An Easy Fix For Hair Thinning
By Brian J. Shiple, D.O. & Kelly P. Shiple, PA-C
Have you experienced a progressive increase in hair loss over the years due to aging or illness? Are you undergoing significant stress in your life and noticing extreme hair shedding as a result? Do you think you’re too young to be experiencing baldness or patches of missing hair, which you can’t seem to find an answer for? Are you embarrassed by your thinning hair? You don’t have to suffer anymore!
Hair loss affects men and women of all ages. According to the American Hair Loss Association two-thirds of men experience hair thinning by age thirty five. By age fifty, 85% of men will have experienced significant hair loss. Twenty five percent of men will begin to experience signs of hair loss prior to the age of twenty one. Forty percent of those suffering from hair loss are women. By the age of fifty, about 50 % of people experiencing hair loss, are women.
Alopecia, or baldness, is most commonly a genetic condition. The likelihood of experiencing alopecia related hair loss is mostly a result of your mother’s genes. Baldness can also be caused by numerous other health conditions such as hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), hyperandrogenism (too much male hormone in a female), anemia, stress, pregnancy, lack of protein, excess vitamin A, low vitamin B, autoimmune conditions, trichotillomania (a psychiatric condition in which sufferers pull out their hair on purpose, as a result of stress to relieve tension), excessive use or abuse of anabolic steroids, extreme weight loss, exposure to chemicals such as with chemotherapy, or over styling. Because of this extensive list of causes, we advise patients to have a consult for bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) with us to determine if there may be another, easily treatable cause of their hair loss prior to undergoing scalp injections with platelet rich plasma (PRP).
On average, the scalp consists of 100,000 to 150,000 hair follicles. There are three stages of hair growth that play a large role in how our hair grows and sheds. The first stage is called the anagen stage. During this phase the root of the hair divides rapidly adding to the hair shaft. This is the hair’s active growing stage and can last from two to seven years. The next stage is called the catagen stage. This is the transition period during which hair is not growing but does not shed. The catagen stage lasts two to three weeks. Lastly, the telegen stage is a resting phase during which hair sheds to prepare for new hair. This lasts six to eight weeks. At any point in time about 10% of your hair is in this phase resulting in the loss of about 100 strands per day, on average.
Common treatments of hair loss include the supplement Biotin, the prescription Rogaine or minoxidil, 5-alpha reductase inhibitors like finasteride, and steroid injections to the scalp. However, these often don’t result in significant hair growth, if any. Hair transplant surgery has become a highly popular, successful solution for baldness, but is invasive and expensive.
Now, there is a safe, effective, and cost efficient way to treat your hair loss: scalp PRP and extracellular membrane (ECM) injections. Joseph Greco, PhD, PA-C of Sarasota, FL pioneered the use of PRP as a non-surgical treatment for hair loss and trained Brian J. Shiple, DO, and Kelly Shiple, PA-C. To make PRP your blood is drawn and processed in our lab to concentrate the platelets creating pure PRP. When injected under your scalp the platelets release billions of growth factors. PRP combined with the ECM’s growth factors, cytokines, and vitamins B and D new blood vessels are created, a process called neovascularization, increasing blood flow to the scalp. This increases the size of already present hair follicles. It also reduces inflammation present in the scalp, which aids in the process of turning on local stem cells to create new hair follicles. This results in the growth of more, higher quality, thicker hairs in the scalp.
The clinical result of this combination treatment reduces the number of PRP treatments needed per year to help maintain healthy hair follicles by approximately 50%. After the injections are performed the scalp is treated with topical plasma and microneedling, to drive the PRP into the dermis and further aids in providing hair follicles with the necessary growth factors. The procedure takes approximately 1-2 hours. Nerve blocks and numbing cream are used to help make the treatment as comfortable as possible. We also advocate a laser helmet to help support and maintain healthy hair follicles. The first laser treatment can be performed in the office with a class 4 K-Laser after the treatment. Results take several months to appear. We recommend three treatments separated by six months for best results.
Once optimal results are achieved, maintenance treatments should be performed with a combination of PRP, ECM, and laser on a yearly basis to help maintain healthy hair growth and prevent shedding. Optimal results can be further enhanced by combining our BHRT program with the scalp PRP treatment. You no longer have to live with thinning hair and the fear of going bald. Call Chadds Ford Wellness to make an appointment for your free consultation, today!
