Thank you for your question.
You asked a question without a photo but you’re asking can PRP delay the effect or stop the
effect of DHT and by doing a schedule of every 4-6 months injections to try to disrupt the
DHT effect on hair. Well, I can certainly help you understand this question or the response
of this question because I can certainly understand the confusion as to what causes hair loss
because DHT is what most people are familiar with. I can see why there can be an interrelationship
assumed there.
A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island
for over 20 years. I am also the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers. This
is a system that we developed in our practice as a non-surgical alternative to hair transplant
for men and women with thinning hair who come to us from around the world. We have a lot
of experience with treating hair loss and DHT and PRP and other modalities are offered
and discussed every day all day long in our practice.
So let’s begin with understanding DHT a little bit. Basically, this was derived out
of research done that ultimately created the drug Propecia or finasteride which is the
generic. And basically, DHT or dihydrotestosterone is converted by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase.
The effect of DHT is actually through the circulation as it goes to the hair. So in
order to really decrease DHT, you have to do it systematically. In other worlds, you
have to take a pill. You have to take a drug every day then that drug is finasteride and
that’s only relevant for male pattern hair loss.
Now because the causes of hair loss are very poorly understood, with the only awareness
that we have scientifically as being a factor is dihydrotestosterone. However, it is clear
that dihydrotestosterone is not the only thing that’s causing hair loss. There is a large
percentage of men and statistics such as, as we often quote, when it comes to finasteride,
60% of men will respond, 40% will not. Now you have to think, if DHT was the actual cause
of all male pattern hair loss, it should be a 100%. And so, we had the opportunity to
see the difference and the distinction of what PRP does as well as new material that’s
used for stem cell based wound healing called Acellular matrix.
Understanding that PRP has multiple effects on the hair follicle mechanism and recent
studies and dermatologic research has actually shown different pathways which PRP can stimulate
to stimulate hair growth. But it’s not a DHT blocker. So you can improve the expression
of hair loss by regular injections of PRP but you are not doing anything specifically
to DHT.
Now interestingly, years ago, several years ago, when we were doing hair transplants,
we were trying to establish an improved approach to try to get the donor area to heal better
and for the hair grafts to also heal better because there’s actually a challenge with
hair transplant. Grafts don’t always survive and the donor area has a tendency to scar
especially with traditional strip approach and what was a serendipitous observation was
that thinning hair became thicker when we used platelet-rich plasma, Acellular matrix.
And so Acellular matrix became something that I felt I can work on to develop as a system
to try to stimulate hair growth based on what we developed over time. And essentially, with
a lot of interesting challenges being overcome, we developed a system and we call it TrichoStem™
Hair Regeneration or Hair Regeneration. And basically with this method, we’re able to,
with injection, stop the progression of hair loss, reactivate hair that’s not growing
and induce the shed of thinning hairs so that thicker hairs can grow in.
Now how is this different from PRP? Well PRP which I use a lot in my practice to help people
with acne scars, with wrinkles, with dark under eye circles for all kinds of ways to
improve skin quality and complexion, we use PRP a lot. It has been my observation that
PRP alone will only stimulate hair growth for short-term and it doesn’t help with
progression.
Our clinical experience with our method of Hair Regeneration, with a single injection,
we are able to keep people from losing hair as well as regaining hair for the duration
of 5 years for 99% of patients both men and women. We always try our best to customize
for each individual patient because people come with different degrees of hair loss as
well as different genetics. But I would say that the stability of this procedure has been
remarkable. And interestingly, because of a lot of fear about the long-term sexual side-effects
of taking finasteride, we have basically been able to do this without the benefit of a DHT
blocker. So, what has been essentially revealed through this development is that there is
more to hair loss than just DHT.
Now I would certainly support the concept that if someone can tolerate taking finasteride
and do Hair Regeneration, there’s actually a synergistic benefit. We’ve had many patients
who took finasteride before coming to us because they were still losing hair. They probably
significantly slowed down their hair loss by using finasteride but they were still losing
hair. So, taking finasteride alone was good. But when they came and did Hair Regeneration,
they had more growth and they had better outcome in terms of the overall scalp coverage and
real significant improvement.
So, I would say that the question of mechanism is not really valid but the question of approach
to maximizing and saving your hairs, stopping your hair from going away and regrowing your
hair is now an opportunity for you to further explore medical therapy, PRP and the technology
we developed, Hair Regeneration, PRP and Acellular matrix. So learn more about these and hopefully
you’ll be able to find a solution that fits your lifestyle.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.