Female hair loss is different from that in men. Whereas men tend to have bald patches where the hair is not growing at all, women on the other hand usually have patches of thinning hair. This is not necessarily easy to treat with a hair transplant, and therefore a new treatment known as PRP for hair loss may be a better solution.
At Silicon Valley Hair Institute, we are located in Foster City and we are one of a very few clinics in the Bay Area that can provide PRP treatment for female hair loss. This is because we have always been at the forefront of new developments in hair restoration. Our director, Dr. Miguel Canales, was for ten years the Medical Director of Restoration Robotics Inc., and he was the head of the team that invented and developed the ARTAS robot system of hair transplantation. Dr. Canales is always keen to try anything new which might be helpful to his patients, and this is why he has been using PRP.
Developed Using The Patient’s Own Blood
In fact, PRP has been in use as a medical treatment for a number of different conditions, but only very recently has it been used to treat hair loss in both men and women. It means Platelet-Rich Plasma, and this is developed from the patient’s own blood. A sample is taken and placed into a centrifuge which spins around at high speed and separates the solid parts of the blood – the platelets – from the liquid. The resulting plasma has between three and five times the amount of platelets in the blood that was taken from the patient’s body.
PRP also contains platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor (TGF) and other bioactive proteins that aid in wound healing. Indeed, platelets are the part of the blood that begins the process of coagulation when you suffer a wound. To the PRP we also add platelet activators such as calcium chloride, thrombin, and also sometimes collagen.
This is then injected into the areas of thinning hair and it has the effect of stimulating thin, miniaturized hairs into growing into thicker terminal hairs, thus improving the amount of hair and filling out the gaps where the hair has been lost.
If you think that PRP for female hair loss might be of benefit to you, then you need to make a appointment to see Dr Canales. The consultation is free of charge, but if you are suitable for PRP and you wish to go ahead, the first treatment can be given straight away. It takes about an hour.
Further treatments are required after four and eight weeks, and then every three months or so, depending upon your response. Some improvement in hair growth can be expected in 2 – 6 months.