Approximately 80 million adults in the United States are dealing with hair loss. Those struggling with losing their hair know that it can be a traumatic experience and it can shake your confidence. Thankfully, there are options available to help you get your hair back so that you can feel a little more like yourself.
Continue reading to learn if you should consider a full hair transplant or platelet-rich plasma therapy for new hair growth.
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What Is a Full Hair Transplant?
A full hair transplant is a surgical technique where healthy hair follicles get transferred to an area where hair growth has ended. After the numbing agent gets injected into the area of healthy hair growth, two types of hair transplants may take place:
- Follicular unit transplant (FUT)
- Follicular unit extraction (FUE)
In follicular unit transplant, a strip of skin is removed. The skin gets placed as a skin graft in the area where hair growth is non-existent. A follicular unit extraction involves the removal of individual hair follicles from one area to be implanted into the target area.
A hair transplant by Dr. Andrew Jacono tends to give more immediate results because the hair is already growing where the follicles are taken from. However, because it is an invasive surgery, you will have to deal with the healing process in both areas where the procedure took place. It can take up to eight to ten months to fully heal.
What Is Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy?
PRP therapy is a minimally invasive, non-surgical method for slowed hair growth like that in people struggling with alopecia. Studies on this method of hair restoration show a reduction in hair loss while promoting new, healthy hair growth from these hair follicles.
This type of hair restoration treatment won’t work on baldness but can help prevent the hair from completely falling out.
The patient gives a blood sample to the doctor. Once the blood platelets get separated from the sample in a centrifuge, they are then added to the plasma creating a platelet-rich plasma. Because the sample comes from the patient, chances of rejection or other issues are less likely.
Once completed, the scalp gets numbed before getting stimulated via micro-needling. Micro-needling refers to small punctures in the skin from several small, sterile needles that have the PRP on them. The PRP can also be applied to the scalp topically.
With PRP, it’s more of a waiting game. Because it is hair restoration, it is encouraging the existing hair follicles to start growing faster. You may not notice a difference right away, but eventually, you may notice that you aren’t losing as much hair and it’s coming in thicker than it was before!
You will have to go back to have the procedure repeated over several weeks. You may deal with some degree of discomfort from the pinpricks. However, you don’t have to worry about healing from invasive surgery.
Which One Should You Choose?
So, which should you choose: full hair transplant or PRP? If you are struggling with male pattern baldness or hair loss due to hormones, you may be considering the different procedures available to help you get your hair back.
If you are dealing with slowed hair growth, you might consider PRP. If you are struggling with baldness due to genetics, you might consider a full hair transplant.
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