Frequency for PRP hair loss treatments? Does it make much of a difference if you go 4-8 weeks between treatments?

Thank you for your question. You’re asking about the right frequency in get PRP treatments for hair loss. You state some places are recommending every 4 weeks, some places are recommending every 8 weeks. You’re asking if the effect wears off if you don't do them more closely together. I understand this confusion since there is now a growing popularity of PRP for hair loss.
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 based on a system we developed 7- 8 years ago using PRP and a material called Acellular matrix to help men and women with genetic pattern hair loss. It has been very successful, and we treat patients from all over the world. I can share with you my perspectives on PRP, and what kind of effect it has on the treatment of hair loss.
One of the challenges that faces most physicians today who are relatively new to PRP, which I would argue also affects most physicians is experience with PRP. Frankly, when we were doing PRP for either skin rejuvenation or hair loss, there was a lot of resistance from our colleagues and a lot of dismissiveness. Fortunately, medical literature and some of the dermatology publications have recognized, what was already obvious to us, that PRP does have benefit in skin and hair loss. The question remains with those who are offering PRP on what their optimal protocol is.
I think the reason why there’s confusion is because hair loss treatment is often not approached as an individualized treatment. What I mean by that is when you’re dealing with male and female pattern hair loss, you’re dealing with a wide range of age of onset, degrees of progression, and rates of progression. I  constantly see how people are trying to figure out a “one-size-fits-all” approach to treating hair loss.
Just a little background on how we developed our treatments, we were using Acellular matrix and PRP to help our patients heal after hair transplant. We wanted the grafts and the donor area to heal better. A very pleasant side-effect was thinning hair became thicker in some of these patients. Over the course of several years, I developed systems and protocols based on clinical examinations, and watching our patients every 3-6 months to develop protocols to help both men and women with hair loss.
Further at this point in time, I developed a classification system for hair loss because I think one of the frustrations we all have when we don't see as a good of an outcome as we expect, we wonder why. We developed a system based on gender, age, age of onset, degree of progression, rate of progression and other medical variables. I think this is what gets confusing when it comes to just using PRP alone.
The literature has substantiated that PRP has many valuable effects on hair loss. However, what is not being factored in is the individual hair loss profile as some people may respond better than others. Currently, the prevailing opinion is PRP works 50% of the time. I think that the numbers are too small, and the experience is too little to really make a statement like that.
What you have to understand is that PRP alone has a certain stimulatory effect on hair growth. The mechanisms are going to be much more than what we currently know. In terms of timing, this is a challenge to the sustainability because when we see patients who have gotten PRP injections done elsewhere, typically they had gone for once a month treatment for about 4 months. After several sessions, they feel very frustrated because they’re dealing with the discomfort of getting injections, most of the time without anesthetic in the scalp, and they’re not seeing what the outcome will be, and for how long they need treatment. Basically, it’s very challenging to have sustainable improvement when you have patients come every month for scalp injections which can be very uncomfortable.
In our treatment strategy, we developed a treatment plan based on the individual’s hair loss profile. What I think is the take home message is that hair loss is managed, not cured. Based on the hair loss profile, you use multiple tools to help manage hair loss with a customized plan.
When we see our patients, we generally do maybe one injection for the duration for several years. We may do two injections, and the second injection called the booster injection can be anywhere between 12 to 24 months after the first. For a practice like ours with the TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration treatment center, we treat people from all over the world, so it’s impractical to have people come back monthly. I think we’ve just been further along in our development in our own internal clinical observations and developments.
To answer your question, without a full evaluation, I would say you can to a degree expect PRP to cause short-term stimulation of hair growth. At the same time, you can look at other variables that impact the progression of hair loss. This is a discussion to have with the doctor. I think you should ask how much experience they have doing this, what’s the outlook whether it’s the 4-week or 8-week plan, what can you expect, and what else can you do. I think very often people just get frustrated, and what I want people to understand is there’s more to this than just frequent PRP injections. Hair loss is more about management, and not just a single approach that can work some of the time for some people, and not work out for others. There’s much more to this.
I think it’s important you do more research and learn about platelet-rich plasma, Acellular matrix, protocols, and most importantly the experience of the practitioner you intend to go with so they can guide you based on their experience. We’re using our experience going for 7-8 years that has really informed the evolution of our treatment system to where we are today from frontline, real-time experience. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.

M any aspects of the PRP protocol have not been studied and published. A recent study from Beverly Hills has shown that the ideal treatment spacing is 1 month. This is in the treatment phase and not in the maintenance phase. The maintenance phase depends upon  the patient's response and any concomitant Therapies. No one knows the ideal concentration of PRP. Everybody has an opinion but studies do not confirm any superiority with higher or lower concentrations.PRPHAIRMD.COM 

Prp is effective, but it can take up to 6 months to see results. I have a very specific protocol, every 3-4 weeks for 6 months with prp therapy.  I also add in progesterone to speed the healing process.  After that the injectors are tailored down.  You should also be on viviscal and other growth promoting ingredients.  Best, Dr. Emer.