Vancouver PRP therapy (in Surrey) to treat hair loss, under eye circles and for skin rejuvenation

Cosmetic PRP therapy in Surrey is loved for the following reasons:

It is a relatively natural way of rejuvenating skin, stimulating hair growth or healing inflammation or wounds. In short: it only uses what it takes out of your own body, literally. This is apposition to injecting foreign substances to get desired results – whether organic or synthetic. Though, when it comes to other beauty treatments, we should mention that these fears about product additions can be subjective, and not really based on actual, probable dangers (depending on formulas being used, of course).

It is quick treatment, taking roughly 30 minutes to complete (depending on the size of the treatment area).

There is little to no downtime involved (some bruising can happen due to the injections themselves, and routine hygiene practices are expected to be followed afterwards).

While needle insertions are involved, it is a well-tolerated treatment. On the scalp, the ‘pokes’ can’t go that deep, and are ‘in and out.’ No anaesthetic or numbing cream is needed. Many patients don’t even ask for cold compresses.

It is an effective solution for cases where very little can be done, within reasonable budgets or time constraints. For example, it can treat hereditary or non-hereditary hair loss, or replace a hair transplant procedure, which would otherwise cost thousands upon thousands. It can also reduce the appearance of dark under eye circles, which are also often hereditary.

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Personalized cell therapy (PCT) with PRP has shown effective results when treating the following conditions:

• Hair loss, including thinning hair
• Wrinkled or crepey skin on the face, neck, decollete or other areas
• Dark under-eye circles
• Scars, including acne scars

While not performed at our Surrey clinic, this treatment is also commonly used for inflammation, arthritis, sports injuries and other pain.

If you think PRP can help you with one of the cosmetic conditions noted above, we’d encourage you to start by booking an in-person consultation at our clinic. This is the first step to being able to solve your needs. When we are able to take a close look at your skin, we can better recommend a solution, or combination of solutions, that we think will work on you. This can involve PRP, or other technologies at our clinic.

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PRP therapy is based on the notion that your body contains its own healing mechanisms already. All we need to do is extract those mechanisms, and intensify them, to help accelerate that healing.

Having that in mind can help to understand how this cosmetic procedure works, and why it works the way it does.

So, what is platelet-rich plasma therapy?

The term “platelet-rich plasma” refers to a breakdown of your blood, which has been ‘configured’ to contain more platelets in its plasma.

You see, your blood is composed of the following substances:

• Plasma – the water and protein fluid mixture that contains your blood, and allows it to travel throughout your body.
• Platelets – the cells that are responsible for clotting, to stop your bleeding at a wound site. These are also called thrombocytes. These signal your ‘healers,’ too.
• Red blood cells – the pigmented part of blood that carries oxygen throughout your body, via hemoglobin. These are also called erythrocytes.
• White blood cells – the ‘guardian attackers’ of your immune system, the cells that fight foreign invaders, like a disease or infection. These are also called leukocytes or leucocytes.

When liquid blood in its ‘raw’ or ‘original’ form is extracted from your body (usually from the arm), and spun at high speeds in a centrifuge (an electric spinner, basically), the above components start to separate. Well, mostly the platelets separate from the red and white blood cells. Our centrifuge uses 1500 revolutions per minute (RPM), for 5 minutes, to achieve this effect. It spins about 16 ml of blood in a single tube.

Blood without red or white blood cells is basically plasma and platelets, which looks like a yellow, semi-transparent liquid.

Hence, we get the term, “platelet-rich plasma.”

The liquid that results after centrifugation contains 5 to 10 times more platelets than ‘regular’ blood of that same measure. Of course, this end-product is a smaller portion from a larger measure of blood, which contains all the ‘other stuff’ that is discarded at this point.

That extraction of platelets is the main thing we want to focus on for this type of personalized cell therapy at our Surrey clinic. It forms the liquid that gets injected back to the site where you have an applicable condition you want to heal.

