Thank you for your question. You’re 60-years-old and I understand that you have a 16-year history of female pattern hair loss. You’d like to start PRP treatments, and you want to know if you can stop Rogaine after starting with PRP.I work a great deal with PRP (platelet-rich plasma) for hair loss and other areas, so I can certainly give you guidance based on my experience. I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon, practicing and performing hair transplants in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. I’m also the founder and developer of TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration centers, which provides a non-surgical hair loss treatment using PRP and ACellular matrix.First of all, let’s understand minoxidil (Rogaine) was initially developed as an anti-hypertension drug, and one of its observed side effects was hair growth. Nobody really truly understands the mechanism and science behind what Rogaine does, but it was observed that it appeared to prolong the growth cycle of thinning hairs.When it comes to thinning hairs, it it important to understand that the normal growth cycle (anagen phase) diminishes, and the phases wherein hair stops growing (catagen phase) and sheds (telogen phase) becomes more prolonged. As a result, thinning hair does not grow as long, and when it sheds, it does not come back for a long time, and when it does, it comes back thinner. Rogaine, or minoxidil, is currently the only approved drug for female pattern hair loss.Now let’s understand what PRP does. It has been my observation, and I don’t mean any disrespect to other doctors using PRP, that PRP alone can give short-term improvement in hair growth, but cannot stop hair loss progression. In my practice, what we’ve done to remedy this is combine ACellular matrix or extracellular matrix with PRP in a treatment system called TrichoStem® Hair Regeneration. With this system, we’re able to limit the treatment to one injection session —sometimes a second injection session is needed over a year later—and we’re able to stop hair loss progression and have your thinning hair grow back thicker.In your case, I would say that it is probably not in your best interest to stop Rogaine when you start your PRP treatments.I think there is a synergistic benefit to doing Rogaine and PRP treatments together. You’ll be able to retain more volume and keep existing hairs from shedding too soon by prolonging the growth cycle. I would also recommend that you learn more about the ACell and PRP combination treatment. We have had such great success with it and our statistics show that 99% of male pattern hair loss patients respond well to the treatment, while over 80% of female pattern hair loss patients show visible improvement. In fact, when it comes to male pattern hair loss, in the right patient the results from the Hair Regeneration treatment can exceed that of two hair transplants.I suggest you learn about your options, and discuss it with your doctor so that you can get a second opinion on the matter. I’m sure your doctor will have more to add based on their experience with Rogaine and PRP.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.
