Thinning hair can be a devastating condition. It can destroy self-confidence and seriously impair a person’s quality of life. Thinning hair doesn’t just affect men, either; around forty percent of women also suffer from thinning hair after menopause. Although there used to be only a few treatments of limited effectiveness for thinning hair, especially for women, today PRP hair restoration is available.

Platelet-rich plasma Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was initially developed to speed healing of surgical incisions. A normal blood sample is taken from the patient and in a quick simple procedure the platelets are isolated from the blood cells and concentrated. Platelets are tiny containers of clotting factors, growth factors, and cytokines. When an injury occurs, they are activated and release their contents. The clotting factors cause any blood loss to cease, the growth factors induce the tissues to heal, and the cytokines attract immune cells to fight any infection. The cytokines also attract stem cells to the site of the injury.

Rejuvenation and Regeneration Doctors quickly realized PRP could be used for many other purposes, such as inducing healing of chronic injuries and also rejuvenation of tissues affected by time and aging. The growth factors induce healing and rebuilding of the tissues, and the stem cells that migrate to the site of a PRP injection differentiate into brand new tissue, restoring the tissue to its former state. A number of studies have shown that PRP hair restoration injections into the scalp can restore hair follicles to their former state, thus reversing the balding process.

Hair Thinning Although there are a number of possible causes of thinning hair, in the vast majority of cases in both men and women the condition is due to an inherited syndrome called androgenic alopecia. In androgenic alopecia, the hair follicles on the scalp respond abnormally to exposure to androgens (sometimes referred to as male hormones, although women have androgens too) by spending more time resting instead of growing hair. Eventually, the hair follicle stops growing hair entirely. PRP hair restoration injections into the scalp can restore the hair follicles to their former hair-growing state.

PRP Treatments PRP treatments are minimally-invasive and easy to undergo. A blood sample is collected and while you wait, an approximately 15 minute procedure is performed in our doctor’s office to prepare the PRP. Most people notice visibly improved hair growth after the third treatment and the hair growth and thickness continues to improve for several months after that.

PRP hair restoration is a great non-surgical option at Anazao MD in Steamboat Springs, CO for those with thinning hair. Contact us today to schedule your consultation!