Treatment of Male-Pattern Alopecia with Platelet-Rich Plasma

Abstract

Background: Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) affects up to 80% of men and 50% of women throughout their lifetime, causing significant discomfort. Minoxidil, finasteride, and low-level laser light therapy are the only Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments for AGA, and they have shown positive results in randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses. However, their efficacy is limited, and new therapies are needed. Injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a minimally invasive technique, has been described by several authors as a promising treatment for AGA. Although many studies report beneficial effects of PRP on AGA, there is no standardized practice for PRP preparation and administration or a standard method to evaluate results. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of manually prepared PRP in the treatment of male AGA. Materials and Methods: We treated 20 male patients with AGA with 3 monthly injections of PRP and analyzed results by TrichoScan®. Results: In this study, there was no statistically significant improvement in hair count or proportion of anagen hairs. Conclusions: This lack of response could be related to any of the variables during PRP preparation described above and also to the limited number of patients in the study.