Thank you for your question.
You submitted your question without a photo. And you’re asking why does it take for some
people to see results after PRP for hair loss longer compared to others. And of course,
I can definitely understand why this is suddenly not a consistency that doesn't make sense
to someone who is new to this area.
Well, I can certainly share with you my perspective. 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, a system we developed using PRP and extracellular
matrix that we developed starting 7 or 8 years ago. And we’ve treated patients from all
over the world both men and women for male and female pattern hair loss. And ultimately,
I can certainly give you a sense of understanding based on our experience in developing this
treatment.
To begin with, it’s simple to understand that PRP does have a stimulatory effect on
hair growth. And it is understandable for someone to wonder why does it work better
for others than not. And currently, the state of knowledge for a lot of my colleagues is
that 50% of the time, it works and 50%, PRP doesn't work. Well, with due respect to my
colleagues, I can tell you a little bit more of the evolution of our treatment and how
we tell our patients or guide our patients as far as prognosis and what to expect.
To begin with, the Hair Regeneration system, TrichoStem™ Hair Regeneration evolved when
we were using a material called extracellular matrix with PRP to help wound healing and
improve the hair grafts from a hair transplant to survive better. Well, a side effect was
noticed which was thinning hair became thicker. And this was noticed well over a year after
the procedure was done which is the usual time that you would expect a hair transplant
to be fully grown.
So what inspired me with that was to find a way to systemize and see if we can get consistency.
And certainly, we were very challenged for early years of development with trying to
see some kind of consistency. We do an injection and some people would improve in 3 months.
Other people would take 6 months, 9 months, etc.
Well, move the clock forward after going through a lot of challenges along the way, I essentially
developed a predictable system so that when I see a male or female pattern hair loss patient,
I can give them a sense of what their prognosis is with our treatment, with Hair Regeneration
which uses PRP but is not dependent solely on PRP. It is my opinion that PRP alone can
probably stimulate some growth for a duration of several months. And in some cases, when
a person’s hair growth cycles are very long, that growth cycle may persist a little bit
longer but it has essentially been my awareness from patients who come from other practices
who have been doing PRP treatments that generally speaking, people are doing injections once
a month or once every 3 months. The challenge with that is what is the horizon of that.
I would argue that it is difficult to sustain hair growth treatment if you have to get multiple
injections in the scalp monthly.
With Hair Regeneration treatment, we have developed ultimately a categorization system
based on gender, age, age of onset, degree of progression, the rate of progression and
in individual cases, look at medical issues such as hormonal issues as well as other medical
treatments, previous transplant surgery, etc. So I would say that with our system, I can
with confidence, help our patients have an understanding as to when they can expect to
see improvement and it is individualized. When you look at how many variables I just
mentioned, you can understand why it took so long to ultimately develop this type of
categorization system because we needed to have numbers of patients to be able to look
back retrospectively and say that if a 20 something year old male presents with a significant
amount of hair loss, what’s the expected timeframe of response and what is the sustainability
of that response.
So I would say that you have to understand that hair loss is not a one size fits all
approach. And it is with PRP and the current state that a lot of my colleagues are doing,
it’s more of a shotgun approach. They’re offering it in a way that is of course optimistic
but are not certainly very confident and sure as to outcome. It is just the state of development
that a lot of my colleagues are at.
With us, we went through a lot of this and of course using something like extracellular
matrix I think was critical and is critical for the most effective maximum type of outcome
with the fewest number of injections. For example, we’ve done patients who we did
one injection treatment and it sustained them for over one year. We’ve done the same for
other patients and it sustained them for over 2-3 years.
And so again, to go back to the point of having the numbers of patients we’ve treated and
looking at their responses, we’ve developed different individualized treatment plans and
I think that’s the take home message here is that when you meet with a doctor about
having a hair loss treatment, try to get a sense of what is on the horizon, what the
expectations can be. Understand that there are different expected responses based on
different characteristics and you also have to be clear about the diagnosis of genetic
pattern hair loss.
So I think it’s a broad question with a lot of variables that have to be well understood
by the treating physician for you to get a reasonable prognosis and expectation for your
situation.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.