Thank you for your question!
You’re asking if PRP can help reverse the damage caused by laser and in further, you
asked about sagging, hollowing, an orange peel texture skin type of texture to the skin
after laser and other rejuvenation device. Well, I can certainly give you my perspective
as someone who uses PRP a lot in my practice.
A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon. I’ve been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island
for over 20 years and I can tell you that platelet-rich plasma has been a huge part
of my practice. I’m the founder of TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration Centers where we use platelet-rich
plasma in addition to a material called extracellular matrix for hair loss.
So the question is very relevant because I actually treat a lot of people who have had
“damage” from laser or thermal energy devices. There has been a tremendous interest
in non-surgical alternatives to face lifting procedures and skin rejuvenation procedures.
And with that, it has come a lot of technologies. We can overheat the skin. And when you overheat
the skin, you essentially, at different levels, you cause some type of burning.
To understand what the role of platelet-rich plasma is in this type of treatment as well
as other modalities I employ, we have to go back to understanding what happens when skin
is damaged by laser or other thermal energy devices? Well, to begin with, when someone
has “damaged skin”, very often their skin is very thin. Why is that? They’ve lost
tissue. They’ve lost the epidermis, they’ve lost dermis and the tissue underneath, the
fat cells and the supporting tissue is also diminished.
So platelet-rich plasma stimulates the formation of collagen, the development of blood vessels.
Basically, everything that’s used for wound healing is something that is stimulated by
platelet-rich plasma. So I do routinely use platelet-rich plasma, in fact, I’ve helped
patients such as one that comes to mind a lot, someone who has recurrent infection in
the face from an unfortunate situation with something called biofilm. I’ve actually
helped with platelet-rich plasma as well as the use of platelet-rich plasma and other
modalities.
So I think there’s an opportunity. However, it is difficult to restore skin to its pretreatment
appearance. It’s possible to improve and I always say that use of platelet-rich plasma
for skin treatment whether it’s for repair or for maintenance is kind of like going to
the gym and building muscle. You stimulate, you recover, you’re a little bit better,
you stimulate again.
So when you think about platelet-rich plasma, don’t think of it as a one off, single procedure.
You think of it as a part of a global plan to help restore and revitalize the skin. It
often takes multiple sessions in order to get a good outcome that helps your skin improve
but I can tell you that it has been remarkable and it has been something that we have had
tremendous success with. It all depends on where you start and the kind of observations
we make as we’re doing these treatments. The key is to build up and restore tissue.
And so, I often would combine that with other modalities. But in terms of, let’s say,
when you talk about sagging, are you talking about skin excess or are you talking about
skin quality. If we’re talking about skin quality, PRP can help. If you’re talking
about skin excess, well the only way to improve sagging is to lift.
You also have to think about other ways to improve the skin in appearance. In our practice,
we do something called structural volumizing where we are putting the material that was
typically used for injectables such as a hyaluronic acid filler, we place it at the level of the
bone structure. And in that way, we are able to restore volume in a way that looks healthy
and balanced without putting stress on the skin. Typically injectables are placed either
within the skin in the dermis or under the skin. Unfortunately, when the skin has been
thinned, that doesn’t end up such a great thing. But when placed at the structural level,
it can really make a difference.
So meet with doctors who perform PRP and get a sense of what they can offer you. A lot
of times, my strategy is more of a comprehensive strategy where yes, a person has had a negative
outcome from laser treatment or thermal energy device or something where heat resulted in
some kind of loss of tissue. There are a lot of ways to address these problems but they
always have to be customized. And ultimately, you want to be happy with how you look both
in the short term and the long term. So it’s not unusual for me to suggest, not only can
we do PRP but if we do fillers and other things to help you look better immediately, it’s
something where you can actually feel good from the beginning rather than to keep waiting
and waiting for the effects of the PRP to really maximize.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question!