, understand that in addition to PRP for hair loss, I actually use PRP a lot in my practice. PRP is platelet-rich plasma, a concentration of the wound healing and growth factors necessary when someone has an injury. In different specialties of medicine starting with oral surgery, then orthopedic surgery, and now aesthetic medicine, PRP has been invaluable in helping develop the things we love and need the most when it comes to aesthetics, including improvement of: blood supply, collagen, and tissue quality. In our practice we use PRP for acne scars, under eye dark circles, scar treatment, and others.

In the capacity of hair loss, historically PRP has been fairly well-established in helping in wound healing. In hair transplant, it does stimulate hair growth. The question you’re asking is it going to slow down hair loss? In my opinion and from my experience, the answer is no. I think PRP as a standalone procedure is not adequate to stop hair loss. It’s comparable in my mind to a treatment like minoxidil.

In our practice we use PRP in combination with a material called extracellular matrix which initially was intended for improving our outcomes with hair transplant. When we think of hair transplant, you want the hair grafts to heal better and be more likely to grow, and the donor area to heal better so that is not as obvious in terms of scarring. A side effect was that thinning hairs appeared to get thicker.

Over several years, we developed the system to treat hair loss long-term with this treatment and we call it Hair Regeneration. We’ve developed an algorithm based on gender, type of hair loss, degree of hair loss and few other factors and variables. Basically, we are able to non-surgically treat thinning hair for both men and women. In terms of long-term benefit, after many years of doing this, five years out the majority of people who we’ve treated and have continued to follow, continue to have improvement. This happens to be beneficial for a lot of people, particularly men who were concerned about long-term sexual side effects from finasteride, the drug with the trade name Propecia. We were able to prove from an early stage of development that the injection alone was able to stop progression, initiate regrowth of hairs that were not growing, as well as induced the shedding of thinning hairs so thicker hairs will grow in.

One of the big distinctions between Hair Regeneration and PRP alone as a standalone treatment, our patients who come to us after getting a few PRP treatments elsewhere in monthly visits did not enjoy getting their scalps poked at every month, and not knowing the endpoint. So it is consistent in what I’m saying  that PRP can induce a short-term stimulation of hair growth, but in terms of long-term benefit, Hair Regeneration has been very successful with a single injection helping people improve and continue to grow hair for more than five years.

We have protocols where in some patients will do a treatment again depending on observations and particular parameters, but even if we do a second injection somewhere around 15 months or so, and then beyond that people continue to do well. Clearly there is a benefit to PRP, but not PRP alone.

At this point you should learn more about your options including medical, surgical options, as well as PRP and Hair Regeneration, and do something sooner rather than later. Another point I make is that the earlier we catch someone does the limitation of our procedure - we need to have viable hair follicles. If someone comes in practically bald, they are in a less advantageous position as someone who is in the early to middle stages of their hair loss. The inventory of hair follicles is critically important, so we’ve treated people as young as 17-years-old and we’ve been able to successfully stop aggressive genetic pattern hair loss. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.

William Yates, MD · Answer

Hello.  Regarding your question: PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) does reduce the rate of hair loss and hair thinning dramatically. How it works is that we extract the growth factors from your blood and inject them into the troubled area in your scalp. These growth factors will enhance your follicles and fortify your hair. It also (in some occasions) makes dormant hair grow back. It is a natural option to prevent/stop hair loss, but as any non-surgical treatment you will have to continue the treatment for life in order for it to keep working. We recommend our patients to have the treatment done at least once a year.PRP has no side effects with the exception of a little swallowing in your scalp two or three days following the procedure but that will be about it.Best of lucks

Can PRP hair loss treatment help to slow down aggressive MPB balding?

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Can PRP hair loss treatment help to slow down aggressive MPB balding?

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