Hair loss is something that afflicts millions of Americans, both men and women. Many people assume that hair loss is a natural part of the aging process and that there’s nothing much to be done about it. At Renew Health in Tempe, AZ, we want you to know that hair restoration is often possible. The sooner you start the process, the better the chance of recovering your hair.
The Renew Health Process
At Renew Health, we use an effective combination of PRP, or platelet-rich plasma, and peptides to rejuvenate the hair follicles, stimulate new hair growth, and keep that growth healthy and strong. When used together, these two powerful treatments slow down hair loss and can even halt it all together in some cases.
How Do Peptides Help Your Hair Grow?
Understanding Peptides
Peptides are the chains of amino acids which make up all proteins. Amino acids themselves are made up of hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, and oxygen and give proteins their physical structure. They’re also in charge of transporting nutrients and, most crucially for hair restoration, sending signals to other cells. When these amino acids link up, they become chains called peptides. These can be short or long, and the longer ones become the proteins that build our body’s tissues. There are quite a few types of these peptides, but the most important when it comes to understanding hair and skin is collagen.
Peptides and Your Hair
Your body requires collagen in order to produce the keratin hair is made from, so the first way that peptides help with hair growth is by providing one of the key necessary building blocks for the hair itself. The second way peptides help your hair is through antioxidant activity. Hair follicles are easily damaged by free radicals. These free radicals can come from your diet (too much alcohol, lots of refined grains and sugars, etc), from air pollution (all types, including second-hand smoke), and even from constant stress. Peptides are also key to skin strength, and weakening skin is at least one contributing factor in hair thinning. When the skin of the scalp is strong, elastic, and healthy, hair can grow more easily and is thicker. Finally, peptides like these can block some of the negative hormonal effects that so often contribute to hair loss.
Other Hair Restoration FAQs
1. What Are the Platelets in Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP)?
Platelets exist naturally in our blood, and we’re most familiar with their action when we cut ourselves. As soon as there’s a wound in the skin, you can see the blood rushing to the area, bringing platelets with it. These quickly go to work sealing the wound and regenerating new tissue. Platelets are a bit like the worksite foreman of this process, giving instructions and signaling to each vital component to come to the area and get to work.
2. How Does PRP Work for Hair Restoration?
PRP has been used for decades to speed healing and jumpstart the body’s natural rejuvenation abilities. By concentrating your body’s platelets and then injecting them precisely where they are most needed, we can tell the body to rejuvenate an area that it is either neglecting or which is healing too slowly. In sports injuries, for example, PRP is widely used on injuries to tendons and ligaments. These are notoriously slow-healing areas since there isn’t as much blood flow to these tissues as to others. By injecting PRP, doctors are able to tell the body to move more quickly. For hair restoration, injecting PRP into the skin wherever you’re experiencing thinning hair signals to your body to re-activate the dormant hair follicles and get them growing again. In many cases, especially early on in the hair loss process, the problem isn’t that hair follicles have died but that too many have essentially gone dormant.
3. How Do PRP and Peptides Work Together?
Both of these treatments rejuvenate cells in the follicles and scalp, and by combining them you get extra effectiveness. Not only is the PRP working to rebuild cells, but the peptides are signaling to your body to build stronger tissues in the area, blocking negative hormonal effects, and activating cells to increase the amount of time that hair follicles stay in their active growing phase.
4. Where Does the PRP Come From?
We get the PRP used in these treatments from your own blood. When you come for a hair restoration treatment, we’ll do a simple blood draw and then put your blood into a centrifuge. This machine spins the blood quickly, separating the different components in just about 10 minutes. We discard what isn’t needed and use the concentrated PRP for your treatment.
5. How Is This Treatment Administered?
Treatment consists of a series of injections made to the area where you’re experiencing hair loss. Injections need to be made about every half inch over the entire area of thinning hair. It doesn’t take long to finish, and most people will be in and out well within an hour.
6. What’s the Downtime Like?
There’s no special recovery period for this treatment, though it’s best to treat the area gently for a day or two after treatment. This means no vigorous rubbing or any harsh treatment from chemical processes like perms or hair coloring treatments. A warm shower can help blood flow and circulation, however.
