Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

Item: Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)
Rating: 4.5
Author: Amazon

Written by: Alice Hart-Davis

Updated by: Becki Murray

Medically reviewed by: Mr Olivier Amar

Last Updated: 15 August 2024

PRP – or Platelet-Rich Plasma, to give it its proper name – is a treatment that involves injecting plasma extracted from your own blood into the treatment area – normally the skin on your face or scalp, if we’re talking about tweakments – in order to promote regeneration. PRP is used both in aesthetics and in medical treatments:

Aesthetics: PRP can be used as a facial tweakment to improve skin texture. For example, a practitioner may inject plasma into a patient’s face to encouragw and support skin healing. It can be also used on areas such as the hands and neck for a similar effect.
Hair Restoration: PRP is a non-surgical option for tackling mild hair thinning as it is said to help promote healthy hair growth.
Female health: PRP can also be used to treat vaginal laxity and rejuvenate the tissues in the area in the right patient.
Medicine: PRP is also used to promote healing in medicine. For example, a sports doctor may inject plasma into an inflamed knee-tendon to treat tendinitis.

Whichever way it is used, this Platelet Rich Plasma is derived from your blood which has been processed to separate the plasma and platelets from the red blood cells. Platelets are blood cells that play various important roles in the body. For PRP, the key role of platelets is transporting proteins that your body uses to repair damage; in everyday life, another key role of platelets is to help with blood clotting to limit bleeding. Scroll down for more info and all the FAQs about PRP.

Injectables

EXPECT TO PAY

£ 500 - 900

TWEAKMENT TIME

30 minutes

LONGEVITY

Up to three months

ANAESTHESIA

None - numbing cream optional

DOWNTIME

Possible redness/swelling/bruising

What does PRP do?

First, you have a small amount of blood. It’s usually one tube of 10ml (which might give you around 6ml of plasma after centrifugation). Vials containing this blood are placed in a centrifuge, which looks like a small medical version of a spin-dryer, and spun for five minutes until the red blood cells in the blood separate from the clear plasma. This plasma is packed with platelets, which are able to generate growth factors, which in turn can spot any damage within the skin and set about repairing it. That means the PRP is providing a home-grown tonic – like a kind of super healer serum – to regenerate your skin and hair, once it is reinjected. Because the growth factors will become active soon after the plasma is extracted from the blood, the PRP is injected back into the skin as soon as it is ready, either with a cannula (a blunt type of needle) or a needle.

As an aesthetic treatment, PRP is good for improving skin texture because, along with that regeneration comes a nice fresher, smoother top layer to the skin. For anyone with an aversion to having foreign substances such as fillers injected into their face or decolletage, this is a viable alternative. It won’t give you the volume boost that dermal fillers provide, but it should smooth the skin and give it a glow, soften wrinkles, and plump up the skin’s surface.

PRP is also gaining popularity for use for hair rejuvenation, as it offers a non-surgical option for mild hair thinning for both women and men. The tweakment can promote hair regrowth by improving blood circulation in the scalp, prolonging the hair growth cycle, and stimulating and nourishing your hair follicles with the growth factor rich-plasma.

PRP

What is PRP used for?

PRP is used to treat a variety of issues ranging from skin texture to sports injuries:

Improve skin texture.

As an aesthetic treatment, PRP is used to improve skin texture. PRP is typically used on the face, but it also works for other areas, such as the neck, décolletage and the hands. Used under the eyes, it can soften the look of dark circles.

Promote hair restoration.

When injected into the scalp to target mild hair thinning, PRP can help promote healthy hair regrowth by targeting the hair follicles – without the invasiveness of surgery. The injected plasma is rich in growth factors that nourish and stimulate your follicles, leading to more resilient hairs, which are also supported by the tweakment’s ability to improve blood circulation in the area and prolong the hair growth cycle. This leads to the appearance of a thicker, healthier-looking head of hair.

The leading consultant plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgeon also sees using a combination of PRP and Nanofat injections as a very promising hair restoration treatment. A Nanofat procedure involves harvesting a patient’s own fat cells, before emulsifying and filtering the fat cells into a stem cell-rich liquid. The growth factors of the PRP can help activate the cell divsion and some of the regenerative cells of this fat, boosting the effects of the treatment for hair regrowth.

Promote vaginal rejuvenation

By injecting PRP into the walls of the vagina, a well-trained practitioner can help patients who are experiencing vaginal laxity, dryness, irritation, and painful intercourse. PRP can help improve boost skin firmness in the area, improve muscle tone in the pelvic floor, heal tears and reduce stretch marks.

Promote healing in tendons and ligaments.

Studies have demonstrated some strong evidence that PRP can help with certain injuries, for example damage to knee tendons, by reducing inflammation and stimulating immune function. Tendons and ligaments take ages to heal because the body gives them only a meagre blood supply, so it makes sense that PRP might help healing. However, to manage expectations, it can help inflammation, not negate the need for surgery for more serious injuries.

Reduce osteoarthritic pain.

