Men's Health

Normal, health scalps shed hair each day; however, excessive hair loss can be a serious concern for both men and women. You may notice many hairs falling out while washing or brushing out your hair. This excess hair falling out may progress to baldness, which can be hereditary, or the symptom of an underlying medical condition. To some people, hair loss and baldness does not affect their day to day lives and can go on without treatment. Then there are others who are self-conscious about their thinning hair and try to cover it up with hairstyles, hats, or scarves. Some, who are extremely self-conscious about their hair loss, choose either medications or even surgery to treat their hair loss. Normal heads of hair shed about 50-100 hairs each day, and with a million strands on our scalp, this is minuscule. Thinning hair is also a normal part of the aging process. The older we get, the thinner our hair. Baldness or thin patches may appear if the shedding is more than the rate of regrowth or the new hair coming in is thinner in texture to the hair falling out. For the last 20 years, Platelet rich plasma, or PRP, has been used in medicine. PRP is concentrated blood plasma (composition of blood) that contains approximately five times the number of platelets found in normal circulating blood. The function of platelets is to promote clotting of the blood, and is the key to the body’s ability to heal wounds because it contains growth factors that promote regeneration of the cells in the body. PRP Therapy: How does PRP Treat Hair Loss What is Platelet-Rich Plasma? Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) is an autologous concentrated preparation of platelets and the associated growth factors in a small volume of plasma. Platelets are a natural source of a number of growth factors in their natural and biologically-determined ratios. Platelet Growth Factors Upon activation, platelets release growth factors and other molecules. These growth factors can act on the hair follicles to promote development of new follicles and improve blood supply. Hair follicles survive on the nutrition they get from blood supply. Healthy hair follicles generate healthy hair. PRP therapy in the area of hair loss, amplifies the body’s naturally occurring healing mechanism, thus stimulating the growth of new hair follicles. To give patients the best possible results, PRP therapy requires 4-6 treatments 4-6 weeks apart, with one maintenance treatments every 4-6 months.