The “therapy” portion of the treatment name refers to a regenerative, continuous healing process that is instigated when the higher concentration of platelets are inserted back into your body, in repeat sessions. The idea is that this is what will signal your body to produce “growth factors” through cytokines.

Growth factors come in many forms, and collectively, they do many jobs (though, they are not the same as “growth hormones!”). But for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just described them here as the ‘good stuff’ that puts your body into ‘regeneration mode.’ They grow cells, basically.

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Surrey PRP for vampire facials, under eye circles and skin rejuvenation

Hence, with cosmetic PRP therapy (like in our Surrey ‘vampire facial’), the intention is to begin regenerating skin with growth factors that cause collagen and hyaluronic acid production. You know, those ‘super substances’ that are advertised in almost all skin treatments. They are part of what we need to reverse, or slow down the aging process (i.e. wrinkles and sagging skin).

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Surrey PRP for to treat hair loss and stimulate hair regrowth

PRP therapy can also be used to kick-start other growth factors. For example the many that help hair follicles produce hair cells (one of these is keratin, or keratinocytes, often marketed in hair products). In fact, PRP has shown to increase blood vessels at the base of the epidermis, which nourishes hair follicles. This transfers hair follicles from ‘resting’ telogen phase, to ‘active’ anagen phase. All without medication!

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Other PRP uses

In other applications (not currently offered at our clinic), PRP is used to speed up the healing of tendons, ligaments, muscles, joints or inflamed injuries at other sites (including from osteoarthritis). Believe it or not, anti-doping organizations even fear that PRP might be a performance enhancer! So, some professional athletes can’t use it for that reason. Nonetheless, that alone says a lot about its potential.

Dentists and surgeons also use PRP to speed up wound healing after operative procedures.

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What about adipose stem cells for hair growth therapy?

This is essentially extracting stem cells from your body’s fat, instead of using blood. While this is a studied option, it is not something we currently offer at our clinic. That said, you may be perfectly satisfied with the results of PRP for hair growth, if that is what you are looking to solve.

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When it comes to cosmetic uses, such as for skin and hair growth regeneration, PRP therapy is a treatment that must be repeated to maintain effects.

Each person’s reaction to the treatment, and the condition being treated, can determine how frequently these treatments need to be done.

Generally, however, we can say that at first, treatments will be scheduled closer apart, roughly every 4 – 6 weeks. This may go on for about 3 to 4 treatments. Thereafter, a patient may only need to come in for reapplication every 3 – 6 months.

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Since PRP uses a modified version of your body’s own blood, and nothing more, this treatment option comes with nearly no side effects.

At most, since needle injections are necessary for the treatment, you may experience some bruising or swelling. This is not from the injectable solution itself, however, but more-so the act of prodding and breaking apart the skin during the procedure.

Rare side effects include scarring from the needling process, infections at open wound sites, or other symptoms.

Patients typically return to their normal daily activities immediately after treatment sessions.

Before we begin a PRP session on you, we will ask you to come in for an initial consultation. We will examine the condition you want to want to treat, and let you know more about what to expect, or how to prepare. We’ll also ask about your medical history, which will need to be thorough, to ensure you are eligible for this treatment.

If you are on blood thinners or anti-inflammatory medication, or have other blood-related health conditions, it’s possible this treatment may not be suitable for you. We encourage you to get in touch, however, since we may be able to help you by using other methods.

The price of PRP injections will depend a lot on the size of the treatment area, and the severity of the condition you want to solve. Please also remember that to see results, you will need to start with a series of at least 3 to 4 injections, at specific intervals. From there, you will need to repeat treatments, but less frequently. The exact amount of treatments each person will need to start them off with PRP will be case-dependent.

Without seeing you in person, we can only say that injection appointments start at around $700, and go up from there. Pricing can increase depending on the exact treatment required.

To be able to give you a more accurate estimate, we will need to come in for a consultation. We encourage you to book today!

Please note: Personalized cell therapy (PCT) with platelet-rich plasma is not covered by MSP in B.C., even if you are aiming to treat a medical condition. However, if you have one, we encourage you to ask your private insurance provider if they will cover this treatment.