PRP to restore hair color?

The answer to what fosters greying has been delineated. It is uncoupling in two biochemical pathways. So the medical treatment to reverse greying will be soon available. However, PRP treatment may help reversing hair thinning but not effective in reversing greying. Sincerely, Bernardino A. Arocha, MD

Thank you for your question. I understand you have some questions about platelet-rich plasma (PRP) regarding whether it can help with some gray hairs that you are noticing on your scalp, as well as some hair thinning that you’re experiencing.I can certainly help you with this question. I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and a Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic surgeon, practicing in Manhattan and Long Island for more than 20 years. I’m also a hair loss specialist, and hair loss treatment is a big part of my practice. I’m the founder of Trichostem™ Hair Regeneration centers, which offer an alternative treatment for hair loss, in the form of a unique system that combines PRP with extracellular matrix. PRP is a concentration derived from your own blood, which stimulates the body's ability to generate blood supply by generating new blood vessels and making the tissue healthier. It was originally used by oral surgeons to help the areas where dental implants were being placed to become more vascular. Orthopedic surgeons have been using it in physical medicine as well — for tendon problems, for cartilage, and for inflammation — so there are a lot of different applications.In terms of hair loss, we first started using PRP and extracellular matrix for the purpose of improving hair transplant results by getting the hair grafts and donor area to heal better and faster. Serendipitously, a side effect of the treatment caused thinning hairs to become thicker.When we started developing this treatment, however, we initially did not notice that people who had salt and pepper hair started growing back hair that was darker, and when we did, we became excited about the possibility of using this treatment as a way to treat graying hair. Unfortunately, we have learned that this is not the most predictable of side effects.The growing back of darker hairs has occurred in patients at varying stages of hair loss and hair graying. Some had recent slow progressive graying and thinning of their hair, some have been gray for many years, while others who have been gray for many years had their hair come back still gray but thicker - there certainly is a varied manifestation of results.Ultimately, in some cases, Hair Regeneration does have value in helping people improve the gray hair, but it is not what we use as an indication. You can however consider Hair Regeneration or a PRP and extracellular matrix combination treatment to treat your thinning hair. In our practice, we usually do a single injection over this entire scalp, and the five years worth of clinical data we’ve been able to gather shows that more than 99% of men respond to this treatment, as well as 99% of women.Many of our patients don’t need further treatment for 3 to 5 years, but sometimes, we will administer a secondary injection in the second year on selected patients, not as a way to keep the treatment going but as a means of augmenting the benefits of the treatment.There is certainly a difference between using PRP alone versus PRP in the way we use it with Hair Regeneration, however I wouldn’t say that PRP alone would be of value as a treatment for graying hair.I hope that was helpful and I wish you the best of luck!

Your question is an interesting one. PRP can decrease hair loss, increase hair thickness and re grow hair in many individuals. The hair that grows is usually the same color hair that you had as a child. We have seen numerous males and females with gray hair grow black color. This response is not Universal. The second part of your question regarding increased  rate of growth with PRP has not been studied. My anecdotal experience says that the growth rate increases. A multicenter trial is going to commence to substantiate many of the PRP hair effects. Hope this helps. Good luck.