NEW YORK CITY – Three major, national studies are currently underway that will aim to determine whether or not Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is an effective treatment for androgenic alopecia, commonly known as male pattern baldness.
Neil Sadick, MD from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, first reported these studies on MedScape.
The article noted that there was no standard protocol for PRP, and that the treatment lacked established evidence from large, well-designed studies.
Sadick stated that in his practice, he’d seen up to 10% increases in hair counts, and that roughly one-third of his patients had regrowth that could be observed photographically.
Maria Hordinsky, MD, from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was Dr. Sadick’s co-presenter at the American Academy of Dermatology 2017 Summer Meeting. She was quoted as saying this:
You have to get on the bandwagon of platelet-rich plasma if you work with patients with hair loss. There’s just no choice. It’s very popular.
My Take on This Story
I think it’s a positive development that PRP studies are underway, and I’m looking forward to reviewing the results. It’s interesting that Neil Sadick only reported relatively modest hair-count gains among his patients.
The lack of a universal protocol is a problem right now, in my view, which is perhaps the main reason results can vary so widely with PRP.
As a consumer, you should pay attention to Maria Hordinsky’s quote, where she seemed to admonish her colleagues to “jump on the PRP bandwagon.”
Alarms went off in my mind when I read that…
I don’t know about you, but I personally wouldn’t want to see a doctor who just hopped on the proverbial, PRP bandwagon. I’d want to see someone who specializes in the procedure and has a protocol in place, who can demonstrate their competence with photos, testimonials, etc., all.
You can review the full medscape article here.
Robert Price is a writer, consumer advocate, and hair loss researcher with thousands of hours of experience in the field. His goal is to keep you out of the hair loss rabbit hole, underworld, or whatever you want to call it. He founded Hair Loss Daily, the unbiased hair loss blog, in 2016. You can learn more about Robert in the my story section of this website.