Thank you for your question. You asked a question without a photo if PRP delays or stops the effect of DHT on hair, with a schedule of injections every 4-6 months. I can help you understand this because DHT as the cause of hair loss is what most people are familiar with, so I can see why an interrelationship is assumed there. A little background: I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years. I am also the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers, which is based on a system we developed as a non-surgical alternative to hair transplant for men and women with thinning hair who come from around the world. We have a lot of experience with treating hair loss, and DHT, PRP and other modalities are offered and discussed every day, all day long in our practice. DHT as a cause of hair loss was derived out of research that ultimately created the drug Propecia, or finasteride as the generic. DHT or dihydrotestosterone is converted testosterone by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase. The effect of DHT is actually through circulation as it goes to the hair. To decrease DHT, you have to do it systematically - in other worlds, you have to take a pill. You have to take finasteride every day, which is only relevant for male pattern hair loss. The causes of hair loss are very poorly understood, with the only awareness we have scientifically as a factor is dihydrotestosterone. However, it is clear dihydrotestosterone is not the only thing that’s causing hair loss. Only 60% of men will respond to finasteride, while 40% will not, so if you think about it, if DHT was the actual cause of all male pattern hair loss, it should be a 100%. We had the opportunity to see the difference and distinction of what PRP does, as well as new material used for stem cell-based wound healing called Acellular matrix. Understanding that PRP has multiple effects on the hair follicle mechanism, and recent studies and dermatologic research have shown different pathways which PRP can stimulate hair growth. However, PRP is not a DHT blocker, so you can improve the expression of hair loss by regular injections of PRP, but you are not doing anything specifically to DHT. Several years ago when we were doing hair transplants, we tried an improved approach to get the donor area and hair grafts to heal better. It’s a challenge of hair transplants because grafts don’t always survive, and the donor area has a tendency to scar, especially with traditional strip approach. What was a serendipitous observation was thinning hair became thicker when we used platelet-rich plasma and Acellular matrix. Acellular matrix became something I felt I can work on to develop as a system to try to stimulate hair growth. With a lot of interesting challenges being overcome, we developed a system we call TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration or Hair Regeneration. With this injection method, we’re able to stop the progression of hair loss, reactivate hair that’s not growing, and induce the shed of thinning hairs so thicker hairs can grow in. How is this different from PRP? I use PRP a lot in my practice to help people with acne scars, wrinkles, dark under eye circles, and all kinds of ways to improve skin quality and complexion. It has been my observation that PRP alone will only stimulate hair growth for short-term, and it doesn’t help with hair loss progression. Our clinical experience with our method of Hair Regeneration, with a single injection, we are able to keep people from losing hair, and regain hair for the duration of 5 years for 99% of pattern hair loss patients, both men and women. We customize for each individual patient because people come with different degrees of hair loss and different genetics. I would say the stability of this procedure has been remarkable. Interestingly, because of a lot of fear about the long-term sexual side-effects of taking finasteride, we have been able to do this without the benefit of a DHT blocker. So what was essentially revealed through this development is there is more to hair loss than just DHT. I support the concept that if someone can tolerate taking finasteride and do Hair Regeneration, there’s actually a synergistic benefit. We’ve had many patients who took finasteride before coming to us because they were still losing hair. They probably significantly slowed down their hair loss by using finasteride, but they were still losing hair. So taking finasteride alone was good, but when they did Hair Regeneration, they had more growth, had better outcome in terms of overall scalp coverage, and real significant improvement. I would say the question of mechanism is not really valid, but the question of approach to maximizing and saving your hair, stopping hair from going away, and regrowing your hair is now an opportunity for you to further explore medical therapy, PRP, and the technology we developed, Hair Regeneration with PRP + Acellular matrix. Learn more about these, and hopefully you’ll find a solution that fits your lifestyle. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.