Skin is the largest organ of the human body and makes up 16% of our total body weight. As the barrier between our external and internal environment, our skin’s appearance can also be an indicator of our overall health.

Signs of age and environmental stress begin to show on our skin by the time we hit our 30s. With age, the following processes occur:

• Reactive oxygen species (ROS) build up as a byproduct of cellular metabolism.
• These ROS damage parts of the cells, including cell membranes, enzymes, and DNA.
• UV light exposure causes thousands of cellular DNA changes each day.
• Environmental insults like pollution and cigarette smoking further accelerate the damage.
• Skin cell proliferation rates decrease.¹
• Elastin fibers that give skin its elasticity break down.
• Fat in the subcutaneous layer of skin decreases.

These processes result in visible changes on the skin’s surface, such as:

• Rougher, drier skin
• Thinner skin
• Sagging skin
• Age spots and uneven skin tone

But the structural and functional degeneration of the skin can cause more than just aesthetic concerns. As our body’s protective barrier, this degeneration leaves our skin susceptible to even more troublesome conditions including:

• Eczema
• Contact, allergic, and seborrheic dermatitis/
•  
• Autoimmune diseases with skin manifestations
• Seborrheic keratoses
• Carcinomas and melanomas²

Alternative to Dermal Fillers, Botox, and Laser Therapy

Botox, fillers, and lasers are among the most widely used treatments for skin rejuvenation. But many doctors and patients have concerns about the side effects of these treatment options.

Lasers can cause hyperpigmentation, especially in patients of color. Botox is only effective for wrinkles, and only those wrinkles caused by muscle movement. It’s not effective for wrinkles caused by sagging or lack of plumpness in the skin. Since it’s a neurotoxin, it can also cause weakness or paralysis of nearby muscles.

Dermal fillers have a long list of potential side effects including the formation of nodules under the skin that may be permanent, damage to the facial lymphatic system, disfigurement, and blindness.³,⁴

As substances foreign to the human body, Botox and fillers can also cause immune reactions ranging from very mild to severe.

Platelet-Rich Plasma to Rejuvenate Skin

Platelet-rich plasma, or PRP, has become a popular alternative therapy for aesthetic skin rejuvenation. Rather than injecting skin with foreign substances like Botox or synthetic fillers, PRP uses the body’s own natural healing process to regenerate damaged skin cells and tissue.

But how does it work? PRP stimulates the body’s innate healing cascade. When we experience an injury, our body responds by delivering a rush of platelet cells. When these platelets are activated, they release several types of growth factors, proteins, and cytokines that play a fundamental role in cell regeneration and tissue healing.

But PRP takes the natural healing response one step further by separating platelets from other blood components and concentrating them. This specially prepared platelet-rich plasma contains 5 to 10 times the concentration of platelets found in whole blood. The concentrated PRP is then delivered into affected areas of the face via injection, stimulating and significantly strengthening the body’s healing response.⁵

PRP is effective in skin rejuvenation and has been shown to:

• Improve skin tone appearance
• Reduce appearance of fine lines
• Enhance areas that need volume

Compared to saline injections, PRP was shown to better improve the mean optical density of facial collagen and, to a higher degree, reduce wrinkles and roughness.⁶

PRP can also aid in elastin production. One study in patients with actinic elastosis showed that those treated with PRP injections in their lower eyelid area had increased elastin production and a statistically significant increase in skin elasticity.⁷

Since PRP is an autologous therapy, using the patient’s own blood product, there is no risk of cross reactivity or immune reaction.

THE PRP PROCESS

To create a platelet-rich plasma preparation, the following steps are performed:

1. A small sample of blood is drawn from the patient and injected into A PRP blood tube.
2. The platelets are then separated from the other blood components and their concentration is increased using A PRP centrifuge and removing some of the plasma.
3. The resulting platelet-rich plasma is then injected into and around the affected areas of the patient’s scalp.
4. The concentrated growth factors contained in the plasma trigger a mild inflammatory response which effectively jump starts the body’s own natural healing response.

The entire process takes approximately one hour, including preparation and recovery time.