PRP...Where are trhe photos of evidence?

[hdude46]

When i fisrt heard about this potential hair loss break thru, it got me really excited. However, to this date I have seen only 3 photos of male prp patients on the web (2 being from feller). For someone like Greco who has been performing this for over 2 yrs as a way to combat hair loss, shouldn't he have more than 1 male aa patient on his blog? I know its hard to get pictures from patients sometimes and getting permission can be a bit hard too (but it is the top of ones head dont understand that one), he SHOULD have a larger sampling than 1 picture.

I have been emailing asking him to show me pictures and to put me in touch with happy clients but so far he hasnt even responded to me. I know he is a busy guy but I just think this says a thousand words. I think i should mention that he was johnny on the spot emailing me when I had general questions about the procedure but as soon as I started asking for pics I haven't a thing.

Again, I really hope this stuff works and that im wrong but seems a little fishy someone can charge a grand for something with no cosmetic proof aka pics to back it up...

[Buckerine11]

I don't think PRP was ever meant to be the silver bullet to the problem of hair loss. The main hype towards it is that it promotes for better results from hair transplants, as the follicles are dipped in PRP before being implanted in the recipient area.
As for non-HT related PRP usage, the best that most of us can expect is that it can slow down or even stop (fingers crossed) our current loss. With that in mind, it's really pointless or even counterproductive to post pictures of what is supposed to be the same head of hair.
I don't know about you, but keeping what I have for as long as I can is most of the battle.

[iwannakeephair1674]

I don't think PRP was ever meant to be the silver bullet to the problem of hair loss. The main hype towards it is that it promotes for better results from hair transplants, as the follicles are dipped in PRP before being implanted in the recipient area.
As for non-HT related PRP usage, the best that most of us can expect is that it can slow down or even stop (fingers crossed) our current loss. With that in mind, it's really pointless or even counterproductive to post pictures of what is supposed to be the same head of hair.
I don't know about you, but keeping what I have for as long as I can is most of the battle.

I agree with this statement. I have had PRP done 2 months ago and I can tell you first hand that I have significantly less hair falling out and YES a little growth in the hairline. Now Dr. Greco informed me that the hairline is harder to get a response with, much like Finasteride and Minoxidil. However, I am getting some growth and I feel great about it.

I also agree with Buckerine that if it JUST maintained the hair you have that it is a miracle in itself. I personally believe that there is a lot of validity to this treatment and only more is to come out of it. I haven't posted updated pics yet because I was going to wait until the 4 month mark, but you can check out some of my pics at www.hairtransplantcommunity.com .

Also, if you still feel skeptical, think about the doctors who are performing this kind of treatment (people like Dr. Feller who is one of the biggest skeptics and he believes in it).


-Destin

[Buckerine11]

I agree with this statement. I have had PRP done 2 months ago and I can tell you first hand that I have significantly less hair falling out and YES a little growth in the hairline. Now Dr. Greco informed me that the hairline is harder to get a response with, much like Finasteride and Minoxidil. However, I am getting some growth and I feel great about it.

I also agree with Buckerine that if it JUST maintained the hair you have that it is a miracle in itself. I personally believe that there is a lot of validity to this treatment and only more is to come out of it. I haven't posted updated pics yet because I was going to wait until the 4 month mark, but you can check out some of my pics at www.hairtransplantcommunity.com .

Also, if you still feel skeptical, think about the doctors who are performing this kind of treatment (people like Dr. Feller who is one of the biggest skeptics and he believes in it).


-Destin

Hey Destin,
It's great to hear that you've had PRP done recently. I'm scheduling mine with Dr. Greco as we speak.
Just curious, but did you have any itching on your scalp at all? I'm experiencing itching where I'm losing most hair, and I think I saw somewhere that Dr. Greco said PRP helps in that department. But, I'm not sure where I saw it...
Btw, you've got a pretty kickass head of hair. Is that your natural hairline or did you have HT done?

[Zao]

I'm considering PRP too. Thanks for sharing your experience Destin!

[iwannakeephair1674]

Hey Destin,
It's great to hear that you've had PRP done recently. I'm scheduling mine with Dr. Greco as we speak.
Just curious, but did you have any itching on your scalp at all? I'm experiencing itching where I'm losing most hair, and I think I saw somewhere that Dr. Greco said PRP helps in that department. But, I'm not sure where I saw it...
Btw, you've got a pretty kickass head of hair. Is that your natural hairline or did you have HT done?

I think I did have some itching where I had hairloss before PRP, but I never really payed attention to it. It might be due to some inflammation, however, I know that PRP does reduce inflammation quite a bit.


Thanks for the compliment about my hairline!
That is my natural hairline... I've never had a hair transplant. However, I caught my hair loss very early and my current regime is:

7.5mg Finasteride a day (5mg in the morning and 2.5mg in the evening)
Nizoral 1% Twice a Week
Nizoral 2% Twice a Week
Lasercomb 3x a week
PRP every 8 months

I know the validity of the lasercomb and Nizoral are very questionable, however, I do believe that they work to some degree and is "another tool in the tool shed".

