One of the inevitable facts of aging for many men, and also women, is hair loss. It doesn’t happen to everyone: some men keep their hair for the whole of their lives. It can also vary, because men tend to lose hair and have bald areas, and quite a number go completely bald. Women, on the other hand, tend to have areas of thinning hair rather than bald areas.
Either way, hair loss means different things to different people. Some people, men in particular, just treat it as “one of those things”, which, in a way, it is, and get on with their lives. For others, it can be totally embarrassing. Many women who suffer from thinning hair feel appalled about it, although it is not their fault, and ashamed to go out shopping.
Either way, if you are suffering from any form of hair loss, we have a range of treatments today that can turn it around. We are not just talking about over-the-counter medications, but hair transplants, and a new therapy which is called PRP. That stands for Platelet-Rich Plasma, and it needs a certain amount of explanation because it uses your own blood.
Three To Five Times as Many Platelets as the Blood in Your Body
Platelets are the parts in your blood which start the process of coagulation when you cut yourself, and therefore begin to heal the wound. Platelet-Rich Plasma contains between three and five times as many platelets as the blood circulating in your body. It is created by taking a sample of your blood and spinning it in a centrifuge which separates out the solids from the liquid. PRP has been used for some years for the treatment of tendon injuries, osteoarthritis, some jaw surgeries, and cardiovascular treatments.
Recently, it has been discovered that it can be used to restore areas of thinning hair as well. The way that it seems to work is that by injecting PRP into areas of thinning hair it has the effect of stimulating the growth of thin, miniaturized hairs into full thick hairs. It works best on areas of thinning hair as opposed to bald areas, and for this reason is especially useful for women, who generally suffer from thinning areas.
Our Dr Canales will be happy to provide you with a free consultation when he can assess your condition. If PRP is appropriate, you can have the first treatment, which takes about an hour, at the same time. Further treatments are needed after four weeks and eight weeks, and then at three-month intervals depending upon your response. Some improvement in the growth of miniaturized hair can be expected between 2 and 6 months