It’s not a good day when you notice a profusion of hair strands in your brush or comb—and fewer strands on your scalp. Two thirds of men in the United States experience some scalp hair loss by age 35. By age 50, 85% have significant hair loss.
Women aren’t immune to scalp hair loss either, especially when estrogen levels plunge during perimenopause and menopause. Even children can suffer from hair loss (alopecia); about 3% of pediatric care visits are due to hair loss.
At D'Allure Medspa, Frank Batlle, MD, and our aesthetics team know how important healthy hair is to self esteem. We offer platelet-rich plasma (PRP) hair restoration at our office in Dallas, Texas.
Why is PRP so effective for hair restoration? Below are a few reasons.
When you begin to lose strands of hair by the handful, it means that your follicles aren’t healthy enough to hold the hairs they have or to grow new ones. In most cases, male-pattern baldness is hereditary. In fact, one study of men with European ancestry showed that having the AR gene — which is found on your X chromosome — makes you more than twice as likely to develop baldness.
If you’re a man who’s genetically susceptible to baldness, your body produces too much dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is a byproduct of testosterone (T). The excess DHT shrinks your hair follicles, so that hairs move through their growth and loss cycle at an accelerated rate. Eventually, these miniaturized follicles can’t produce hair at all.
When you’re young, your body is in a constant state of renewal. As old cells die, new ones take their place. The aging process, however, slows down the renewal so it can’t quite keep pace with cell death. All of your tissues – from your bones to your skin – start to thin out and lose their vibrancy.
Since your follicles don’t have the ability to regenerate themselves, they need extra help. When we create PRP serum, we give them that help. We create the PRP by drawing blood from your arm and then spinning it in a centrifuge to separate out the healing platelets.
Platelets are little disc-shaped cell fragments that your body uses to plug up wounds and build new tissue. They’re filled with proteins, nutrients, and growth factors that help your body regenerate itself.
Once we create the PRP serum, we inject it directly into areas of hair loss. As the serum reaches your hair follicles, the platelets release enzymes that attract stem cells to the area to start the rebuilding process. The PRP also promotes angiogenesis — the construction of new blood vessels — to nourish the site and promote healthy circulation.
The first benefit of PRP is that it counters inflammation in the hair follicles. Almost all disease and health conditions— including autoimmune-related alopecia — have inflammation as a causative factor. However, the ingredients in PRP address most forms of hair loss, including damage caused by excess DHT.
All of the growth factors and proteins in PRP are important. One growth factor, called glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), not only stimulates new hair growth, it also prevents the hair from lapsing into a resting or loss stage prematurely.
Another growth factor, called insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), stimulates basal keratinocytes in the hair strands. It also prolongs the anagen phase in the hair’s cycle, which is the growth phase.
Within 3-6 months, you see evidence of new hair growth. The hairs are not only more plentiful, they tend to be thicker, due to healthier follicles.
We usually recommend an initial series of four treatments, with a follow-up every 6-12 months. We also recommend taking Nutrafol supplements and using shampoo and serums by Hair Science to preserve your results.
Are you ready for new hair? For hair restoration with PRP, simply call our helpful team or book your appointment online.
