According to the scant data we have for the efficacy of PRP on follicles, it seems that a return visit would be called for every 6 to 8 months. If PRP is effective in your case, I suspect that you would return EVERY month for several hundred needle pricks without hesitation. Fortunately you don't feel the sticks because I numb the scalp with local anesthetic prior to the procedure.

Needle-less injectors may or may not work. My concern is whether the high pressure will rupture the platelets. I will order such an injector and shoot it though pig skin. Then I will examine under the microscope. If the platelets are intact then I will consider needle-less injectors.

Curious,
I have no idea how many terminal hairs it will produce. Dr. Greco showed a cosmetically signficant amount during the Fox newscast he was on, I'd be happy if most people achieved that level of growth.

I have not heard nor read one word about PRP enhancing any kind of untoward growth like tumors, and it is unlikely that it is capable of doing so. I had a conversaton with the rep of the most successful PRP company in the world and he never heard of it either.

Can't decide,
If the patient has extensive baldness in an area without ANY miniaturized hairs and no chance for a hair transplant, then there is no point in offering PRP at all.

To me, any person with a thinning area of scalp extensive enough to worry them, but not enough to justify a hair transplant, is an instant candidate. This goes double for women in particular who can't use finasteride.

Like Propecia, Minoxidil, and Dutasteride PRP is NOT a magic bullet.At least not yet. But the only way to find out its potential is to simply do them and report on the results. Perhaps PRP is where crude HTs were 40 years ago and it will just take some clever hard working doctors to maximize its potential. One thing is for sure, it's potential extends far beyond other junk therapies like lasers, steroid injections, magic shampoos, etc...

Growth factors are the stuff of life. They are real, tangible, well understood, and proven. Stands to reason that they would have a beneficial effect on any tissue they came into direct contact with...hair follicles and surrounding skin included.

-Dr. F

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Feller Medical, PC
Great Neck, NY

Dr. Alan Feller is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Providing Hair Transplants and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatments

Hi Dr Feller, hope all is well. Why would people on proprecia not be suitable candidates? (May have miss read, but its been a long day! lol)

You must have mis-read UK_lad, people on propecia are just as suitable as those who aren't.

By the way, if you are interested in seeking PRP in the UK, we will be offering it there shortly. Contact Spex for more info.

-Dr. F

__________________
Feller Medical, PC
Great Neck, NY

Dr. Alan Feller is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Providing Hair Transplants and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatments

Hi Dr Feller, congratulations on your first procedure. I hope the results are a great sucess. I have a question on the need for return visits. If a patient was to gain some regrowth and they were a good responder to propecia, is there a possibilty that this alone could maintain the benefit without the need for indefinite follow ups? I realise you're still at the early stages in the procedure, but in theory anyway, is there a possibility that the rewakened follicles could survive in this case as they would not be under threat from DHT second time round?

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My Hair Loss Website - Hair Transplant with Dr. Feller

so does this new procedure produce new follicles? if so, then how come people with no miniaturized hairs in their balding areas are not candidates?

if this is because the true result is not known yet then that is understandable

__________________
my reg is:

propecia 1mg EVERYDAY
minox 5% twice daily (f the foam)
nizoral 1%

say la V old buddies .... i'm tryin to keep you

Dr Feller,

Does bathing the grafts in PRP after harvesting reduce transection rates?

I'm guilty of not reading in detail about this, but I simply noticed the acronym "PRP"

Is this the same thing that Dr. Cooley does? Or is Dr. Feller doing something different?

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HT with Dr. Cooley

Dr. Feller,

A few of questions:

(1) Are you using the extracellular matrix with your PRP treatments?

(2) Do patients have to suspend the use of Minoxidil 5% prior to and post-PRP procedure? If so, for how long?

(3) In the past, I believe you mentioned that you may tweak the PRP Procedure to incorporate a missing feature. Have you made any additional contributions or changes to the PRP Procedure yet? If not, are you still working on refinements?

FCSM

LC,
Thank you for your good wishes.I don't see any cross over between the use of PRP and Propecia, so I wouldn't substitute one for the other. If a propecia regimine is working, then the patient should stick with it and add PRP as an option. As far as I know, PRP does not have an effect on DHT receptors or the propensity of a follicular cell to express them when the time comes,or if already doing so.

Why,
No, all the PRP in the world will not produce new follicles. It's purpose is to get the most out of the ones that are left, which is what makes patients of both sexes great candidates when they are suffering from miniturization, or if the skin is suffering from a chronic dermatitis causeing localized hairloss. Slick bald people are not candidates for PRP unless they are scheduled for HT surgery within 2-4 weeks.

Cactus,
Bathing grafts in PRP after harvesting has no effect on transection- which can only be caused by poor handeling and dissection of the grafts. Minimizing transection is a function of the clinic's ability to train their technicians and perform regular quality control checks.

Azn,
It is the same thing, however, Dr. Cooley uses it to augment his HT surgery, I use it much the same way that Propecia and Minoxidil are offered.

FCSM,
1. No, I do not use the ECM at this time, but I may do so in the future.
2. Patients do not have to change their normal hair regimines prior to PRP.
3. I am now working with the company that produces the equipment and the procedure kits to institute the new technologies that I feel would be beneficial for PRP application to hair. Before I institute them I will be corresponding with Dr. Joe Greco to get his take on the refinements as he seems to be the fields leader in PRP application to hair and is way ahead of me.

This is a new field called "regenerative medicine" and it will take time for it to blossom. I want to thank all the posters for not hypeing this procedure and for "keeping it real". To date I have performed exactly FIVE of these procedures, so I can hardly call myself an enlightened "expert", however, it does bring me back to the days when follicular units, megasessions, and FUE were in their infancy and had to prove themselves. A few years later, here we are. Let's hope the same goes for PRP. Of all the non-FDA approved medications for hairloss PRP is the ONLY one that actually has a scientific and clinically proven basis for efficacy.

__________________
Feller Medical, PC
Great Neck, NY

Dr. Alan Feller is a member of the Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Physicians

Providing Hair Transplants and Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Treatments

Dr F,

sorry what i meant to say was that if bathing grafts in PRP will improve there survival. since i saw one of dr cooleys patients who had there grafts bathed in prp after removal.