7. How Many Treatments Will I Need?
The number of treatments needed always depends on the individual, but generally, you can expect to have one treatment every month for three or four months until it’s clear that the treatment’s working. After that, you’ll probably need treatment just once every three to six months or so, depending on how your body responds. Some people are naturally “fast healers,” and these people will see the fastest results. Other people are naturally slower to heal and may need more treatments. Also, if there are other issues at play in your hair loss, such as a hormonal imbalance, it’s important to treat that as well as the hair and scalp itself for the best results.
8. Is This Treatment Only for Men?
Thankfully, PRP and peptides can be just as effective for women’s hair loss as for men’s. The primary reason for hair loss in both sexes is hormone imbalance.
Men’s Hair Loss
Most men lose their hair in a well-known pattern referred to as male pattern baldness. This typically starts at the temple and crown of the head where hair begins to thin. Over time, the hairline recedes back from the temples and the crown until there’s only hair along the sides of the head. This type of male hair loss happens because a byproduct of testosterone breakdown known as DHT causes miniaturization of the follicles. This means the follicles start growing hairs that are thinner, less pigmented, and shorter than previous hairs. Eventually, the follicle dies altogether. Peptides can help stop the action of DHT.
Women’s Hair Loss
For women, hair loss is very often the result of hormonal changes. It can come on after childbirth, at menopause, after a hysterectomy, or even when taking birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy. Hair loss in women manifests differently than in men, usually resulting in thinning patches rather than complete baldness. Each case is unique, but PRP and peptides can be very effective in treating this type of hormonal hair loss.
Other Causes of Hair Loss
Quite apart from hormonal issues suffered by men and women alike, hair loss can also stem from issues like:
- Trauma and development of scar tissue
- Diabetes
- Nutritional deficiency
- Traction alopecia, or trauma to follicles due to tight hairstyles
- Autoimmune conditions, such as alopecia areata
9. Are You Sure My Hair Loss Can Be Reversed?
PRP can only reverse hair loss when the follicles are still alive. If follicles are completely dead, this treatment can’t help. This is just one reason it’s important to set up an appointment with us as soon as you notice an issue. The sooner you get treatment, the better your results will be.
10. Is There Anything That Could Keep Me From Getting Treatment?
Most people are suitable candidates, but again, coming in for a consultation is the best and fastest way to find out if this is an option for you. There are a few conditions that could keep you from getting PRP treatment, including:
- Reliance on blood thinners
- Heavy smoking
- Presence of an acute infection
- Certain types of cancer
- Chronic skin disease in the area
- Sepsis
- Low platelet count
- Pregnancy
Some conditions that could keep you from receiving treatment are temporary. Once the issue is resolved, you can go ahead with hair restoration. Come talk to us right away to find the best course of action for you.
11. Is This Treatment Safe?
Since the platelets for the PRP are taken from your own body, there’s no risk of rejection or an allergic reaction. Peptides also occur naturally in your body, so it’s unlikely they could cause any issue. There are no incisions or surgical procedures involved, either, so this is one of the safest treatments out there. This is an especially great choice for anyone who isn’t interested in the invasive procedures involved in hair transplant surgery or who wants to avoid the side effects of hair restoration drugs. For those who aren’t a candidate for those drugs at all, PRP with peptides offers a great alternative to naturally get your body back to growing hair.
12. How Long Does It Take to See Results?
For most people, the first results become apparent about three months after the first treatment. Some people will see results even more quickly. Some people, however, will not see their first results for six months and may need more treatments to get the results they’re hoping for. Each person is different, and at our consultation, we can give you a better idea of what to expect based on your unique situation and reason for hair loss.
13. What’s a Consultation Like?
When you come to talk to us, we’ll do a detailed medical history that includes any illnesses or recent surgeries you’ve undergone. We’ll also want to know about your family’s medical history, your nutritional state, what you currently do to care for your hair, and any medications or supplements you’re taking. This information combined with a detailed history of the precise hair loss situation will give us a starting place to work from. In some cases, blood tests or other tests can help make things clearer, depending on your medical history and physical symptoms.
Learn More About Treatment With PRP and Peptides
If you’re suffering from thinning hair, don’t wait to seek help. The sooner you address the issue, the better your results are likely to be. Visit Renew Health in Tempe, AZ today and set up your first appointment. We’ve helped many people slow and even reverse their hair loss, and we can’t wait to start helping you, too.
