Platelet Rich Plasma

Platelet-rich plasma has been part of the armamentarium of cosmetic clinics for over ten years.

Sometimes facetiously referred to as “vampire facial”, this treatment involves drawing some of the patient’s own blood, placing that blood in a centrifuge to separate out the platelet rich plasma from the red cells, then injecting that platelet-rich plasma with its concentrated platelets loaded with growth factors back into areas of skin in need of fresh collagen, smoothing, strengthening and rejuvenation.

But most clinics take a tiny 10ml or 15ml of your blood from which to make the PRP. Small doses like these can have, naturally, only a limited effect.

At Peach we draw *up to 75 ml of blood* in order to offer our patients the most potent PRP treatment we believe available.

75 ml of your blood will yield up to 30 ml of PRP.

So we aim to get the quickest, biggest benefits from our PRP treatments.

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PRP is of now-established value in treating androgenetic hair loss:

https://revivetrainings.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Avram_Finney_DermSurgery.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jocd.13113

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40257-016-0196-2

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1524-4725.2012.02394.x

https://www.facialplastic.theclinics.com/article/S1064-7406(18)30032-4/abstract

Key to successful treatment is the application of a generous volume of PRP and the administration of that treatment in a comfortable manner.

But patients elsewhere have described discomfort due to the need for the PRP to be administered across many scalp injections

And we have that covered too. Another innovation at Peach has been our use of a forehead nerve block so that your PRP injections are pain free.

For basic anatomy teaches us that the nerve supply to the front half of the scalp arises from the forehead (or, if you like, supraorbital nerves and supratrochlear nerves). So a wall of anaesthetic placed across the forehead will anaesthetise the scalp, and our patients are relieved and delighted their treatments are comfortable.

Once the treatment is done, the first difference patients notice is a reduction in hair shedding when brushing or combing hair. Normal daily hair turnover in an adult amounts to 50-150 hairs, and anything over 200 hairs represent net hair loss. So once this shedding is reduced the patient is on their way to a fuller head of hair.

That said, scalp hair grows at around a centimetre per month (range 0.6 cm to 3.36 cm). So even if hair loss is eliminated entirely, it’ll be many months before an increase in actual hair volume can be noticeable. But a journey of a thousand  miles starts with one step, and those months are going to pass one way or the other, so the delay in seeing hair volume results is no reason to not proceed with treatment.

And  what are the alternatives? Certain pharmacological agents exist to either rub on the scalp or to take by mouth in order to reduce hair loss and/or increase hair volume, but these have their limits and side effects. They don’t work in everyone (nor does PRP). Then again, there’s no reason why such pharmacological strategies cannot be used *in conjunction with* PRP. If the idea is to leave no stone unturned, then combining treatments offers the best chance of success.

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Treating faces is one thing.

Treating necks is another.

Neck skin is of an entirely different quality to face skin. It is thinner, becomes lax sooner, and is more easily scarred and damaged by aggressive treatments like ablative laser resurfacing. Yet it is a large surface that easily soaks up a lot of product when it comes to injectable treatment. So how can neck skin be improved safely and cost-effectively?

The administration of 30 ml of PRP, harvested from 75 ml of whole blood, is a big PRP treatment for your neck. But if spread via a cannula there is little to no bruising. And if the PRP is thoughtfully mixed with a dash on lignocaine anaesthetic prior to injection, the treatment is virtually painless.

There will be, however, some swelling and soreness for a couple of days thereafter. But then your neck skin will likely be that little bit smoother.

One  treatment per month for three months is the usually-recommended initial treatment program, and further treatments from time to time thereafter to maintain or further improve the effect.