What’s the difference between PRP alone and TrichoStem Hair Regeneration?

After so many years of my advocacy to help patients with the benefits of PRP or platelet-rich plasma there has been a recent sharp rise in PRP treatments for hair loss being offered what’s interesting is that this sudden acknowledgement by the sellers of PRP treatment for hair loss has resulted in people looking for the optimal strategy for their hair loss the question comes up what is the difference between PRP being offered by a range of medical retailers and what I developed which is called TrichoStem Hair Regeneration

I’ll explain what is the night and day difference between generic PRP as is offered by everyone with a centrifuge and our system for managing hair loss called TrichoStem Hair Regeneration

I’m Dr. Amiya Prasad I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial plastic and reconstructive surgeon I’ve been in practice in the New York City and Long Island area for over 25 years

I’ve been performing hair transplant surgery throughout my career in the late 2000s I used this wound healing material called extracellular matrix by ACell to improve the healing and survival of hair grafts after transplant surgery I was also using this material to help healing surgical incisions during cosmetic surgery procedures such as facelifts

About a year after applying this material during hair transplant surgery not only did I observe the hair grafts healing better but I was surprised to see that native hair that wasn’t transplanted increased in number and became thicker I took the initiative then to take this discovery and develops for customization of PRP and a cell as a standalone non-surgical treatment for male and female pattern hair loss

I’ve been performing these treatments for people from around the world since 2011 I essentially established a new category for the treatment of hair loss particularly as an alternative to hair transplantation which I trademarked as trichostem hair regeneration long before

This recent acceptance of PRP I was among the first doctors to use platelet-rich plasma or PRP in the cosmetic field to improve skin quality and texture although PRP was being used in dentistry and orthopedics many if not most dermatologists and plastic surgeons were dismissive and openly disparaging of any doctor advocating the use of PRP the hypocrisy of this head-in-the-sand behavior was that the medical literature had thousands of articles from around the world in peer-reviewed journals with overwhelming evidence of the value of PRP for a range of applications

Thanks to some weekend courses and industry promoted financial schemes these same people are now happily making money by promoting PRP in their offices

I guess they had a change of heart so what is the benefit of PRP for hair loss well PRP can stimulate hair growth in people who are suffering from genetic pattern hair loss however this effect on hair growth has several limitations the first is the duration of effect is limited by the type of hair loss you have this means that the effect on hair growth can be very short this limitation is that the injection of PRP for hair loss requires multiple treatments typically performed once a month we see a lot of people who tried these monthly PRP treatments they report how they were frustrated by the physical pain they experienced the inconvenience and the limited results they saw even after suffering through multiple injection sessions

The doctors nurses or physician’s assistants administering PRP injections insisted that they come in for even more injection sessions without providing a clear explanation about what to expect afterwards many of these patients report that no anesthetic was used during their treatments which means that each individual scalp injection was extremely painful

Some patients report that they were told that using anesthetic will actually be detrimental to their results which just simply isn’t true another limitation of this PRP alone approach is the longevity even if maximum results possible are achieved with PRP alone the results are limited to the short-term stimulation of hair growth many practices offering PRP injections alone require multiple injections in the first year usually monthly or every two to three months and then maintenance injections in the second year which can be anywhere from three to six months

Basically the maintenance sessions are just to sustain limited results but with constant and essentially a never ending treatment horizon what we do in our practice with TrichoStem Hair Regeneration is completely different from how PRP alone is being used by medical retailers PRP is not the main ingredient in our treatment system but rather PRP is used in combination with extracellular matrix by the company a cell the formulation and delivery methods are customized to each individual’s unique hair loss profile

This is why many of our TrichoStem Hair Regeneration patients are actually former patients of other practice is using PRP alone or practices that are using less effective applications of ACell and PRP it’s important to be aware that when hair is thinning the hair growth cycles actually become shorter and the resting phase or dormant phase gets longer

TrichoStem Hair Regeneration reactivates these resting hair follicles resulting in an increase in the number of visible hairs and induces thinning hair to grow and thicker this combination of benefits results in significantly more scalp coverage for years there’s a difference in outcome and longevity from well appreciated by patients who are formerly treated with common PRP injections only as I mentioned a major advantage of our system is that far fewer treatment sessions are needed to sustain long-term benefits for years

In fact a significant percentage of trichostem hair regeneration patients only needed a single treatment session to improve their appearance with results lasting three to five years and even longer ordinary PRP treatment protocols or even other common ACell and PRP formulations need to be repeated every month to every three months with uncertainty of how well they may or may not work the success rate of TrichoStem Hair Regeneration is well established for over ten years with over 99% of our patients seeing visible increase in their hair coverage I felt so inspired by our consistent success that several years ago I built a free-standing facility exclusively for TrichoStem Hair Regeneration in Northern Virginia in Tyson’s Corner I observed hundreds of patients every year from around the world and developed my own classification system to provide optimal treatment strategies for each individual patient for example a 21-year-old male with advanced hair loss needs a different approach to treatment in comparison to a 50-year-old female with moderate and diffuse hair loss yet when you walk into a place offering PRP or PRP and generic a cell there is no difference does that even make sense of course not as discussed earlier your hair loss is unique to your category