Another small-scale study has shown PRP injections to reduce the pain of osteoarthritis in knees.

Does PRP work?

Evidence is definitely building to support the fact that PRP is effective, with a growing number of published papers emphasising its abilities. In the cosmetic tweakment realm, for skin and hair there is now more than anecdotal evidence from doctors, including a recent systematic review of the use of PRP in aesthetic dermatology that you can have a look at here. However, as there is no real standardised protocol (the quantity of blood, machine or kit used) it is rather hard to currently compare studies or to source lots of data.

As Mr Olivier Amar explains: “It’s all about managing expectations. As you are injecting growth factors, on younger and thin skin you might see more of a glow than on a mature skin with solar elastosis, for example.”

by looking at Pubmed benefits of musculoskeletal and PRP , reducing inflammation , immunomodulation…there is now some strong evidence for their action , all about managing expectations, will reduce inflation on tendons, but if you need a knee replacement. I am not sure if the best treatment.

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What is it like to have PRP for your skin?

Here’s my experience from a PRP treatment in 2018

PRP is, in a word, disconcerting. It is bizarre yet rather exciting to think that my own body is able to provide a rejuvenating cocktail for my face.

Some doctors inject PRP all over the face using a needle, but Dr Olivier Amar, who is doing my treatment, prefers to reintroduce the PRP into the face via a cannula rather than a needle. A cannula is like a blunt needle, which sounds like a bad idea, but once it is under the skin, it can be steered gently around just under the skin, without stabbing through any fibrous bands or blood vessels in its path, which a needle might do.

Using the cannula, Dr Amar distributes the PRP evenly around my cheeks and that troublesome saggy bit at the side of the mouth by the chin, on both sides of my face. The big advantage of using a cannula for this treatment is that you don’t end up with a face covered in pin-prick injection marks. Surprisingly, having the cannula burrowing under my skin is perfectly comfortable. Creating the PRP took less than 10 minutes, and it took only another 10 minutes to have it re-injected into my face — one of the swiftest treatments I have tried.

A month later, the treated area of skin looked softer, clearer, and smoother, and a good deal more radiant than before.

What is it like to have PRP for your hair?

The Tweakment Guide’s contributing editor Becki had scalp PRP in early 2023, targeting some thinning around her temples that was likely caused by pulling her hair back into tight ponytails.

It’s a very similar experience to having PRP injected into your face – aka it’s very fast and only minimally uncomfortable (for example, there’s some tingling in your scalp for sure). Visible results take a little longer – between two and three months, as you hair to wait on your hair cycle – but your tresses can look healthier and less sparse without much downtime or invasive intervention, so its worth waiting for.

How much does PRP cost?

The cost of aesthetic PRP treatment varies widely, depending on the clinic. Generally, PRP facial treatment costs £500 – £900, and for hair restoration they can start from around £450- £600.

Can PRP be combined with other tweakments?

Yes – and doing so can often mean better results. For example, some clinics include microneedling in their aesthetic PRP treatments. Once the face (or neck, or hands) has been sufficiently needled so that the skin is riddled with tiny perforations, the PRP is spread over it, and can be absorbed, improving its penetration to where it will work best. Another way of getting PRP into the skin without injections is to use the Tixel device on a low ‘mesotix’ setting; that way the heat energy from the device drives the PRP across the skin barrier without denaturing it in the process.

PRP can help supercharge your other treatments too, such as laser-based skin rejuvenation and radiofrequency. That’s because PRP basically asks your skin to get better at repairing itself, leading to decreased downtime from other procedures and better overal results in terms of skin and hair quality. Mr Olivier Amar also uses it alongside fat transfer treatments. In such cases, he explains, the growth factors from PRP work like fertiliser, helping the seeds (the fat transfer) perform best.

How long does PRP take?

PRP typically takes about 30 minutes to an hour.

You may need to have a course of several treatments at intervals of four to six weeks.

Practitioners that offer Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

Dr Cemal Kavasogullari

Cosmetic Doctor

Est-Ethics Wellness Clinic, 170 Ingram Street, Unit 6, Italian Center, Glasgow, G1 1DN

Dr. Cemal co-founded the multi-award-winning Est-Ethics Wellness Clinic in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Under his clinical direction, the clinic has become one...

Learn More

Dr Ana Mansouri

Cosmetic Doctor

Dr Ana • The Skin Clinic, 3 Cropthorne Court, Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 1RP

Dr Ana Mansouri MBBS BSc PgDipDerm MBACert, is a multi-award-winning aesthetic doctor, clinical lead, trainer, KOL & international speaker. She is the former...

Learn More

Asmaa Ismail

Aesculus Clinic, Rani Mirza Beauty Salon, 41 Beauchamp Place, London, SW3 1NX

Asmaa Ismail is a Prescribing Aesthetic Pharmacist with over 15 years of combined experience in both aesthetic and clinical medicine....

