How to prevent baldness: the possibilities of plasma therapy

Specialists note that today androgenetic alopecia is becoming the most common cause of hair loss not only in men, but also in women. Approximately by the age of 70, more than half of men complain of baldness, and every fourth woman over 50 suffers from significant hair thinning and increased hair loss. The search for funds that would help, if not return hair, then at least stop hair loss, has been going on for a long time, many techniques give good results. Among the most encouraging innovations – use of autologous platelet-rich plasma.

What is enriched plasma and why is it effective for hair loss

The use of autologous plasma is becoming an increasingly common method of therapy in aesthetic medicine. One of the directions of its use – trichology, namely the fight against androgenetic alopecia. & nbsp; We are talking about pathological hair loss, as a result of which the hair thins significantly or the head becomes completely bald in certain areas of the head.

Doctors note that among the four main types of baldness – androgenetic, diffuse, cicatricial and focal – Today, the problem of androgenetic hair loss is becoming more and more common.

In this case, it is necessary to select a therapy aimed at strengthening the hair follicle, lengthening the hair growth phase. Encouraging results are obtained by the use of autologous plasma obtained from the patient's blood and enriched with platelets.

The function of platelets is to initiate immediate hemostasis, form a fibrin clot, initiate tissue repair, regulate immunity, and control the local inflammatory response.

Enriched plasma is defined as having a platelet concentration above baseline. The optimal level is still being discussed, but autologous blood plasma is considered to be effectively enriched, where the level of platelets exceeds the baseline by 300-700%. Due to this level of enrichment, activated blood plasma is able to stimulate fibroblasts, initiate & nbsp; neocollagenesis and generally affect skin rejuvenation.

How Autologous Enriched Plasma Prevents Hair Loss

The main factor in stimulating hair growth is the anti-apoptotic effect of autologous activated plasma. Due to its influence, the life of the cells of the hair papilla is extended and the phase of hair growth is lengthened. Enriched plasma enhances cellular differentiation in the hair follicle. 

Platelet-rich plasma contains more than 20 different growth factors, proteins, chemokines and other elements, the interaction of which enhances the effect of inflammation and cell proliferation, increases the regenerative potential of PRP.

Among the most important and active growth factors, due to which baldness is prevented, platelet, insulin-like  and transforming factors, fibroblast growth factors, epithelium and vascular endothelium. All these growth factors act on the corresponding cellular receptors, due to which the growth of new organic structures, accelerated healing and tissue angiogenesis are observed. The diversity of the action of growth factors explains the effectiveness of plasma therapy in androgenetic alopecia.

How modern means of combating alopecia prevent baldness

Modern strategies to combat androgenetic alopecia mainly focus on cell proliferation and the effect on  hair growth cycle.

Thus, minoxidil prolongs the anagen phase and is able to increase the size of hair follicles, stimulates the production of intracellular protein factors and regulates their proportions in favor of slowing down cell apoptosis, activates an intracellular enzyme that regulates cell growth and viability.

Finasteride – another widely used anti-baldness drug that also prolongs the anagen phase, causing hair to gradually lengthen and also reduces hair loss.

Injection of autologous activated plasma enriched with growth factors into the scalp also enhances angiogenesis, stimulates cell proliferation, and remodels the extracellular matrix.

Over the past two years, researchers from different countries have conducted several serious clinical studies in relation to the treatment of androgenetic alopecia, including the effectiveness of plasma therapy. So, in one of the studies there was a group of patients who had never treated alopecia, and a group of those who were treated with minoxidil and finasteride to no avail. In both groups, the administration of enriched autologous plasma showed a good effect as a monotherapy for alopecia.

The introduction of autologous activated plasma can be combined with other types of hair loss treatment, which increases the effectiveness of therapy due to the various points of application of these & nbsp; methods.