Pretty much everyone loses some hair as we get older, but the problem is more prevalent in men. It’s estimated that around 35 million American men suffer some degree of hair loss. By age 35 about 40 percent of men have some degree of visible hair loss. By age 60 that percentage jumps to 65 percent. Women aren’t immune, with an estimated 21 million women suffering from hair loss in the U.S.
While the numbers are lower for younger women, as women age their numbers approach the numbers of men at age 60.
At Primary Aesthetic Skin Care, we offer two treatments to help slow hair loss: PRP and AQ stamping. Both treatments stimulate hair follicles to remain active, rather than moving into the dormant phase.
What Is Hair Loss Treatment?
This isn’t some spray-on balm or transplanted strips of hair that look like pieces of sod. The goal with our hair loss treatments is to keep more hair follicles in the growth phase and return follicles that are resting to growth before they become fully dormant. This is natural hair growth.
Human hair has three phases in its growth and subsequent shedding: anagen (growth phase), catagen (transitional phase), and telogen (resting/shedding phase). When we’re young, our hair follicles spend most of their time in the growth phase. Due to aging or genetic determinants, our hair follicles begin to spend more time in the resting phase. That leads to thinning hair because the follicles that have recently shed their hair in the telogen phase don’t quickly move back to the anagen phase to start growing new hair.
Who Is A Candidate For Hair Loss Treatment?
This may seem obvious, but there is an important distinction. The two treatments we offer to stimulate the hair follicles and keep them growing hair are not effective on hair follicles that have been dormant for a long period of time. Areas that have gone fully bald will not benefit from these treatments.
Our PRP and AQ Stamping treatments are meant to stem and reverse thinning areas.
These follicles are spending more and more time in the resting/telogen phase, but they have not gone fully dormant yet. Our treatments can keep these follicles active.
What Hair Loss Treatments Do You Offer?
We offer two hair loss treatments: PRP and AQ Stamping. PRP uses concentrated blood platelets to nourish and energize the follicles. AQ uses a patented growth factor that is applied after the thinning areas have been derma stamped.
What Is Platelet-Rich Plasma?
Most of us are familiar with our platelets. We know them as the part of the blood that facilitates clotting after the skin is wounded. But platelets have a far larger role in healing the wound and regenerating healthy tissue.
In this process, the goal is to isolate and concentrate the platelets. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is what you have left when you take a sample of blood and use a centrifuge to remove the red blood cells. What remains is plasma containing white blood cells and blood platelets. By removing the red blood cells, the remaining PRP has powerful healing properties, including seven growth factors.
Growth factors are basically messengers in the body. They signal cells to perform various functions; that’s why they’re important for healing by initiating new tissue growth. Professional athletes have used PRP for a couple of decades to speed healing after injury or surgery. Recently, it was learned that growth factors could help reactivate hair follicles that have become inactive, promoting new hair growth.
How Is PRP Used For Hair Restoration?
In these hair restoration treatments at Primary Aesthetic Skin Care, the goal is to use PRP to awaken resting follicles to move them back into active hair growth. The PRP is delivered in dozens of injections across the scalp in the areas where the hair is thinning. Then the PRP is allowed to work its magic with its growth facilitators stimulating resting follicles to return to the growth stage.
With more follicles back growing hair again, shedding decreases dramatically, and areas of thinning hair begin to fill back in.
How Do You Obtain The PRP?
The first step is to create the PRP. The process begins by taking a small amount of blood, an amount similar to a blood test. We place the blood in a centrifuge to separate out the different components, dividing the red blood cells from the plasma (the clear fluid that makes blood liquid) and the platelets. By removing the red blood cells, the remaining plasma liquid has four times the normal number of platelets, hence the term “platelet-rich” plasma. This process only takes a few minutes.
How Is The PRP Injected Into The Scalp And Is It Painful?
Now that we have the PRP, we inject it back into the scalp using a special syringe with three needles. The PRP is injected at approximately every half inch across the area of thinning hair. The injections are not at any depth, so they aren’t painful. Still, a topical numbing agent is applied prior to the PRP session.
How Long Will It Take To Start Growing Hair?
Most patients first notice decreased hair shedding. From there, real growth usually is noticeable after the first two to three months.
How Long Will My Results From PRP Hair Restoration Last?
Your thinning areas will continue to try and move more follicles into the resting phase for longer periods of time. We encourage our PRP patients to think of this as an ongoing maintenance program to overcome the tendency for the hair follicles in the treatment areas to become dormant. We have patients that come in quarterly or twice yearly for these treatments as a continuing process.
What Is AQ Stamping And How Does It Work?
AQ Stamping is microneedling combined with the application of AQ Skin Solutions Advanced Hair Complex+. This patented growth factor technology provides support to the stem cells that line each hair follicle. The AQ growth factors and other active ingredients provide support to the stem cells to help them remain healthy and active. This keeps more follicles from moving into rest or dormancy.
The first step in AQ Stamping at Primary Aesthetic Skin Care is to apply topical numbing cream across the treatment areas. This needs about 45 minutes to fully numb the scalp.
Next, we use the AQ derma stamp, which is a handpiece with dozens of microscopic needles on the tip. We move the derma stamp across the areas where your hair is thinning. The microneedles penetrate down through the scalp, creating hundreds of microscopic channels down through the outer scalp. These injuries fully heal within just a couple of hours, but they trigger a healing mechanism in the skin.
Now that we’ve covered your thinning areas with the derma stamp, the final step is to apply the AQ Skin Solutions Hair Complex+ serum. The patented growth factor technology in this serum penetrates through the outer scalp through the hundreds of microscopic channels. This penetration allows for much better interaction with the hair follicles, where the growth factors and other ingredients stimulate the follicles to remain in the growth phase or return to it. The result is immediately less hair thinning, followed by improved growth across the treatment areas.
Who Would Be A Good Candidate For AQ Stamping?
As with our PRP for hair loss treatments, AQ Stamping is not a remedy for patients who have fully lost their hair. It is great for men and women who’ve noticed increased thinning, but that thinning hasn’t progressed to complete loss of hair across various areas. AQ Stamping simply uses the growth factor serum, delivered through the hundreds of microscopic punctures created by derma stamping, to energize the hair follicles to return them to active hair growth.
When Can You Expect Results At AQ Stamping?
Result timeframes are similar to our PRP treatments. First, you’ll notice a decrease in thinning. Then within two to three months, you’ll start seeing your hair fill back in across the treatment areas.
How Long Do Results Last With AQ Stamping?
Your results are permanent; the follicles that return to growth will continue to remain active. But the process of thinning will continue, as more and more follicles move into a resting phase. To counteract this trend, we advise our patients to repeat these treatments from two to four times each year.
Schedule A Consultation Today!
If you’re interested in learning more about hair loss treatment, please contact us for a consultation at (914) 234-8670, or fill out a contact form here. We will discuss your needs and concerns, and determine your best course of action.