Is It The Micro-needling Or The PRP That Grows New Hair?

Hair growth has been reported with PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) injections which utilize many injections into the scalp and doctors are now doing this wold wide to induce hair growth where there is great need for it. I have been hesitant to accept this treatment because there are no good studies that prove it works. Maybe it does in some people, but clearly not all people, so that is the problem.

Nicole E. Rogers, M.D. reported (in the Hair Transplant Forum, January/February issue, on some research done in India where doctors used a roller micro-needling technique to produce multiple wounds in the scalp to see if it grew hair. Each session lasted 20-25 minutes. These treatments were given every week for 4 weeks, then every other week for 11 sessions for a total of 15 sessions. At the end of six months, three patient reported a greater than 755 increase in their hair. The forth patient reported a 50% increase in his hair. At the end of 18 months, all patients reported that they maintained their new hair.

It was interesting to note from Dr. Rogers, that PRP is like the micro-needling. So I ask: Is is easier and less intrusive to do micro-needling with a roller rather than PRP?

So like any good capitalist, I went on to the Amazon website and found you could buy a dermaroller which essentially does the same thing as I discussed above, for under $20. Of course, you cold come to my office and I could charge you $1000 for each 20 minute needle treatment, but you won’t get a dermaroller to take home to try to save you the money the next time (the material I wrote here on the dermaroller is written to be funny, of course). Is this Black Magic?