I provide every patient with a customized treatment plan specific to his or her hair loss category as determined by my classification system I have found a benefit from many people with moderate to advanced hair loss to perform two separate treatment sessions over the course of two years this is because I observed that a significant percentage of fine hair growth resulting from the first treatment session can be significantly thickened further with a second treatment session

This second treatment session is usually performed 15 to 24 months after the initial treatment we call this in our practice the booster session which is part of our whole treatment plan so there’s no additional cost it can’t be overstated that a significant advantage of trichostem hair regeneration system is the longevity of results results that can last three to five years in both men and women with no more than two treatment sessions within this two-year time frame

Since we have been administering this treatment to patients since 2011 and we follow our patients closely we have well-documented results for patients who were treated for four to five years prior with a single treatment session and sustaining improvement in their hair growth most of the current in generic hair injection treatments being offered can’t claim close to this longevity of effectiveness

Most of these people were not actually performing any type of hair loss treatment such as hair transplant before taking a weekend PRP course this means they took a weekend course sponsored by a company selling centrifuges and kits and then went home and started selling their hair loss treatment services what they don’t appreciate in their excitement to make money is just how deeply emotional hair loss is for people seeking treatment

This is not the same as someone just trying Botox for the first time as opposed to these practices who indifferently sell hair loss injections

In my practice when I accept a patient for hair loss treatment I’m making a long-term commitment to helping you as best as I can sometimes we’re asked why there is a difference in the cost for trichostem hair regeneration in comparison to common PRP sessions

Some people are mistakenly assuming that our treatment is just PRP which it’s not as stated in detail earlier aside from the level of effectiveness which has been clearly stated is important to remember that the one-time cost of trichostem hair regeneration covers the entire treatment plan including follow-up visits to our office or follow-up meetings through email Skype or FaceTime during which we track your results after the first month and we do this after 3 months and every 6 months for the duration of 2 years

These follow-up visits include my taking high-resolution standardized digital photos which I compare for you so you can see how much you’re improving each visit is typically 30 minutes for patients who have had a second injection treatment or booster after the first treatment there’s no additional cost or charge for the second treatment this is in sharp contrast to PRP where you’re charged for every treatment session and with most practices not indicating how many treatment sessions are needed and how long the treatments will be effective

There’s no real horizon further many of these practices tell their patients that they only have a 50% chance of seeing any improvement we stand behind TrichoStem Hair Regeneration with you receiving one to two treatment sessions and seeing improvement lasting three to five years or even longer it’s common knowledge that time is money with ordinary PRP injections alone people spend a lot of time going to the doctor’s office for monthly injections or every three month injections and with an indefinite time frame for ongoing treatment

This means that the first session costs accumulate and quickly exceed the one-time cost for a TrichoStem Hair Regeneration to your plan in addition the time being spent on treatments with ordinary PRP alone could otherwise be used for making money or enjoying your personal time the math is simple multiple sessions of PRP will cost more in the long term both financially and in lost time with unpredictable results and uncertain longevity we also use trichostem hair regeneration treatment for increased scalp coverage for people who’ve had previous hair transplant surgery patients who’ve had several hair transplants in the past can see thicker hair growth of their thinning native hair and even from their transplanted hair this is because it’s common for me to see transplanted hair progressively thinning years after a hair transplant

Another group who benefits is male patients who are taking finasteride for many years but then you see the benefits of thicker hair growth after TrichoStem Hair Regeneration treatment we also help a lot of women with hair loss and have noted that in women taking spironolactone to address their testosterone levels also experience thicker hair growth after TrichoStem Hair Regeneration as an early proponent of PRP in the aesthetic field I can speak with great confidence about the benefits of PRP for wound healing and for skin quality improvement when used alone for hair loss it has significant limitations such that the patient can get frustrated with the need for this constant treatment to compound this inconvenience and cost and having uncertainty about the benefits makes this even more undesirable

While our TrichoStem Hair Regeneration has PRP in the formulations powered ten plus years of experience with customized combinations of PRP and a cellular matrix clearly exceeds the generically blind application of PRP for anyone with any type of hair loss hair loss is far too complex to be indiscriminately treated with PRP alone since hair loss cannot be cured

I strive to optimally manage your hair loss by delaying the progression and maximizing your scalp coverage with typically only two treatment sessions which can sustain benefits for over five years when a patient asks us about our PRP treatment for hair loss we simply say it’s not PRP it’s TrichoStem Hair Regeneration

I hope you found this information helpful thank you for your question