Can PRP restore my thin premenopausal hair?

Thank you for your question. You’re asking if PRP can restore the hair quality you had prior to menopause. You describe you’re 54-years-old, and your hair after menopause became thin and flat. Further you have been applying Rogaine, which resulted in some blood pressure issues.
I can assist you in understanding how we treat patients like yourself every day in our practice. 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. This is a system that evolved from performing hair transplant surgery using regenerative medicine technology, and we have made a significant impact in the treatment of female pattern hair loss. We have been doing this over 8 years, and I’ll describe f some of the challenges of your situation, and how we manage problems like yours every day.
It is important to understand that although it’s commonly understood there is male pattern hair loss beginning at a very early age, one of the areas that has been underserved is female pattern hair loss. The generally accepted statistic is 30% of women under the age of 50, and 50% of women over the age of 50 will have pattern hair loss. Although it is important to recognize the effect of estrogen being diminished after menopause commonly has an impact on hair growth, it is also important to understand this condition is often referred to as androgenetic alopecia, or genetic pattern hair loss. What happens with androgenetic alopecia is the numbers of hairs slowly diminish, the hair slowly becomes thinner as you describe, and eventually progresses until the volume of hair diminishes. Scalp coverage is a function of both the number of hairs, as well as the thickness of the individual hairs.
When we were first doing this treatment Hair Regeneration which we developed using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and a material called Acellular matrix, we first used this for male pattern hair loss in the context of hair transplant surgery. A very pleasant side-effect was seen where thinning hair became thicker. Although PRP was part of this formulation at that time, it was very important that we recognize that Acellular matrix made a big impact.
In the early years of 2011-2012 when we were first presenting preliminary results which was fairly dramatic for both male and female pattern hair loss, there was a lot of skepticism in the medical community, particularly among hair transplant doctors and dermatologist. We persisted in developing this, and over the course of many years, we developed a system based on key elements of what we call a person’s hair loss profile that includes: gender, age, age of onset of hair loss, rate of progression, degree of progression, and other medical treatments that have been applied. We have patients with female pattern hair loss as young as 16 and 18-years-old, and we’ve treated patients with female pattern hair loss well into their 70s.
Currently, there has been significant growth and awareness about the benefits of PRP both in medical literature, and now in clinical practice. The distinction I make is at the level PRP is being offered currently is what I describe as a shotgun approach. There is an established benefit with PRP treatment for hair loss, but the challenge is sustaining the treatment in a way that is effective. A lot of my colleagues are offering treatments once a month, or once every 2-3 months, and I find a lot of patients who come to us find that very difficult to sustain, and are often challenged in seeing the relative benefits. In fact, current opinion among my colleagues is that PRP works 50% of the time.
In our practice, what we developed with Hair Regeneration that ultimately expanded into TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers, are formulations and systems based on those parameters I described earlier. Generally, we treat patients like yourself where we do a treatment, and then somewhere 15-18 months later, we’ll do another treatment. We have been able to sustain improvement for several years even with a single injection alone.
Consistently, female pattern hair loss patients have seen improvement in quality and quantity of hair. On average, we see improvements around 9-10 months, but we can see improvements occurring as early 1-3 months. It’s an ongoing process without the need for multiple injections, essentially one treatment followed by a booster treatment after 15-18 months. We follow our patients very closely, so we learn that every 3-6 months of observation, we established systems and processes that reflect the various types of hair loss, even within the broad category of female pattern hair loss.
For the progression of hair loss, it’s important to understand that hair loss is a genetic program. What we’re doing is manipulating the environment of the hair, and stimulating growth. We’re reactivating hair that isn't growing, thickening thinning hair, and prolonging the lifespan of the hair because by nature of androgenetic alopecia, the lifespan gets shorter or what’s known as the anagen phase of the growth cycle.
I can also support the issue with the Rogaine where a lot of people do report blood pressure issues. What we’ve generally done is if someone hasn't been on Rogaine or has just started using it, we don't usually recommend it as part of a long-term strategy. When we do this treatment, instead of losing hair, people gain hair, and can sustain that growth for several years, again based on 8 years of data from patients we’ve been treating from all over the world.
At this point, I think the question to explore is not so much about getting your premenopausal hair, but how does a treatment strategy using this regenerative medicine technology help you manage progression, and maximize coverage for a longer period of time. There may be some value in exploring concepts such as hormone replacement therapy but that is contingent on the relative risk you may have for estrogen stimulated malignancies like breast cancer or uterine cancer, but that’s a question to explore with your medical doctor.
I advise you meet with qualified doctors who have extensive experience with platelet-rich plasma (PRP), and platelet-rich plasma with extracellular matrix. Learn about the individual doctor’s experience, and see their before and afters. It’s very important to recognize that a lot of doctors don't have a lot of experience in this area, and are just getting into this. We all started somewhere, and we started this 8 years ago, and it took us a lot of time, work, and analysis to get to where we are now. I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck, and thank you for your question.

Hi and thank you for your question regarding PRP. Yes, PRP can help with your premenopausal hair loss symptoms. PRP can help thicken hair and increase new hair growth in thinning areas. Since the treatment reintroduces plasma from your own blood into your body, the procedure is one of the safest treatments for hair loss. You will receive monthly treatments for the first four months followed by treatments every three to six months. Results usually begin to appear after six months, but some patients see improvements as early as four weeks. Schedule an in-person consultation with a board-certified facial plastic surgeon to learn more about how PRP might help your symptoms. Good luck with your treatments!
- Jacqueline T. Cheng, MD

Great question! PRP is great for thinning hair, and it is a safe treatment that will not cause a decrease in blood pressure.  PRP uses growth factors in your own blood to stimulate the scalp to restore hair growth, increase thickness of hair, and improve the strength of hair. Treatment works best in areas of hair that are thinning, compared to areas of complete hair loss. It would be in your best interest to go to an expert injector in your area, so they can get a full history and help you get on the right path to hair loss recovery.In Good Health,Dr. Ellen