PRP Therapy for Androgenetic Alopecia

As the most common form of hair loss, Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA) affects thousands of people every day.  If you or someone you know suffers from AGA, there may be a new solution.  Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy, also known as PRP therapy, has provided new hope for those dealing with AGA.

What is Androgenetic Alopecia?

AGA is characterized by the miniaturization of hair follicles which doctors believe could be due to high levels of dihydrotestosterone or DHT or alterations in the androgen receptor gene.  The changes that these characterizations cause include a decreased number of hairs in the anlagen, or active growth, phase.  This causes terminal follicles to turn into vellus-like follicles, which are hair follicles that are typically two millimeters long and tend not to grow and eventually fall out.

How Can PRP Therapy Help?

Platelet-Rich Therapy helps those with AGA by enhancing the limited action of growth factors that are created by the increased levels of DHT typically found in people with AGA.  Additionally, there are anti-anti-inflammatory benefits of PRP therapy which are helpful in treating Androgenetic Alopecia as it typically causes skin inflammation and hair follicle inflammation.

PRP Therapy Research

There have been observational and randomized clinical trials performed to test the effectiveness of PRP therapy helping patients with AGA.  Recent analysis has shown that PRP therapy is successful in treating patients with AGA, using hair density as the measure of success.  The other studies performed have been uncontrolled but have shown improvements in hair count, hair density and hair thickness.

Thus far, the most significant evidence has been from a randomized clinical trial in female pattern hair loss.  The trial used twenty patients who were all treated with twelve weekly sessions of intra-perifollicular PDRN injections, and twenty patients who were treated with one session of PRP prior to the twelve weekly injections.  The hair thickness of the PRP + PDRN injections group showed greater improvement than the group who only received the injections without the PRP therapy.

Possible Side Effects

There have been few side effects reported with PRP therapy, however, those that have experienced side effects have reported only minimal discomfort.  Side effects that are commonly reported include erythema, edema, headaches, drowsiness, mild pain, temporary swelling, and scalp sensitivity.

Source: Jeffrey A. Rapaport, Sarah G. Versteeg, and Aditya K. Gupta

New Non-Surgical Option for Alopecia & Hair Restoration

What Exactly is PRP?

Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy, more commonly referred to as PRP, is a nonsurgical option that has been studied and shown to achieve results in a shorter time frame than many of the alternative options.

The science behind PRP therapy is that it helps to “elicit regenerative pathways”, effectively resulting in increased hair growth.  Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy works through growth factors and cytokines that are secreted which encourage hair follicles to enter into the active growth phase.  PRP therapy then prolongs this phase, also known as the anagen phase, by pushing cells to multiply and develop new blood vessels through protein pathways that are vital to multiple cell processes.

This process may sound confusing, so to put it in more straight forward terms, PRP therapy gives hair growth cells what they need to grow hair and continue growing hair.

Who Can PRP Help?

Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy has shown promising results for people living with various forms of Alopecia.  Specifically, Androgenetic Alopecia (AGA), Alopecia Areata (AA), and Cicatricial Alopecia (CA) and with minimal side effects reported after therapy.  Case study candidates have reported improvements in hair count, thickness of hair, and additional microscopic evaluations have been noted with those having AGA specifically.

PRP therapy for Alopecia Areata (AA) patients is a potential option due to the various clinical trials that have been performed.  The random clinical trials that have been done to this point have shown that PRP therapy has produced results that are superior to both intralesional triamcinolone acetonide injections and minoxidil topical ointment, which are the prior most used solutions for AA.

Patients with Cicatricial Alopecia (CA) have not had as many random clinical trials performed as AA patients have, therefore the success rate cannot be definitively determined at this point.  However, case series do exist that hav been successful in patients with alopecia scarring.

PRP with Surgical Hair Restoration

Lastly, there has been evidence showing that combining Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy with surgical hair restoration techniques can result in further increased hair growth.  After surgical hair restoration has been performed, PRP therapy has been effective in promoting tissue repair, minimizing scarring and promoting new hair growth.

While PRP therapy is still a new solution for those that have a form of alopecia, it definitely shouldn’t be counted out as a viable option.  Given the case studies performed, it is safe to say the Platelet-Rich Plasma therapy is something that is here to stay and will hopefully help hundreds who deal with this condition on a daily basis.

Source: Jeffrey A. Rapaport, Sarah G. Versteeg, and Aditya K. Gupta