Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy | Dr. Joseph Greco Ph.D. Answers Your Questions

[MG63]

There are very few complications with PRP since it is your own cells. However, the "absolute" contra indications, which are quite rare and should be verified with patients medical histories are platelet dysfunction syndrome, critical thrombocytopenia, hypofibrinogenemia, septicemia, sensitivity to bovine thrombin. There are "relative" contraindications such as steroid injections two weeks prior, fever, recent illness, HGB <10g/dl, platelet count <105/ul, active pseudomonas, enterococcus or Klebsiella infections. To put this in perspective, we have not had any patient with hair or ortho biologic treatment present with absolute contraindications or have any complication.

after PRP, do / should most patients stop using minoxidil and other topicals? Also are there products they should use or avoid?

[Dr Joseph F. Greco]

after PRP, do / should most patients stop using minoxidil and other topicals? Also are there products they should use or avoid?

Absolutely not. I would continue to use minoxidil. Especially, minoxidil, because in addition to working on the potassium channels it also increases Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor VEGF, which is how we feel the PRP is working. So anything that increases micro circulation is good.

If patients are on DHT blockers we encourage them to stay on that therapy as well.

[MG63]

Absolutely not. I would continue to use minoxidil. Especially, minoxidil, because in addition to working on the potassium channels it also increases Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor VEGF, which is how we feel the PRP is working. So anything that increases micro circulation is good.

If patients are on DHT blockers we encourage them to stay on that therapy as well.

thanks for the fast response.

[mascott23]

update on prp in california

Dr. Greco,
In a post last year u said that u were unaware of any doctors using this procedure in California, i was wondering if this is still the case? Also, what,if any, updates have you made to the PRP procedure during the last year?

[MG63]

resuming micro-needling after PRP

Dr. Greco -- have one follow-up question. Before my PRP treatment I was micro-needling with a 0.25 mm micro-needle 3x per week and had some good results. Is it safe to resume micro-needling after PRP?

[Dr. Glenn Charles]

I am curious to hear what Dr. Greco has to say. My first thought is that after a few days I would not think it would cause any harm.

[MG63]

PRP observations

Greeting,

I had PRP in the crown area approximately 12 weeks ago - below are my observations to date, comments welcomed.

6 weeks - noticed thickening
10 weeks - slight increase in shedding of small /thin hairs (approximately 1-2" in length) only.

[bellerofonte]

Dear MG63, the biggest trouble when we talk about PRP treatment ( till now) is that we saw really few pictures about results/improvements of people who tryed it.

If you clearly notice an improvement in your crown area ,please, let us see some pictures!

We'll be all really pleasant about!

[hdude46]

updates from dr greco would be great....spencer can you help with this?

[Dr Joseph F. Greco]

Dr. Greco,
In a post last year u said that u were unaware of any doctors using this procedure in California, i was wondering if this is still the case? Also, what,if any, updates have you made to the PRP procedure during the last year?

Sorry for the delay in answering... I have been traveling. Dr Jim Deyarmin in San Diego is offering PRP. We have not had any significant updates regarding what we are doing; however, some physicians such a Dr Fabio Rinaldi in Milan are reporting some nice results with AGA and AA patients. Best,
JG

[Dr Joseph F. Greco]

Dr. Greco -- have one follow-up question. Before my PRP treatment I was micro-needling with a 0.25 mm micro-needle 3x per week and had some good results. Is it safe to resume micro-needling after PRP?

Absolutely, we encourage stimulation to promote the Stat 3 before and after the treatment. Thanks,
JG

[hdude46]

Dr. Greco,

did you get my email about measuring hair counts in patients you treat with prp?

[Dr Joseph F. Greco]

updates from dr greco would be great....spencer can you help with this?

I have no new PRP hair updates at this point. We have been working on a number of new products in wound care and have been quite involved in testing the past few months. Last week we had a patent issure for bone regeneration by using PRP in bone grafts.
Regarding your question of "follow up objective follow up testing on our patients", we have not done more follow up studies on our treated patientrs. I can report that many patients have been quite pleased with their results thus far. We have been trying to set up a larger independent hair study in that regard and will share that when it is implemented and finalized. There are other independent studies ongoing regarding PRP and hair survival regarding utilization of PRP in hair restoration surgery that will come our in the next year. Thanks for your interest. JG

[hdude46]

Dr. Greco,

Would it be safe to say then that most of your treated patients have just as much (if not more) hair as they had prior to treatment?

[MG63]

will do on the pix.