PRP for hair: what the first three months actually look like

PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma. A small amount of your own blood is taken, spun so the platelets separate, and that concentrated layer, rich in the growth signals platelets carry, is placed into the scalp where the hair is thinning.

Because it works by waking follicles rather than replacing them, the timetable is the timetable of a hair cycle. That is measured in months.

Month one

The scalp is tender for a day, sometimes two. Then nothing you can see. Some people notice a little extra shedding in the third or fourth week and worry. It is usually the opposite of a problem: resting hairs being pushed out by new growth starting underneath.

Month two

The second session, four weeks after the first. Shedding settles. The existing hair often feels slightly thicker before any new hair shows, because the follicles that were producing thin hair are producing better hair.

Month three

The third session, and the earliest point at which a photograph in the same light shows a difference. Fine new hairs at the hairline or the crown, a parting that looks a little narrower. This is where the course is judged, not before.

• Three sessions, four weeks apart, is the starting course.
• A single session every four to six months keeps it going.
• Photographs at every visit; memory is a poor judge of hair.

What happens at each appointment

A small amount of blood is taken from the arm and spun in a centrifuge for about ten minutes while the scalp is cleansed and a numbing cream does its work. The platelet-rich layer is drawn off and placed into the scalp in a grid of small injections across the thinning area. Forty-five minutes from arriving to leaving, and most people describe the injections as a series of quick pinches rather than anything worse. The scalp is tender for the rest of the day and normal by the next.

Things that help the course along

• Iron, vitamin D and thyroid levels checked and corrected, because a follicle cannot grow on an empty tank.
• Gentle handling: no tight styles, no harsh heat, no colour in the week around each session.
• The same photographs, in the same light, at every visit, so progress is measured rather than guessed.
• Patience. The third session is the earliest point at which the treatment should be judged.

When PRP is not the answer

Where the scalp is smooth and shiny and has been for years, the follicles have closed and there is nothing left to wake. Where the loss is sudden and patchy, or the scalp is inflamed, a doctor should look first. And where the thinning follows a shock to the body, it usually recovers on its own, and the clinic will say so rather than sell a course. The hair and scalp analysis before any course exists to tell these apart.

The hair and scalp analysis before a course shows follicle density and the state of the scalp, and the progress scan at each visit shows the change. It takes the guesswork out of a slow treatment.