How is PRP Used for Skin Rejuvenation?

How is PRP Used for Skin Rejuvenation?

 Platelet-rich plasma, PRP, is a skin rejuvenation method that we use to improve the quality and speed of your healing. It has been used for many years to treat several other health conditions. It began as a treatment to enhance recovery and limit bleeding from cardiac surgery. In our experience, it can help enhance the appearance and health of your skin. It does this by concentrating the growth factors from your blood that can then be used to form new, healthy cells and tissue. We create platelet-rich plasma by extracting your blood into a test tube, placing the tube in a centrifuge and separating the plasma from the other components. This separation also creates a higher concentration of platelets that will call forth growth factors.

 The goal of using PRP is to expedite healing. Your growth factors want to heal and are attracted to cells that are in a state of renewal or damage. By concentrating your growth factors with PRP, you can speed and improve healing by getting a higher volume of growth factors to aid in the repair process.

 Once it was recognized that PRP could improve healing, this process was used for sports injuries. It is a method Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, American golfer Tiger Woods, and other star professional athletes have used to speed their recovery from injury.

 This treatment can be better understood by looking at the broad applications of PRP throughout healthcare, research on its effectiveness specifically for facial rejuvenation, and how the therapy proceeds when you use it to revitalize your skin.

 Broad use of PRP therapy

 It shows you how powerful this therapy is to see its broad applications. Beyond its use for facial rejuvenation, other ways that PRP is used include the following:

●      Hair loss – PRP injections can help to stimulate hair growth and counteract balding. A 2014 study found that PRP can help to slow down male pattern baldness (androgenic alopecia).

●      Tendon damage – PRP injections are used in the treatments of chronic pain in the knee's patellar tendon, jumper's knee, Achilles tendinitis, and tennis elbow, among other conditions.

●      Acute injury – Acute injuries experienced during sports, such as knee sprains and hamstring pulls, are treatable with PRP.

●      Postsurgical recovery – In order to get ligaments (e.g., the ACL or anterior cruciate ligament) and tendons (e.g. the rotator cuff tendon) to heal, practitioners will sometimes treat patients with PRP.

●      Osteoarthritis (OA) – Knee OA can be treated with PRP injections as well. In fact, in 2015, researchers compared PRP to traditional hyaluronic acid injections, and the former therapy yielded stronger outcomes.

Study: PRP is effective for skin rejuvenation

An important study on facial rejuvenation was published in the Annals of Dermatology. The study, by Dae Hun Kim, MD, et al., evaluated the impact of activated platelet-poor plasma (aPPP) and activated platelet-rich plasma (aPRP) in the body's rebuilding of what's called the extracellular matrix. The extracellular matrix is the non-cellular part of all organs and tissues that offers physical structure for components within the cell; this body component is also responsible for important biomechanical and biochemical signals that spark homeostasis (equilibrium/stability), differentiation (changing to other cell types), and morphogenesis (shaping/positioning) within your tissue.

 In order to properly help with the reconstruction of the extracellular matrix, dermal fibroblasts must be activated – which in turn leads to revitalization and rejuvenation of the skin.

 Using the study's parameters, the researchers were able to increase the concentration of platelets by 9.4-fold. They determined that each of the types of activated plasma (aPPP and aPRP) created greater cell growth. Plus, the activated plasma led to higher numbers of growth factors, including the mRNA within dermal fibroblasts, MMP-1 protein, and type I collagen. The researchers concluded that patients with skin that has become damaged with time will be effectively treated by this skin rejuvenation approach.

 How treatment proceeds

 Skin rejuvenation with PRP is relatively quick and simple. A small amount of blood is extracted from the body. It is placed in a centrifuge, and the machine spins it at a rate designed to optimize for the concentration of platelets and fibrin. Once the centrifuge has performed its task, the PRP is clear and yellow. When it is injected into the areas of skin where rejuvenation is desired, the needle that is used is micro-fine to limit the chance of bruising or discomfort. We have found we can enhance results by creating targeted injuries with lasers, radiofrequency or micro needling to give your PRP more focus.

 With this method, improvement will proceed naturally and subtly. Since the substance is made out of your own blood, the body will not have a sensitive response, and you are not at risk of infection. This treatment can be used to slow down changes to the way that the skin feels, the appearance of fine wrinkles, and loss of volume. Brown spots, dull skin, large pores, and acne scars are also treatable with this approach. Patients will often choose this treatment because it is a natural way to add volume and minimize fine lines.

 The right choice for skin rejuvenation with PRP

Do you want to explore the use of PRP injections for skin rejuvenation? We offer PRP therapy, along with the most advanced laser procedures, at our state-of-the-art office in Manhattan. See Testimonials & Reviews.