Hair Loss Therapy Advances with Platelet-rich Plasma and Micro-Needling

Nearly 80% of all men will experience some form of hair loss in their lifetime. By age 50, nearly 50% of men begin to see hair loss. But men are not alone, hair loss affects nearly 40% of all women as well.

Currently, there are two FDA-approved drug therapies for the treatment of hair loss. Those include:

• Topical Minoxidil
• Oral Finasteride

Many ask what is Androgenic Alopecia? Well, it is the most common hair loss disorder in adults. It is caused by a shortened anagen phase of hair growth. The anagen stage is the growth stage. On the scalp area, the anagen stage can last anywhere from 2-7 years on average. The length is primarily due to genetics, but it can be impacted by diet and your overall wellness.

A shortened anagen stage leads to smaller hair follicle size and less blood flow and nutrients reaching the hair follicle, which negatively influences healthy hair development.

Currently, available treatment options for hair loss in the United States are:

• Minoxidil
• Finasteride
• Hair transplant surgery
• Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP)
• Micro-needling or derm rollers

Minoxidil can be purchased over the counter. Prescription strengths are also available. Minoxidil was first used as an oral hypertension medication. Not long after its use, scientists discovered it caused excessive hair group in some people – primarily women. Because of this, researchers began studying and developing topical solutions targeting hair loss. It works by dilating hair follicles promoting more blood flow and encouraging healthier anagen-stage hair growth. Benefits of Minoxidil include healthier, thicker, longer-lasting hair strands.

Finasteride is another medication used for hair loss. It decreases the amount of DHT in the body, which discourages DHT-induced hair loss.   Finasteride is also indicated for use by men with an enlarged prostate.

Side-effects with finasteride can be risky since it has been reported to reduce libido in some men.

Now let’s turn to newer more exciting solutions which can do much more for hair restoration. Platelet-rich Plasma and micro needling are cellular-based activation therapies that have only recently become available to the marketplace.

These natural cellular-based treatments put your own body’s natural healing power to work for you!

They work best in combination. Let’s look at a combination procedure in the image below. The photo shows a platelet-rich plasma application along with micro-needling for stem cell activation.

The PRP growth factors are in the syringe. The physician will inject them into the subcutaneous tissue of the scalp. The micro-needle auto-pen is used to stimulate the body’s natural stem cell activation. The PRP delivers the concentrated growth factors taken from the patient’s blood and the auto-pen micro-needling device stimulates natural stem cell activation. This combo procedure promotes the regeneration of hair follicles.

In addition, dermo-rolling of the scalp area works equally well as an auto-pen. It essentially micro-needles in a manual process and is something most patients can do at home. Micro-needling from an auto-pen or derma-roller provides similar stem cell activation results, but derma-rollers are usually less costly making them a great option for in-home use.

As stated before, this micro-needling process creates micro-damage to the top layer of the skin stimulating natural stem-cell activation and cellular regeneration reducing hair loss and promoting hair growth.

Let’s return back to the platelet-rich plasma injection process. Once blood platelets are taken and concentrated into PRP, the following growth factors are activated, which are valuable for hair regrowth by regenerating the health of the hair follicle.

Those growth factors are:

• TGF – transforming growth factor.
• PDGF – platelet-derived growth factor.
• VEGF – vascular endothelial growth factor.
• EGF – epidermal growth factor.
• IGF – Insulin-like growth factor.
• Interleukin-1

All these growth factors are taken from blood platelets, concentrated using an in-clinic centrifuge technique, and then delivered to the subcutaneous skin level of the scalp with a small syringe. This stimulates stem cell activation within the bulge area of the hair follicles and can encourage the development of new hair follicles.

Now we turn our attention to a randomized placebo-controlled trial conducted at the University of Rome in Italy. This study evaluated 23 men. Approximately half the men were given platelet-rich plasma and the other half a placebo. Each group received three applications of treatment separated by 30 days.

The study included a blinded evaluator as well to avoid subjective bias. Those that received the treatment saw significant improvement. Those who received the placebo did not. 4 patients reported some recurring hair loss but only after 16 months.

So, how much improvement did the platelet-rich plasma group see? They saw more than a 36% gain in hair density. That’s pretty remarkable only after 3 treatments, each spread out 30 days apart.

So what does it look like in real life? Well, you have to watch the video to see. In the video, you will see the before and after of a 29-year-old patient who underwent PRP therapy for the study.

Before and after are shown at approximately the 6:41 minute mark in the video below.