Platelet-rich plasma uses your own blood, spun to concentrate the platelets, injected into the scalp. It is genuinely useful for pattern thinning where the follicles are miniaturising but still alive.
It does nothing for a follicle that is gone, which is why the assessment comes first. It also does nothing for hair loss driven by iron deficiency, thyroid disease or a recent illness, those need the underlying cause treated, and the hair usually returns on its own once it is.
That is the honest reason bloods come before treatment. Injecting a scalp that is thinning from anaemia is expensive and slow, when iron tablets would have done it.
Where it is the right treatment, it is a course rather than a session, usually four to six, spaced, with maintenance afterwards.
Associate Professor Dr. Lubna Rani Faysal
MBBS (Gold Medalist), FCPS (Dermatology), MHPE · 13 years in dermatology
