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Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy for Hair Loss
Platelet Rich Plasma or PRP is a revolutionary new treatment for hair loss. It is versatile and can be used with hair transplant surgery, or as an independent treatment for thinning hair. Many hair transplant surgeons are already using this technology in their hair replacement surgery, and since the expert presentations to over 400 surgeons at the ISHRS conference in July, many more will soon start using the procedure.
PRP therapy is performed in 3 stages. First, an amount of blood between 60-100ml is taken from the patient and centrifuged. The fraction that contains the most platelets and growth factors is then removed and kept. The platelet rich fraction may be divided and one part lysed to release more growth factors then combined with the other whole-platelet factor. This extra treatment is claimed to increase the effects of PRP therapy, especially for hair loss.
Secondly the scalp is stimulated to activate the wound healing process. This process needs to be activated in order to use the growth factors and platelets that PRP therapy gives. Previously PRP activation needed to be completed with a single needle. 100's of punctures are necessary for the activation step, and so using a single needle was impractical and caused the patient significant amounts of pain. Now, a new product called the Scalproller manufactured by Nanogen is widely used for the activation step. The Scalproller is a microneedle roller that uses 192 unique titanium needles to open the skin to the same depth every time, and as it uses less pressure it causes less pain. As the Scalproller is rolled over the scalp, it saves the surgeon time as well.
The third step in the PRP process is the re-injection of the platelet and growth factor rich fragment into the scalp. This provides high levels of every factor needed for healing and healthy hair growth, the factors are utilised by the stimulated cells, including hair follicles.
The stimulation and access to high concentrations of growth factors has been shown to generate new hair growth, thicken existing hair growth, and make hair transplants grow thicker and healthier. In one case an Alopecia Areata patient was treated, and PRP treatment caused hair regrowth.
These findings were presented at the ISHRS conference along with the launch of Nanogen's Scalproller, and PRP with Scalproller pre-treatment is looking to become widespread as a hair loss treatment.
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| Article Published 21/08/2009 |
The Truth in Hair Loss Product Advertising
The industry manufacturing products for thinning hair is very competitive, and with hair loss being so prevalent,
the industry is quite valuable. It is very tempting, therefore, for some companies to make false claims, or cleverly spin facts to make their products seem better than they are.
Thinning hair is a problem affecting millions of people all over the world, from all walks of life. Hair loss is more common
and widespread than is publicly acknowledged, amazingly, a recent estimation showed that more than 30% of women
will have thinning hair to the point that it is noticeable by the age of 50 and 50% of men by the age of 40.
With hair loss so common, the market for hair loss treatment or camouflage products is large, and valuable. Unfortunately, like many science based industries, there is great scope for misleading customers with pseudo-science,
all unproven, and quite often completely wrong, the main aim for any hair loss sufferer must be to find the products
that really work.
So, how do you tell which manufacturers tell the truth?
Let’s start with what they write about products, firstly and most obviously, many companies use badly misspelt or
adverts with grammatical mistakes, you should be selective, professional companies capable of carrying out thorough
hair loss research on your behalf to give you the best products for your thinning hair will not make careless mistakes
with the information they send out.
Secondly, beware recommendations; “Recommended by doctors” is meaningless, look for examples of doctors who actually have recommended the hair loss treatment. “FDA approved/cleared” is another popular one, the FDA has all sorts of licences and approvals that just mean products are safe for use, not that they work, but some companies try and pass these off as approval for effectiveness. At the time of writing this the FDA has approved 2 chemical treatments for hair loss, Minoxidil & Finasteride, no others.
Lastly, look for a company that has results to back up its claims, not just a before and after photo, but results of actual studies carried out on their products & ingredients.
The second most common way for a company to give you the wrong impression about their hair loss products is through doctored or edited images. Hair can look much thicker simply by changing the camera angle, re-styling the hair, changing the flash on or off, or letting it grow longer. Look for photos taken from similar angles, with the same level of light, and with the same hair style & length, as much as is possible.
Video is quite difficult to edit and use to deceive, especially if the video is in real time, a good example of a video that hasn’t been edited is shown on www.nanogen.org, you can see the product being applied in real time and listen to what customers have to say about the product. The advert also doesn’t claim anything the product can’t do.
So, in summary, if you want the truth behind an advert, look for the facts, the research, good high quality images, and at best, a high quality real time video.
First seen on Ezinearticles.com here
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| Article Published 08/06/2009 |
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