Learn More

Miss Elizabeth Dolatshahy Hawkes

Cosmetic Surgeon

Cadogan Clinic, 120 Sloane Street, Chelsea, London, SW1X9BW

Miss Elizabeth D Hawkes (MBBS BSc FRCOphth) is a leading Consultant Ophthalmic and Oculoplastic Surgeon in London. She specialises in complex aesthetic eyelid...

Learn More

View Practitioners in Your Area

FAQ ABOUT Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)

Why is PRP known as the Vampire Facial?

Because the PRP is extracted from your own blood. And also because in 2012, Kim Kardashian posted a startling picture on Instagram of her face covered in blood, while having one of these treatments. If you’re wondering why there was blood all over her when plasma, as explained above, is clear, well, I don’t know. There should be nothing bloody about PRP. There’s a video on my youtube channel of me having PRP done wearing a white shirt and coming away without a speck of blood anywhere. But using blood in that KK picture certainly made it a whole lot more dramatic, and sent it viral…

Can PRP regrow hair?

A small-scale study has shown PRP injections to help men reduce hair loss and grow more hair. In the beauty tweakments arena, PRP for improving hair growth is enormously popular, and I have several friends who have seen impressive improvements after a course of treatment.

Where can I get PRP?

You can use the Find a Practitioner tool on this website to find a practitioner who offers PRP.

How long does PRP last?

The effects of PRP usually last around 18 months.

Are there any side effects to PRP?

Plasma derived from your own blood should be fully compatible with your body, so it shouldn’t produce any adverse reactions. However, the injections used to reintroduce the plasma may cause pain, bleeding, bruising or swelling.

ASK ALICE

Alice answers your question. Want to ask Alice a question? Pop it in here and check back in a few days for the answer.

Hi Alice - I’ve been looking at the before and after pics on your video with Bob Khanna on bio filler / polynucleotides. Impressive results, but if you go onto Bob Khanna’s website, you’ll see the same patient and visuals, but the results are...

Hi, I know the pictures you mean; it's the same patient in both but they are two different treatments filmed a good 18 months apart. We filmed her having biofiller/polynucleotides with Dr Khanna about a year ago (ie April 2023, here's the video) and we filmed her having the combined treatment with radiofrequency, threads and PRP during the summer of 2021, and published the video online in March 2022 -here's the video of that procedure- I think her before and after pictures will look similar because they're always taken in the same room with the same lighting and from the same different angles, for consistency....

Could you please tell me what is the best eye cream for crepey under eye skin? I use ZO skincare but a No7 eye cream and it’s not helping.

Hiya, TTG editor Georgia here. Eye cream can help hydrate the area and reduce the appearance of that crepiness some of the way, but it won't eliminate it completely – for that, you'd need a tweakment like PRP, RF needling, or mesotherapy – something to build up collagen under the skin and smooth out its texture. Book in with a practitioner who specialises in the eye area and have a consultation to find out which is the best option for you. And you may want to try a new eye cream too – we really like both of these....

What would you recommend for the criss-cross pattern of wrinkles under my eyes?

Start by using a really good eye cream which will hydrate and strengthen the skin and help smooth the appearance of the wrinkles. Then maybe a type of radiofrequency microneedling, or a heat treatment like Tixel, that can be used close to the eyes to rejuvenate the skin, or an injectable treatment like PRP to regenerate the under-eye skin and smooth out the wrinkles. Find a great practitioner in your area, book a consultation and see what they can suggest that might help you....

Hi Alice, I’m 52 (living in Cork, Ireland). My hair started shedding (Telogen Effluvium) four years ago and is still shedding, albeit less. Two years ago my doctor finally put me on oral Minoxidil and Spironolactone. I was then diagnosed with...

Ah, how tricky. I know you’re based in Ireland so these suggestions may be of limited use but things that might be worth contemplating are the Trichotest – a DNA swab thing that helps identify which methods of hair restoration may be better for an individual (though it sounds like you’ve already found from experience that minoxidil isn’t helpful – it doesn’t work for everyone). HRT is surely good. As is (though less proven) collagen supplements – I’m very keen on Totally Derma, which I have put on the shop on my website as it’s the Rolls-Royce of collagens and I find it v beneficial. As to why it keeps shedding – I...

Hi Alice. I can have vampire PRF microneedling when I like as my husband is a dentist and is trained in them. Would you do Ultherapy as well, or just one or the other? Thx

Ooh lucky you! PRP/PRF microneedling is a great treatment to supercharge the results that you get from energy treatments like Ultherapy, or laser, or radiofrequency/ RF microneedling. I'd ask him to treat you to the PRF immediately after the energy treatment, as that way you'll be helping your skin to enhance its recovery and that should mean even better results....

Which tweakment do you recommend for under-eye wrinkles?

First, a really good eye cream to hydrate and strengthen the skin, plus a sunscreen during the day to stop those wrinkles getting worse. Then maybe a type of radiofrequency microneedling, or a heat treatment like Tixel, that can be used close to the eyes to rejuvenate the skin, or an injectable treatment like PRP to regenerate the under-eye skin and smooth out the wrinkles. Find a great practitioner in your area, book a consultation and see what they can suggest that might help you....

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