What is PRP?

PRP stands for Platelet-Rich Plasma, which is the part of your blood that is full of platelet’s and growth factors. It contains potent growth factors that induce a rapid increase of new cells. Due to PRP’s several growth factors and cytokines, PRP is able to accelerate wound healing and tissue regeneration, which leads to a multi-use application; such as in sport medicine, regenerative medicine, and aesthetic medicine. PRP stimulates healing and treats the underlying cause of weakened or damage tissues, promote collagen and help with hair growth.

PRP Sports Medicine Injections:

PRP is a regenerative joint injection therapy designed to rehabilitate painful or damaged tissues. I explain it to patient’s as your body’s “super glue,” that gets injected into the damaged tissue to repair it.

During the simple procedures, we draw around 1-2 vials of your blood, centrifuge it down to extract the PRP layer from your blood and inject it back into your joints or soft tissue. This all is done in the clinic and takes about an hour total.

It is normal to have some pain and inflammation after the injection for 2-4 days. This is a good sign, as we want to have inflammation to the area to stimulate healing. The inflammation subsides within a couple days. Some patients feel some slight inflammation, others don’t notice much, it all depends on the individual, the condition and the severity of the condition. Patients are allowed to continue with daily activities after the injection, but they do need to limit exercise until 24 hours after inflammation subsides. I usually have patients come in to get the injection done when they are able to take the next few days off to rest.

Conditions PRP Sports Medicine Injections can Treat:

Arthritis

Ligament Sprains, Tendon Strains

Muscle Pain

Joint Pain

Osteoarthritis

Carpal Tunnel

Plantar Fasciitis

Bursitis

PRP Microneedling Facials

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) microneedling facial is medical grade procedure to minimize signs of aging, treat scarring, improve tone and texture, skin rejuvenation, and boost collagen and elastin. It can help to treat wrinkles, age spots, acne scarring and certain forms of hyperpigmentation as well. The procedure typically lasts an hour and requires minimal downtime.

During the procedure, I numb the skin prior to help ease with the microneedling. We are able to adjust the needle depth of the microneedling pen to what patients are able to tolerate it. Most patients are able to tolerate it well and are able to go to the highest depth with slight discomfort.

While the skin is numbing, I draw 1 vial of blood and spin it down to extract the PRP. That is what we are going to be putting back on the skin with the microneedling pen.

After numbing, I clean the skin, and then apply the PRP while microneedling it in to the skin. I do the whole face, making sure to target the areas that are of most concern to the patients, and the neck and decolette if the patient would like. The skin will be red for a few days, but decreases as time goes on. Usually by the 4th day most redness is gone. It looks like a sunburn, but there is no pain during this time.

As with other PRP procedures, it can take multiple treatments to see results.

PRP Scalp Treatment

PRP can also be injected into the scalp to help promote hair growth. PRP has been studied to be effective for alopecia areata and stimulating hair growth. PRP may stimulate hair growth and thickness, as well as protect hair follicles from prematurely shedding help increase hair thickness and density and trigger hair growth by increasing blood supply to the hair follicle.

The procedure is similar to the above procedures in that we numb the scalp first. We draw 1 vial of blood and spin it down to extract the PRP and then using small needles, inject into the scalp onto the affected areas and any specific areas the patients would like more hair growth.

The downtime is minimal, patients usually don’t have any pain after the procedure and are instructed to avoid excessive sweating for 2 days.