Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

Who does it?
● Plastic Surgeon
● Cosmetic Doctor
● Cosmetic Dermatologist

AKA Dracula Therapy, Autologous Rejuvenation Therapy, Collagen Induction Therapy

What is it?
This is a fairly new treatment and, like many of the recent developments in the world of aesthetics, works on the basis that the body has a unique ‘self heal’ mechanism to repair and rejuvenate damaged skin.

Who is suitable?
Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy can be used for much the same problems as both Dermal Fillers and Volumisers, and can also be used to rejuvenate the skin of the décolletage or the backs of the hands, which can be tricky areas to treat.

It is not yet widely available in the UK, so you might have to do a bit of research to find a practitioner offering it, but its proponents reckon it offers an effective, natural way to rejuvenate the skin.

What’s the treatment like?
A small amount of your blood will be taken and placed in a centrifuge, which will separate the red blood cells from the platelet rich plasma, which is the bit that will be used to give you back your glow.

This plasma is then re-injected into the area that needs treating – it can be administered either in multiple micro-injections, like Mesotherapy or Dermal Hydrating Treatments, directly into lines and wrinkles, like a filler, or deeper into the dermis, like a volumiser.

The process should be no more painful than any other injectable procedure, but the treatment area might be numbed beforehand with a topical local anaesthetic cream.

Some practitioners combine this with other ‘self-heal’ treatments, like Medical Micro-Needling to enhance the results.

What happens afterwards?
As with any injectable treatment, there might be a bit of redness or swelling at the site of injection, but this should fade quickly.

You might also have some bruising where the blood was taken, but again this won’t last. One thing to avoid is taking aspirin or any anti-inflammatory drugs, which stop the platelets from doing their job.

This isn’t a one-off treatment – a course of treatments is usually recommended and it might take up to six months for the results of platelet rich plasma therapy to show, but the real benefit is that they should be permanent.

Will I have a scar?
Any scarring is unlikely, and because it uses your own blood, there is little risk of reaction.

Mr Atul Khanna offers his view
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy is also known as autologous rejuvenation therapy. It works on the basis that the body’s own natural healing powers may slow and even reverse the ageing process.

It is a revolutionary repair system that places growth factors in the exact location where we want the skin to repair and rejuvenate itself. The treatment involves harvesting platelets from the patient’s own blood in order to inject them into problem skin areas.

The procedure is performed in a clinic setting and starts with the extraction of a minimal amount of the patient’s blood. This is then placed in a centrifuge to spin down the blood which separates the red blood cells from the platelet rich plasma.

Platelets contain a high content of ‘growth factors’. These are proteins that help to heal injured tissue or damaged skin. Upon re-injection the platelets release their growth factors which trigger surrounding cells to proliferate, in turn stimulating repair, increasing volume and rejuvenating the skin.

The treatment reverses the common ageing signs in the skin specifically in the areas of the face, neck, hands and other parts of the body.

The advantages of PRP over other common anti-ageing treatments like Botox, are it”s unique natural quality. The therapy uses the patient’s own blood, making the treatment hypoallergenic.
www.atulkhanna.co.uk