[blowmeup]

Wow, that is an aggressive approach! Why the 7.5mgs of finasteride if you don’t mind me asking?

[iwannakeephair1674]

Wow, that is an aggressive approach! Why the 7.5mgs of finasteride if you don’t mind me asking?

Haha, I get that question from everyone and here are the reasons why. At first, I did take Propecia (1mg) for over a year, but I got tired of paying $70 a month for just a 1mg dose when Generic Proscar (5mg) is so much cheaper. So I started doing research and I came to find out through studies at Dr. Bernstein's site that .5mg of Duatasteride inhibited over 90% of DHT compared to 70% of Finasteride 5mg. Also, more research lead me to see that when people started losing ground at 1mg, they upped their dosage and most of the time got better results.

I have also heard that it is still unclear of the safety issues with Dutasteride since it inhibits the 5 alpha reductase Type 1 and Type 2 enyzme. I figured I would be on the safe side and stick with Finasteride at a higher dose because it only inhibits 5 alpha reductase Type 2. I didn't jump to my dosage right away. After a year on Propecia (1mg) with no side effects and good results, I took a Propecia pill in the morning and a 2.5mg dose of Finasteride at night. After about a month of doing this with still no side effects, I upped my doseage to a 2.5mg in the morning and at night. Then finally I started taking a full 5mg pill in the morning and a half a pill (2.5mg) at night. This way I consistantly have at least 1mg of Finasteride in my body. Lastly, the half life of Finasteride is 4-6 hours compared to Dutasteride of being 5 weeks. So the people who take .5mg of Dutasteride a day will eventually accumulate a lot greater amount of the drug than what I'm doing because of Dutasteride's LONG half life.

Also, in the trial studies for Finasteride people were taking over 100mg dosages with no problems. The only reason I believe (this is just my opinion) that the FDA approved 1mg Finasteride for hair loss is because they already had a 5mg dose and realized they would make a higher revenue to remarket a new dosage of the drug. So they marketed the dose that showed ANY benefit at the lowest doseage possible (1mg). Think about it, when Pfizer first came out with Rogaine it was only at a 2% dose, then after years they upped it to 5%. Now other reputable doctors even make dosages like 15% and 25%. I just want to restate that this is JUST MY OPINION about what happened with Propecia and only marketing 1mg for hair loss.

I have been on this regime for over a year and have had great results with no side effects (except a higher sex drive). However, I do understand the risk of it all and I just had blood tests to see how my body is reacting, and all tests are normal including my liver and PSA levels. Now just because I do this I'm not recommending anyone else to do it, because I am not a doctor. I just have done extensive research and was willing to take the risks involved. I even went to two seperate doctors and they showed no concern because even at taking 7.5mg of Finasteride it still blocks less DHT than .5mg Dutasteride blocks and Finasteride has a lot smaller half life. Also Finasteride is WELL documented and has been on the market for almost 20 years now.

Again, I want to restate that I talked to both of my doctors and understood fully what I was doing and they approved this because of their experience with prescribing Finasteride and my willingness and understanding of it.



-Destin

[John P. Cole, MD]

Prp

I remain unconvinced that PRP does anything, but I am so hopeful. I agree that Dr. Feller's enthusiasm is infectious. I also respect Joe Greco. I hope it all plays out, but I think it is far too soon to express optimism. I'm looking forward to some convincing results over time. If it were free, I'd feel much better about it. At 1000.00 per treatment I'm less enthusiastic. With two years of usage, i would expect more results by now that blow me away. i've not seen them yet so I remain skeptical, yet excited about a new less invasive approach.

Taking 5 mg of finasteride in the AM and 2.5 mg in the evening is over the top. Have you seen any benefit from such an elevated dosage? Some people suggest that all you need is 1 mg three times a week. 1mg per day is probably enough, but I'm results driven. How is your response on this? I'd be cautious about bumping the dose this high and would not recommend this to others.

[Mr. 4000]

I think it is a joke that anyone would charge or pay a 1000 of anything for something that is all speculation at this point.

Any doc charging that for something they can't support with evidence loses ton of credibility IMO.

[bigmac]

I think it is a joke that anyone would charge or pay a 1000 of anything for something that is all speculation at this point.

Any doc charging that for something they can't support with evidence loses ton of credibility IMO.

I have to agree with this point of view of having to pay for something which is experimental,usually the company etc will pay you to be their guinee pig,not the other way round.

I do believe it will help in the healing process as it has been proven to work in other medical fields such as sports injury but as of yet i have not seen compelling evidence that it grows or retains hair.

The price also seems excessive,in the UK £500/£600 has been quoted as a rough estimate.
Do 5 of these per day with say £200 profit for maybe 250 days per year.
A nice profit per year for minimal effort for something which may not work.

This post is only stating facts so i hope no one takes offence by it.

Lets see proof this works please as lots of internet presence talking it up.

