Efficacy of platelet rich plasma therapy in patients of androgenic alopecia: A myth or fact!
Keywords:
Androgenic Alopecia, Platelet Rich Plasma, EfficacyAbstract
Objective To evaluate the efficacy of platelet rich plasma in patients of androgenic alopecia attending the dermatology department of a tertiary care hospital in Lahore. Methods This descriptive case series was conducted at the Department of Dermatology, Services Hospital, Lahore over six months. 77 patients of both genders, aged between 18-45 years who presented with androgenic alopecia were enrolled and treated with injection of platelet rich plasma. Outcome was assessed in terms of improvement in hair quality and thickness by patient self-assessment questionnaire on a linear analogue 2 scale of 5- 26 scores. Treatment was labelled effective if the score was less than 12, four weeks after the completion of all 4 sessions. A written informed consent was taken from each patient. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results The mean age of patients was 29.2±9.2 years. Majority (n=51, 66.2%) of the patients were aged under 30 years. There were 52 (67.5%) male and 25 (32.5%) female patients with a male to female ratio of 2.1:1. 31 (40.3%) patients had Grade-II while 38 (49.4%) patients had Grade-III alopecia. Only 8 (10.3%) patients had Grade-IV alopecia. Platelet-rich plasma treatment was effective in 65 (84.4%) patients as per operational definition. There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of efficacy across various age (p-value=0.972) and gender (p-value=0.944) groups. However, it decreased insignificantly with increasing grade of alopecia; Grade-II vs. Grade-III vs. Grade-IV (87.1% vs. 84.2% vs. 75.0%; p-value=0.701). Conclusion Platelet-rich plasma therapy was found extremely effective in patients of mild to moderate androgenic alopecia which along with cost-effectiveness, simplicity and safety of procedure advocate its preferred use in future practice.References
Titeca G, Goudetsidis L, Francq B, Sampogna F, Gieler U, Tomas-Aragones L, et al. The psychosocial burden of alopecia areata and androgenetica’: a cross-sectional multicentre study among dermatological out-patients in 13 European countries. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2020;34:406–11.
Pallotti F, Senofonte G, Pelloni M, Cargnelutti F, Carlini T, Radicioni AF, et al. Androgenetic alopecia: effects of oral finasteride on hormone profile, reproduction and sexual function. Endocrine. 2020;68: 688–94.
Traish AM. Post-finasteride syndrome: a surmountable challenge for clinicians. Fertil Steril. 2020;113:21–50.
Gressenberger P, Pregartner G, Gary T, Wolf P, Kopera D. Platelet-rich Plasma for Androgenetic Alopecia Treatment: A Randomized Placebo-controlled Pilot Study. Acta Derm Venereol. 2020;100: adv00247.
Matras H. Effect of various fibrin preparations on reimplantation in the rat skin. Osterr Z Stomatol. 1970;67(9):338–59.
Sclafani AP, Azzi J. Platelet preparations for use in facial rejuvenation and wound healing: a critical review of current literature. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2015;39(4):495–505.
Alsalhi W, Alalola A, Randolph M, Gwillim E, Tosti A. Novel drug delivery approaches for the management of hair loss. Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2020;6:1–9.
Dervishi G, Liu H, Peternel S, Labeit A, Peinemann F. Autologous platelet-rich plasma therapy for pattern hair loss: a systematic review. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2020;19:827–35.
Muhammad A, Iftikhar N, Mashhood A, et al. Comparison of Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) With PRP Microneedling in Androgenetic Alopecia. Cureus. 2022;14(10): e30418.
doi:10.7759/cureus.30418
Iftikhar N, Aftab K, Hussain M, Obaid S, Zainab Z, Mushtaq M. Usefulness of Platelet Rich Plasma in Androgenetic Alopecia. Pak Armed Forces Med J. 2022;72(1):112-4.
Hamilton JB. Patterned hair loss in man: types and incidences: Ann NY Acad Sci. 1951;53:708-14.
Norwood OTT. Male pattern baldness: Classification and incidence. South Med J. 1975;68:1359-70.
Paichitrojjana A, Paichitrojjana A. Platelet Rich Plasma and Its Use in Hair Regrowth: A Review. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2022;16:635-45.
Stevens J, Khetarpal S. Platelet-rich plasma for androgenetic alopecia: A review of the literature and proposed treatment protocol. Int J Womens Dermatol. 2018;5(1):46-51.
Sultana BB, Paul HK. Efficacy and safety of platelet rich plasma therapy in male androgenetic alopecia. J Pak Assoc Dermatol. 2020;30(3):375-81.
Butt G, Hussain I, Ahmed FJ, Choudhery MS. Efficacy of platelet-rich plasma in androgenetic alopecia patients. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2019;18(4):996-1001.
Khatu SS, More YE, Gokhale NR, Chavhan DC, Bendsure N. Platelet-rich plasma in androgenic alopecia: myth or an effective tool. J Cutan Aesthet Surg. 2014;7(2):107–10.
Ferrando J, García-García SC, González-de-Cossío AC. A proposal of an effective platelet-rich plasma protocol for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia. Int J Trichol. 2017;9(4):165-70.
