In recent years, PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) therapy has been one of the therapies commonly used both in our country and in the world for hair loss treatments. Our patients ask us many questions about this method, and righteously try to get information about the validity of the treatment. In this technique, own blood of the person is used, and only one or a couple of tubes of blood is taken, and prepared within minutes and in special tubes after certain processes. The procedure takes approximately 15 minutes; and there are no complications in question, such as infection of a disease or allergic reactions, since the blood has been obtained from the person within a sealed system. Here it has been aimed to obtain the platelets in a way that they are approximately 2-4 times more intense than they are in normal blood and to transfer them to the desired target tissue in a concentrated way. Platelets, called thrombocytes, are actually the cells that release the growth factors and many other wound healing factors within their body to the environment, go and repair the damage in the wound area and heal the tissue when there is a wound in the body. In other words, the cells that initiate and stimulate the repair in the damaged tissue are the platelets. When the PRP therapy is applied in the hair transplantation area and when these cells are injected intensively, the recovery accelerates and the blood build-up increases in the transplantation area. The survival rate of the grafts increase and better results can be achieved.
Moreover, in the applications performed on weak hair bulbs, it has been observed that the head hairs revive, and get thicken and more abundant. The growth and repair factors in the platelets have a stimulating effect on miniaturized hair bulbs and allow them to blossom.
The PRP preparation phase has not yet (been able to) become a standard in the world. In other words, different PRP kits/tubes are used and platelets in different concentration rates are obtained by specialists. In order for the blood cells called platelets to work and show its restorative effects by releasing its growth factors to the environment, they need to be activated. No consensus has yet been achieved in the world, regarding this activation.
It is also a little bit mystery at what intervals and in how many sessions the PRP applications should be made; however, the world authorities today suggest that the PRP should be applied at 3-9 months intervals as 2-3 sessions each time in order to stop the hair weakening.
There are also some facts that almost everyone accepts and builds consensus on in terms of the PRP: It is a fact that it only works for the male and female patients whose hairs are not yet completely bald and still in the thinning phase. While there is a slight increase and recovery in the hair thickness of 70-90% of the patients, an expected result cannot be achieved in 20% of the patients. A high level of satisfaction makes us, surgeons, happy. The increase in the quality of hairs starts to be seen averagely 2-6 months after the PRP applications; and it is possible to preserve this effect as long as the therapy continues and supportive applications are performed.
In the PRP applications, thanks to that the platelets release the growth factors to the environment, the dermal papilla hair bulbs develop and grow, which generate hairs. Moreover, by inducing the regional blood build-up, it feeds and recovers the hair follicles, and has a positive effect on the hair growth.
Today, the PRP therapy is one of the most important tools for strengthening the shedding and thinning hairs. It is a hope especially for the ones who do not want to receive a medical treatment, in other words, who do not want to use daily sprays or tablets. We definitely suggest the PRP therapy for our patients who continue the medical treatment and want to receive additional supportive treatment, or for the ones who received medical treatment for a long time but achieved no result. For our young patients whose hair shedding has started in very early ages and for whom we think that the hair transplantation is too early, we suggest the PRP treatment. Apart from that, there are some of our patients who get bored of the medical treatment so soon and tell us that they could not continue their treatment properly; performing the PRP for them makes sense.
Regarding the PRP applications, one of the matters that should not be forgotten is that there is no standard yet in terms of platelet concentration, preparation phase or the type/number of sessions of application. Until a standard is found as soon as possible and this treatment is applied by a certain standard in the whole world, it is very important for the patients to be aware against and avoid the low-cost PRP applications that are prepared with very cheap and poor-quality materials. Even though there is an application that is approved by the authorities, the studies and scientific clinical tests/papers on PRP applications are very few and insufficient.