Does PRP Help Transplanted Grafts Stay in Place?

[drcarloswesley]

Here's a rather interesting finding over the past year in our office that I thought I would share with the community. Although it's purely anecdotal at this stage, I have observed that when incubated in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and ACell during their out-of-body time, transplanted hair follicles appear less likely to shed early in the postoperative process.


For illustration, here is an FUE patient of mine who, in one day, had 2060 FU transplanted throughout his frontal half. He returned over a month later (a period before which micrograft shaft shedding had occurred in years past) and very few (if any) of the transplanted hair shafts had fallen out. This provided an early framing of this patient's face as the transplanted hair length closely matched that of his surrounding pre-existing hairs.


An observation that our office will certainly explore in more detail...

 

[ziggs11]

Wouldn't it be better to bite the bullet and shed the transplanted hair ASAP, so they start their growing phase sooner?

If you didn't want people to notice a big in your hairline so quickly, I'd think itd be better for them to shed and grow in gradually.

Obviously that doesn't consider benefits to the health of the grafts.

 

[drcarloswesley]

What is more likely the case is that the transplanted hairs remain in anagen (growth) phase begin their growth process earlier. Unlike hairs that shed and those pre-existing hairs that fall victim to telogen effluvium (i.e. "shock loss"), these hairs remain deeply-rooted in the scalp and continue their growth.


A number of possibilities exist regarding why this may be the case when incubated in PRP (neovasularization, angiogenesis, etc.). While the exact cause continues to be studied, the earlier growth of transplanted hair after FU incubation in PRP has also been an observed trend. These two patients, for example, returned only 7 months after their session for follow-up images.

 

[baldasabadger10]

Dr Wesley do you plan on conducting a study on this? If it really does help the grafts stay in place then it would be a huge advantage to the patient

 

[drcarloswesley]

Agreed! Our office certainly plans to look into this (most likely via postoperative patient surveys). While Dr. Carlos Uebel (Brazil) demonstrated years ago that incubating the grafts in PRP does indeed improve their ultimate survival (that study can be viewed here), we also plan to look into whether or not the growth is also earlier.

 

[Westcoaster]

Dr. Wesley,
Are you stating that the grafts never shed at all? If so this would be a huge benefit to the patient, please share your study findings once they are complete.

 

[Bigmac]

It would be great if the transplanted hairs stayed put and only shed in your natural hair cycle.

 

[JohnSheikh]

yeah it would be so good , Telogen Effluvium just ruined my hair , if you don't know what it is , it's in this thread.
http://www.hairlossexperiences.com/view_topic.php?id=1474&forum_id=2&highlight=Telogen+Effluvium

 

[Bigmac]

Hopefully we will see some encouraging results when Dr Wesley completes his study.

 

[DHI]

We agree with dr Wesley as we have observed similar behavior from the transplanted hairs while using PRP during the hair transplant. We are currently working on a scientific protocol and we will update the forum for the results of our research.