Is it possible to make your hair immortal with a little modern-day vampirism?

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy may be able to help you regrow and cure the symptoms of hair loss diseases such as androgenic alopecia, popularly known as male pattern baldness. But you don’t have to go all out to use PRP; in fact, no biting is required. PRP therapy is a therapeutic treatment that has been around for decades, and it is most typically used to heal sports injuries. Scientists are still figuring out exactly what happens when PRP for hair loss is used, but the findings have been promising. PRP treatment may be a potential remedy to a receding hairline, which is presumably why you’re here, in addition to treating ligament injuries and osteoarthritis to indications of ageing in face skin.

Let’s take a look at how PRP therapy works before we talk about whether it’s a good fit for you.

How Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy Work? There’s a reason why a “vampire facial” is occasionally used to describe this type of facial therapy. PRP therapy is a straightforward procedure, yet it can appear strange, similar to a blood transplant.

In general, here’s how it works:

Blood is drawn from your arm by a doctor or medical expert. The blood is spun in a centrifuge, which separates it into three parts (platelet-rich plasma, platelet-poor plasma and red blood cells). A syringe is used to retrieve platelet-rich plasma, which is then delivered into the therapy site (in this case, your scalp). But what happens once the platelets have been injected? That component, on the other hand, is less apparent, and scientists are still attempting to figure out exactly how PRP hair loss therapy works. According to an article in the Iowa Orthopaedic Journal, “there is a broad awareness in PRP research that the injection of concentrated platelets, once activated, results in an exponential increase in numerous growth factors at the sight of injection.” Platelet-rich plasma contains growth factors and other substances that have been found to promote cellular regeneration and healing in a range of diseases, including sports injuries and, yes, hair regrowth.

The Current State of Knowledge Regarding PRP

Although many concerns concerning how PRP affects hair regrowth remain unsolved, we do know a few things. PRP stimulates hair growth by “increasing follicle vascularization, blocking apoptosis and thus prolonging the anagen phase, and triggering a faster transition from the telogen to the anagen phase in dermal papilla cells,” according to a 2019 review of clinical research.