Most arrive with thinning hair, or acne scarring. Platelet-rich plasma is your own blood, spun in a centrifuge to concentrate platelets.
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PRP therapy injects platelet-rich plasma, spun from 15 to 30 mL of your own blood, into the scalp or skin. Three sessions, four weeks apart. Platelet-rich plasma has no FDA-approved aesthetic use for hair or skin, so this is provider-directed use of an unapproved preparation, and improvement is partial in most patients.
Nothing foreign goes in. Your own blood, spun until the platelet layer separates: 3 to 6 mL, injected back.
One thing is worth saying plainly and early, because it frames everything below — platelet-rich plasma has no FDA-approved aesthetic use for hair or for skin. There is no approved label here for the treatment to depart from, so this is provider-directed use of an unapproved preparation made from your own blood, and you will hear it said again at consultation and on the consent form.
Concentration, not addition. Platelets carry the wound signals: platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1).
| Preparation | Anticoagulant | Spin | What is placed | Release of platelet signal | Where we use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRP (platelet-rich plasma) | Yes, ACD-A | Faster, 5 to 15 minutes | Liquid plasma, injectable through a fine needle | Rapid, largely within the first hours | Scalp injection; facial microneedling |
| PRF (platelet-rich fibrin) | No | Slower, low speed | Soft fibrin clot or liquid fibrin matrix | Gradual, over several days | Under-eye, fine lines, patients who prefer no anticoagulant |
| PRF gel | No | Slower, then heated | A moldable albumin-based gel | Gradual, with short-lived physical volume | Small hollows where a temporary autologous volume is wanted |
| Microneedling alone | Not applicable | Not applicable | Nothing is placed | None. The stimulus is controlled injury | Texture and scarring where a blood draw is not wanted |
These preparations behave differently, not better or worse. What separates them is the anticoagulant, the spin and the release speed. None of these preparations has an FDA-approved aesthetic use.
Autologous platelet-rich plasma — Your own blood, prepared in the room. Platelet-rich plasma has no FDA-approved aesthetic use for hair or skin, so both are provider-directed uses of an unapproved preparation.
Closed-system PRP preparation kit — The device is FDA-cleared for preparing platelet-rich plasma. Clearance of the device is not approval of the aesthetic use.
ACD-A anticoagulant — ACD-A is a citrate solution that holds calcium out of the clotting cascade, so the blood stays liquid. It is the step that makes the preparation PRP rather than PRF. PRF is collected without anticoagulant.
Compounded topical anesthetic (lidocaine with tetracaine) — Compounded topicals are not FDA-approved products. Applied in clinic, in a measured amount, never sent home.
Medical microneedling device — Platelet-rich plasma applied to intact skin largely stays on the surface, so the channels the needles make are what carry it down to the dermis.
Topical minoxidil and oral finasteride — Topical minoxidil is FDA-approved for androgenetic alopecia in men and women; oral finasteride 1 mg is FDA-approved for men only. PRP is FDA-approved for neither. Prescribing is a separate provider decision.
Injections cannot fix a lab result. We take your shedding history, examine your scalp under magnification, and order labs: thyroid function, ferritin, which is the blood test for stored iron, a complete blood count, and hormones where indicated. Anything treatable is treated first.
The draw is 15 to 30 mL, spun 5 to 15 minutes. You watch the layer separate.
Topical anesthetic sits 20 to 30 minutes. Small volumes go across the thinning zone, a centimeter apart.
Three sessions, four weeks apart. Month-six photographs decide what comes next. You see them when we do.
Tenderness that evening settles.
Photographs, not mirrors. Less shedding comes before density, month two or three. Density is judged at month six.
Some of both; the slowing is the larger part. Randomized trials in androgenetic alopecia are mostly small and not uniform, reporting modest gains in density against placebo. PRP cannot regrow a follicle that is gone.
No, and it is worth knowing what that means. The centrifuge systems used to prepare platelet-rich plasma are FDA-cleared devices, but the FDA has not approved platelet-rich plasma itself for hair restoration or for facial skin. No approved aesthetic use exists for these treatments to depart from, so they are provider-directed uses of an unapproved preparation made from your own blood. You will hear it again at consultation, and it is on the consent form.
Three, four weeks apart, then a decision at month six. That is the protocol in most published PRP hair studies. Patients who respond return every four to six months. Where month six matches baseline, the series ends there.
It stings briefly, then it is finished. Topical anesthetic sits 20 to 30 minutes first, and the injections are shallow and small, so most describe pressure and a quick burn. The scalp stays tender that evening.
Less than most people picture. Between 15 and 30 mL: one to two tubes, roughly a twentieth of a blood donation. That yields 3 to 6 mL after the spin. Tell us if needles worry you.
The difference is preparation. PRP is spun fast with an anticoagulant and stays liquid, so the platelet signal releases quickly. PRF is spun slower without anticoagulant, so the plasma sets into a soft fibrin scaffold that releases over days. Neither has an FDA-approved aesthetic use. The choice turns on the site.
Bring the medication list and we work through it together. The session needs written clearance from your prescriber. Anticoagulants raise bruising risk, and antiplatelet therapy works against the platelet function PRP relies on. A cardiac medication is not stopped for a cosmetic treatment.
No, and stopping undoes nothing you have gained. Androgenetic alopecia is progressive: density gained with PRP is held by maintenance every four to six months, and lost over the following year without it.
Less reliably than on a thinning crown. PRP works on follicles that still exist, and the frontal hairline is usually further along by the time it is noticed. Smooth skin needs a hair restoration opinion.
PRP injections and PRP microneedling use different methods of application. Discuss their purposes, evidence, and limitations during a consultation.
Platelet-rich plasma is not FDA-approved for hair restoration or for facial skin treatment. The devices used to prepare PRP are FDA-cleared; clearance of a preparation device is not approval of the treatment. No FDA-approved aesthetic use of platelet-rich plasma exists for these treatments to depart from, so they are provider-directed uses of an unapproved preparation, and this is stated again at consultation and on the consent form.
Individual results vary, and improvement is partial in most patients. Nothing on this page is a promise of a specific result, and PRP therapy is not a cure for hair loss. Hair loss is progressive, and PRP does not stop that progression.
This page is general information, not medical advice, and not a substitute for an in-person evaluation. PRP therapy requires an in-person consultation, a medical eligibility review and, for scalp treatment, a shedding work-up; where that assessment finds PRP is not indicated, it is not offered.
Rouge Aesthetics · 101 Mill Street, Suite 210, Gahanna, OH 43230 · (614) 425-1633
Individual results vary. This website provides general information and does not replace an individual consultation.