Bm.

[Mr. 4000]

I have to agree with this point of view of having to pay for something which is experimental,usually the company etc will pay you to be their guinee pig,not the other way round.

I do believe it will help in the healing process as it has been proven to work in other medical fields such as sports injury but as of yet i have not seen compelling evidence that it grows or retains hair.

The price also seems excessive,in the UK £500/£600 has been quoted as a rough estimate.
Do 5 of these per day with say £200 profit for maybe 250 days per year.
A nice profit per year for minimal effort for something which may not work.

This post is only stating facts so i hope no one takes offence by it.

Lets see proof this works please as lots of internet presence talking it up.

Bm.

I don't care if they do take offence. I don't think the medical industry cosmetic or otherwise should be offering any product, procedure or service without research backing them. Where are the controlled studies? Where is the evidence and at what rate and with what side effects?

At that point it become a practice of business greed, taking advantage of people, and not medicine. Again it says everything you need to know about that doc.

[iwannakeephair1674]

This is all my opinion. But ya'll are being harsh instead of thankful. What's wrong with you people? Dr. Cole, I have the utmost respect for you and I do appreciate your opinion, as well as others, but I will have to disagree. Since having this treatment done to myself a little over 2 months ago, I am more than convinced it has worked for me. Not only have I noticed a significant decrease in hair loss, but also new hairs are coming in and overall my hair is generally better. How do I prove it to you? show you pictures of my maintained hair or the baby hairs coming in? If it caused 10% more thickness overall would you be able to tell? Would the treatment still be worth it if it only improved my hair 10%? Yes, even just maintaining is a miracle and better than miniaturization. Remember, a lot of people were very skeptical and against Finasteride in the beginning.

I'm glad Dr. Greco pursued this treatment option, especially with what little money he was funded with (a couple of thousand). For what little he had I think he made the best out of his study. He has also been nothing but completely open with anyone and is more than willing to share anything about this treatment. Ya'll say it's wrong for him to charge a 1,000 for an unproven treatment, but he has all the proof he needs. I know that the kit to do this treatment is around $300 per person, plus any overhead costs of doing this treatment (time and staff) is quite a bit. If he were doing this to anyone for free, he'd have a line out the door. In fact when I did get my treatment done I met a lady in the waiting room. She had the treatment done in February and was more than pleased with the results. She was actually there because her friend was getting it done too. Her friend saw what effect this had on the lady's hair that she wanted it done herself. I saw another man that came in after I had it done and was also elated with his results and smiling from ear to ear. So, after my experience on seeing what this does for other people and what this has done for myself, I'm a believer. I think Dr. Greco deserves a lot of gratitude and greedy (as Mr. 4000 implies) would not be the word I would use to describe it. You're right it does need a bigger control study, but he was doing this ALL on his own. I'm sure if he had the resources and maybe somewhere gain capital to do so it would have happened already. I understand if you're skeptical about this treatment as you have a right to be, but how dare you imply that Dr. Greco is unethical when in fact he IS helping people. I'd rather him make some profit on his discoveries and help people like me than him waiting and jumping through hoops on something he already KNOWS works.

When I first contacted Dr. Greco, he was completely upfront on saying how the results are unpredictable but after evaluating me he believed it could be beneficial to me. Also, he doesn't say everyone is a candidate, I know of two young people who were turned down PRP because of their degree of hair loss and Dr. Greco's thoughts of it not working on them. He could have easily just said it was unpredictable and did the treatment anyway, but he did not and was completely upfront with them.

I was willing to take the small risk of spending $1,000 to see if it worked....and it did. Your not out of much if it doesn't work for you.



I've seen what this treatment can do! I'm more than willing to continue to get treatments done and I ecstatic with the results I have. My only goal was to maintain my hair and that is what is happening plus some growth. Just the ability to maintain is a miracle within itself!

-Destin

[Buckerine11]

I don't see why anyone is doubting the ethics of doctors who are offering this treatment. Dr. Greco made it clear from the get-go that results from this treatment will vary, and that no assurances will be made that any of his patients would see benefits.
Patients who opt for this treatment are doing it with the full knowledge that it might not work. And for alot of us, spending $800 on a promising option is more than justified. How many people buy those expensive laser combs without thinking twice?
For me, if it stops or slows down my hair loss, then I'll be ecstatic. If it turns out to be ineffective for me, then at least I'll know that I pursued every viable option to keep my hair.

And one more thing. I don't understand how data can be collected on PRP treatments if doctors aren't offering them right now. Doctors, unlike pharmaceutical companies, don't have all the resources in the world to perform free treatments en masse. Do you actually expect Dr. Greco to spend his own precious time and money to collect thousands of cases worth of data? As of now, the premise is that PRP treatments have worked for a good portion of his patients. It hasn't been proven to work, but if you are willing to try your luck at it, then he'll offer the service.

[Winston]

We’ll said Destin and Buckerine. It seems like a very small risk to take and there appears to be some real science behind this treatment.