can my eyes look better with PRP treatment platelet-rich plasma or PRP has received a lot
of attention in the past few years in the medical community I find this more than a little amusing
since I first started administering PRP to improve skin quality for my patients in the early 2000s
and the same dermatologists and plastic surgeons offering the services now
many were openly discrediting the value of PRP at that time in spite of its established
success in oral and orthopedic surgery as well as for aesthetics in other countries
of course the pendulum has now swung in the opposite direction the aggressive marketing
of PRP has created a perception for many in the general public that it's a panacea for any problem
with the eyelids including hooded eyes under eye bags hollow eyes and dark under eye circles so
I'll discuss what PRP can and cannot do for your eyes and what I do for my patients in my practice
I'm Dr Amiya Prasad and I'm a diplomate of the American Board of Cosmetic Surgery
and a Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon I've been in practice for
over 25 years in New York City and Long Island I specialize in cosmetic eyelid surgery as well as
non-surgical treatments for the eyelids and the eye area which includes administering PRP
for eyelid skin rejuvenation as I mentioned earlier I was one of the early adopters of PRP in
the cosmetic medical field for skin rejuvenation surgical healing and as a component for hair loss
treatment this means that I have a perspective based on many years of personal experience on what
PRP can and cannot do so what exactly is PRP PRP is a concentration of the wound healing and growth
factors present in the blood which are activated when there is an injury such as a simple cut
PRP preparation starts with a routine blood draw followed by spinning the blood in a centrifuge
to concentrate the platelets in the serum in the early years of using PRP in my practice
an opportunity to discover the benefits of PRP around the eyes had arisen when a patient who
of mine who was a middle-aged woman of middle eastern background expressed a concern about
having under eye dark circles recognizing that she wasn't a good candidate for laser treatments
I offered her PRP to see if there would be any benefit up to this point there were essentially no
options for under eye dark circles related to skin quality for people with olive tone skin or darker
we saw her again in follow-up two weeks later and she was delighted with the improvement in
the skin quality under her eyes at this point I knew we were on to something and as they say the
rest is history the mechanism of this improvement is likely to be due to the induction of collagen
production and new blood vessel formation which occurs when there is an injury after platelets are
activated collagen is a protein that provides structure to the skin giving it strength
and elasticity you lose about one percent of the collagen in your skin every year as part of the
normal aging process starting around age 25. this percentage of loss is even greater when there are
stressors to the skin such as excessive sun exposure smoking and other toxin exposures
when you consider the mechanism of treatments like microneedling laser and radio frequency
application is to create a controlled injury in order to stimulate collagen production
it makes sense to combine these treatments with PRP to further enhance the intended benefits
of these technologies so for example I use PRP routinely after performing fractional co2 laser
under the eyes so the skin heals faster and looks healthier after healing is completed
people often ask if PRP can treat eye bags instead of surgery or if PRP can treat under eye
hollowness as an alternative to cosmetic fillers it's important to first understand the basis for
these particular issues under eye bags that are present all the time are caused by prolapsed
orbital fat or fat that's normally around the eye which has herniated forward herniated fat cannot
be reduced with PRP the options for improving the appearance of under eye bags include surgery such
as what we do transconjunctival blepharoplasty or camouflage with under eye filler depending on the
degree of the fat herniation as far as hollowness is concerned it's common to see the coexistence
of lower eyelid fat prolapse with under eye hollowness so whether there is lower eyelid fat
prolapse or not under eye hollowness is caused by a relative deficiency in the bone structure
very often the focus is on an area called the tear trough the volume deficiency requires a
material that has substance and viscosity such as a hyaluronic acid filler this filler material
can provide volume and at the same time I can use PRP to improve the overlying skin quality
this is well established evidence in the medical literature of a synergistic effect when PRP
and hyaluronic acid is combined I'm also often asked if PRP can be used to help people
who have upper eyelid skin redundancy also known as dermatochalasis PRP can improve upper eyelid
skin quality to treat wrinkles sun damage and discoloration but it cannot provide a lifting or
tightening effect to significantly change the appearance of hooded eyes in order to
treat hooded upper eyelids I typically perform a procedure called upper eyelid blepharoplasty
I routinely use PRP to help people improve the appearance of their fine lines and wrinkles for
example I use PRP in combination with neurotoxin in the area of crow's feet lines crow's feet lines
result due to creasing from repeated contraction of muscles around the eyes a neurotoxin like Botox
Jeuveau or Dysport reduce muscle activity thereby reducing the depth of the creases while PRP can
be used to stimulate collagen and improve the appearance of these lines from within the skin
PRP is a very effective option to help improve eyelid skin quality texture particularly when
combined with other procedures such as fractional co2 laser if you have under eye bags or hollows
then other procedures such as blepharoplasty and hyaluronic acid fillers can be further enhanced
with the use of PRP I hope this information from my experience helped you
if you are interested in recommendations for your individual situation you may
contact us through our websites or call our offices to schedule a consultation thank you