As we age our hair thins. That’s pretty much universal. But some of us experiencing androgenic alopecia have more thinning, which can really bum you out when you see more and more hair in the shower drain or on your brush.

Dr. Barrera has a variety of procedures to help our patients from Houston and across Texas with their hair loss. One of these is the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections for hair restoration.

In February’s two blogs, let’s get into PRP treatment for hair loss.

What is platelet-rich plasma?

We all know how blood platelets are crucial to clotting blood after a wound has occurred. But there’s way more to platelets than just that attribute. Our platelets also have a variety of growth factors and other characteristics that aid in the healing process of the skin as it repairs itself after a wound has occurred.

Platelet-rich plasma simply takes those platelets and dramatically increases their numbers, accentuating their healing power. Platelet-rich plasma simply involves taking a blood sample and removing the red blood cells. What’s left are the platelets, white blood cells, and plasma — platelet-rich plasma.

Professional athletes have known about the power of PRP for a couple decades. They have used PRP to aid in their recovery after injury or after surgery.

When it comes to hair loss, Dr. Barrera uses PRP injections across the thinning areas to help the dormant hair follicles return to healthy growth status, rather than moving into ever-longer periods of rest.

What growth factors are in PRP?

The substances that give platelet-rich plasma its healing punch are growth factors. These are some of the important growth factors found in PRP:

• Platelet Derived Growth Factor — Promotes blood vessel growth, cell replication, skin formation.
• Transforming Growth-Factor-Beta — Promotes growth of matrix between cells and bone metabolism
• Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor — Promotes blood vessel formation.
• Epidermal Growth Factor — Promotes cell growth and differentiation, blood vessel formation, and collagen formation.
• Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 — Promotes growth of specialized cells and blood vessel formation.
• Insulin-Like Growth Factor — A regulator of normal physiology in nearly every type of cell in the human body.

Now you can see the power behind PRP. In February’s second blog we’ll get into more about this exciting treatment for reversing areas of thinning hair with natural hair growth. Are you worried about your thinning hair? Call Dr. Barrera at (713) 468-5200 and schedule a consultation for PRP treatments.