Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy Offers Alternate Treatment for Hair Loss

The head of the Yates Hair Science Group, Dr. William Yates brings both professional and personal experience to hair restoration science. The options offered by the Yates Hair Science Group, and endorsed by Dr. Yates as both a medical practitioner and a patient, include not only variations on traditional medications and surgeries, but also newly developed treatments, like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

Noted for its ability to reduce pain and inflammation while accelerating the healing of damaged tissue, PRP began seeing use roughly 10 years ago as a treatment for athletic injuries. One of the more curious elements of PRP is that doctors are not entirely certain about how it works as well as it does. While not enough clinical trials have been done to prove anything definitively, patient experiences show encouragingly positive results. The process involves taking a small portion of the patient’s own blood, about 30 millimeters, and separating the plasma and platelets from the rest of the blood, for the purpose of reapplying it to the area in need of treatment. As the theory goes, the platelets and their growth-inducing properties help injured tissues recover at an increased rate.

In time, it was realized that PRP can apply to restoration beyond healing injuries. It thus has seen use as a facial filler and hair restorative, working in a manner similar to a stem cell treatment. As a relatively new process, it is often recommended for patients who might not be good candidates for hair transplants, and as a revitalizing procedure, it is most effective in areas where hair is still present, but thinning.