PRP For Hair Loss

Hello everyone!

I am Dr. Swati Agarwal. So today again we have a video for all of you. Today I'll be talking about PRP for hair loss. So what does PRP stand for? PRP is platelet-rich plasma. In this, patient’s own blood that is it is an autologous treatment in which the patients suffering from hair loss his/her own blood is taken and from that the platelet-rich concentrated plasma is extracted. How does PRP help in hair loss? Basically, when patient's small amount of blood is withdrawn, say roughly, 10-15 ml and from that blood PRP is extracted and injected into the patient's scalp for hair loss. It is full of growth factors, for example, PRP has platelet-derived growth factors, vascular endothelial growth factors, mesenchymal growth factors, insulin-like growth factors and so on. So what do these growth factors do? These growth factors stimulate the stem cells i.e. the hairs that are not growing well, they are undergoing thinning are stimulated and as a result the hair grows thicker. In addition, the dormant hair follicles i.e. the follicles that were present but weren't growing are also stimulated and therefore, the hair starts growing.

Many patients ask us doctor is TRP the best solution for my hair loss. I tell this to all of my patients and would love to share on this video that it is important to understand that when we are going for hair loss treatment it is like when we have the hobby of gardening so we understand that we need to water our plants, we have to monitor the sun exposure that our plants get and we put fertilizers if we are not happy with the growth. Similarly, for hair growth, PRP works as a fertilizer. So, you are putting on the extra nutrition that is needed for the growth of your hairs. But you do not neglect the garden needs water and the sun exposure that means a regular healthy diet, staying de-stressed and using topical medications available after consulting the dermatologist plays an equally important role. So yes, PRP works wonders and gives a good result but it has to be used an as adjunctive therapy and should not be considered the mainstay and dropping all other medications. So PRP can give good results but it depends on many other factors, for example, how exactly is the PRP prepared.

As we were discussing there are various steps and you know the final step is injecting the PRP into the scalp skin at the right points. So what are the various steps? Firstly, the right amount of blood withdrawn, then putting them in you know high-quality advanced kits and then with this kits putting them in the right machine, centrifuging them in the right way so as to bring back the highest concentration of platelet-rich plasma possible. So, these various steps will actually decide what would be the final concentration of the platelets that you get. The higher the concentrations, the better the results. Therefore, there are many patients who feel that they are not getting the results up to the mark although they have gotten the recommended 3-4 sessions. So, coming to the number of sessions almost everybody needs 3-4 sessions in the intensive phase and then patients ask doctor now I am done, I will not need anything for the lifetime.

So it is important to understand that male and female type of hair loss is many times an ongoing process, the way aging is an ongoing process, the way we need to maintain our teeth by brushing daily, similarly, there is some maintenance needed almost always. Although the frequency of sessions could be much less once you have gotten the intensive phase sessions i.e. you can maintain the hair loss by doing say around 2-3 sessions a year but some maintenance is needed by almost everybody. So, why PRP is the treatment lived by we dermatologist doctors and also by patients? So, there are many reasons, 1st the result is absolutely good. Secondly, it is a non-surgical treatment, so, with or without hair transplantation this non-surgical treatment can help you bring back the lost hairs and would increase the density, would decrease the fall will increase the thickness of hair.

Also, this is cost-effective but as a dermatologist I would recommend all the listeners to always get a detailed plan from your dermatologist. Discuss that what would be the plan of action for years to come because many a time getting done 3-4 PRPs the patients feel that now I am done, I am free, I can just stop all medications, I can stop all treatments which is many a time not the case and they feel unsatisfied. So, having a detailed discussion with your doctor, understanding how this disease progresses and how we can you know reach the maximum result and can sustain and maintain that result would give you, you know more satisfaction and you would have realistic expectations and would enjoy the betterment that you get. Thank you so much for patient listening.

Thanks!