Q: Platelet rich plasma is a procedure whereby the doctor draws the patients own blood and puts it in a vial in a machine that spins it at a fast rate. This causes the blood to separate the red blood cells from the plasma (which contains growth factors and nutrients). The plasma part of the spun blood is then withdrawn and injected into the skin to assist with healing. It can be used in many applications such as to remove skin pigmentation, wrinkles, to promote wound healing and also to induce hair growth in patients with alopecia (falling hair/no hair).
The plasma can be used with microneedling as well. Microneedling is a procedure whereby multiple needles are superficially pierced into the skin after using a local anaesthetic, to initiation the body's own healing processes and this allows for more controlled healing thereby assisting with scars, stretchmarks, pigmentation as well as to assist with hair growth.
My question is:
1. Is the use of the platelet rich plasma permissable in hairgrowth in patients with alopecia or thinning hair? There are other modalities for hair growth such as minoxidil and finasteride but these are shown to only stop hair from falling and does not assist with new hair growth. Also some reports state that the results with these are more temporary and less effective than using platelet rich plasma.
2. Would platelet rich plasma be permissable in other applications such as for scars, stretchmarks, dark skin pigmentation, wrinkles?
