Platelet Rich Plasma, or PRP therapy, uses the chemical released by activated platelets to stimulate collagen synthesis in the skin.
PRP has long been used in the sports medicine to accelerate healing process after injury or surgery. PRP injections have also found popular applications in dentistry and orthopaedic medicine.
Given its successes in healing damaged tissues, recent studies have explored the beneficial effects of PRP in cosmetic medicine. Injection of PRP deep into the dermis naturally stimulates the production of connective tissue to increase skin thickness, improve its moisture content, and restore a more youthful appearance. The best effects are seen when PRP is used in combination with other interventions including botulism toxin injection and/or resurfacing.
It can also be used in lipofilling (also known as liposhifting, fat transfer), where fat from around your tummy is used to enhance your appearance by filling in wrinkles, folds or dents. Adding PRP to this procedure means improved survival of the transplanted fat, faster healing, and better aesthetic outcomes.
For each of these indications, PRP is essentially being used to accelerate natural healing processes that lead to a more rapid and effective restoration of tissue integrity.
How does PRP Therapy work?
Plasma is the life fluid in which the cells inside our blood are suspended. It is mostly mineral-rich salty water, reflecting the fact that although we emerged from the sea billions of years ago, we still carry it around with us. Plasma also contains important proteins, like growth factors, antibodies and clotting factors.
Platelets are small fragments of cells that circulate in the blood plasma. Platelets have an important job to prevent bleeding, promote healing and repair. They are packed full of natural growth factors and clotting proteins, which they release whenever and wherever they sense damage.
When platelets are collected from the blood, they can be triggered to release these useful repair factors into the plasma. This is what is known as platelet-rich plasma (PRP), because it is plasma that has been enriched by the healing contents of platelets.
The high concentrations of repair factors contained in PRP promote healing in exactly the same way that the body heals itself, by attracting cells, promoting healing and preventing infection. Because PRP is a natural combination of repair factors, its actions are much more balanced than the application of single growth factors or high-dose interventions.
PRP is easy to make and can be produced whenever you need it from a renewable resource, your own blood. About 20cc of blood is taken from a vein in your arm. By spinning the blood in a centrifuge, clear yellow plasma is then separated off as the (red) cells fall to the bottom of the tube. This plasma is separated with a further spin, and the fraction with the highest concentration of platelets is collected. The platelets are then naturally activated with calcium and/or thrombin, releasing their repair factors into the plasma and making the PRP set into a gel. This gel can then be applied to wounds or injected under the skin or into wounds.
Because it is your plasma, there is no risk for contamination with disease causing bugs from other people or animals. You cannot be allergic to yourself. There are also no long-term storage issues, which can limit the effectiveness of many products that go off over time.
Injection of PRP is usually performed over a series of treatments, 4 to 6 weeks apart. Like all volumisers, on its own, its cosmetic effects may be slow to emerge, but appear to be long-lasting with positive effects reported at 1 and 2 years later.
Platelet Rich Plasma is a safe and effective agent.
However, any injection into the face, even with tiny needles may cause bruising, swelling, redness and tenderness at the injection site.
Applying an ice pack can help relieve pain and discomfort. However, these side effects usually disappear after a few days.
Contact your physician and seek for medical advice if side effects persist for more than a few days or get progressively worse.
Because it’s your own blood there’s no risk of allergy.
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