Hair loss is a complex condition to overcome. Many patients view hair loss as irreversible and begin despairing about their treatment options.
Luckily, PRP hair restoration therapy is a hair loss treatment that can help restore your hair’s natural growth and thickness fast.
What Causes Hair Loss?
Hair loss is rather complicated and can result from a variety of factors. For the purpose of this article, let’s assume you do not have alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder that attacks your hair follicles, causing your hair to fall out in clumps. For alopecia areata, you should see your doctor and determine the best forms of treatment possible.
If you have the other form of hair loss (known as hereditary hair loss), this article is for you!
Hereditary hair loss can be due to one or more of the following:
- Genetics – You gave a genetic predisposition to hair loss, otherwise known as androgenic alopecia.
- Hormonal changes – Changes or fluctuations in your hormone levels can affect the growth cycles of your hair, causing temporary (or long-term) hair loss.
- Medical conditions – Some medical conditions, such as postpartum conditions or thyroid issues, can cause problems with the growth and thickness of your hair.
- Medications – Some necessary prescription medications can interfere with your hair’s growth cycle. Common medications that cause hair loss include drugs used to treat cancer, depression, arthritis, gout, high blood pressure, and heart problems.
- Stress – Stress can wreak havoc on your health, including your hair! For example, hair loss resulting from stress (due to physical or emotional shock) is a well-documented medical event. Luckily, this type of hair loss is temporary.
- Tight Hairstyles or Chemical Treatments – Overly tight hairstyles and chemical treatments can damage your hair to the point it falls out. In severe cases, scarring can occur, which causes permanent hair loss.
While these issues can contribute to hair loss, several other risk factors can lay the groundwork for losing your hair. These risk factors include age, weight loss, stress, poor nutrition, certain medical conditions, and hereditary risk factors.
What Is PRP Hair Restoration?
PRP hair loss treatment is platelet-rich plasma therapy. When used for hair loss, this method works in three steps to help improve hair growth in treated areas.
Medical experts have long viewed PRP therapy as a method to help trigger your body’s natural hair growth and maintain hair growth and thickness by increasing the blood flow to the treated area.
This method works by stimulating blood supply to the hair follicles, which delivers required nutrients to your hair, thickening the hair shaft.
PRP therapy has been used since the 1980s to address hair loss in men and women. PRP therapy has also been a critical player in healing treatments, such as healing injured muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
How PRP Hair Loss Cure for Hair Loss Works
PRP hair loss cure has three main steps. PRP therapy providers like Vibrant Dermatology generally space these three steps over four to six weeks for effective treatment.
We recommend maintenance treatments every four to six months for patients who want to see long-term results.
Step 1: Blood-Drawing
During the first step, Vibrant Dermatology providers draw blood from an area of your body (typically your arm).
We then place this drawn blood into a centrifuge. A centrifuge is a type of machine that spins rapidly to separate the fluids and properties of your blood.
Step 2: Centrifugation
After about 10 minutes, your blood separates into three separate layers in the centrifuge. These layers are your platelet-rich plasma, platelet-poor plasma, and your red blood cells.
Step 3: Application
We extract the platelet-rich plasma from the centrifuge via a syringe during step three. Our provider then injects the PRP into the patient’s treatment areas that require increased hair growth.
How PRP Therapy Helps Hair Growth
Medical practitioners have been using PRP in the field of dermatology for years. They started using PRP after researchers discovered that high concentrations of platelets from your plasma cells could assist with the hair growth cycle by prolonging the growing phase of your hair.
Your hair typically works in four phases: anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen.
The anagen phase is the growth phase. The anagen phase can vary from three to seven years for head hair. PRP therapy helps encourage the length of your anagen phase, which increases the likelihood that your hair will grow and continue to stay in the growth phase.
The catagen phase of your hair describes an intermediate stage where the hair isn’t growing but is preparing for rest. During this phase, the hair starts to separate from the follicle.
The telogen phase is the resting phase of your hair. During this phase, there is no growth or movement of the hair. Instead, the hair simply rests in place.
Exogen is the final phase in the hair growth cycle, where your hair falls out and sheds.
How PRP Hair Loss Cure Compares to Other Remedies
Vibrant Dermatology and other professionals in skincare firmly believe that PRP therapy is superior to other hair growth and restoration remedies.
Some of PRP therapy’s competitors include well-known methods like Rogaine. The difficulty with these methods is that measuring a product’s efficacy is challenging and sometimes inaccurate.
Furthermore, hair growth methods like Rogaine take significantly longer than PRP therapy to work. Rogaine can take several months before you even know whether it’s doing what it should.
Hair transplants are another PRP therapy alternative, but of course, more invasive procedures carry potential side effects. In general, if you are trying to avoid either side effects or significant downtime, you will want to do your best to avoid hair transplant procedures as much as possible.
All in all, PRP therapy is preferred because it is minimally invasive and requires no downtime. Contact Vibrant Dermatology in Dedham, MA, to learn more about PRP therapy and how it can treat your hair loss issues.
