Female Androgenetic Alopecia effectively treated by PRP, finds study

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The researchers from the School of Medicine, New York conducted a prospective randomized controlled trial to determine whether PRP injections improve female AGA. 30 females diagnosed with AGA were included in the trial but 2 patients were lost to follow up. Patients received sub-dermal scalp injections of Eclipse system PRP or placebo saline at weeks 0, 4 and 8. Outcome measures were changes in hair density (hair/cm2), hair caliber (mm), and blinded global photographic assessment (improved or not improved) at week 24.

The fey findings of the study were:

• Blinded global photographic assessment indicated that 57% of PRP patients vs. 7% of saline patients improved at week 24 from baseline (p<0.01).

• Compared to baseline, there was improvement in mean density in the PRP group vs. the placebo group at week 8 (+71.1 vs. -26.7 hairs/cm2, p<0.01) and week 24 (+105.9 vs. -52.4 hairs/cm2, p<0.01).

• Compared to baseline, there was improvement in mean caliber in the PRP group vs. the placebo group at week 8 (+0.0043 vs. -0.0034 mm, p<0.01) and week 24 (+0.0053 vs. -0.0060 mm, p<0.01).

• Adverse effects included headache, scalp tightness, swelling, redness, and post-injection bleeding.

Thus, the researchers concluded that PRP with the Eclipse system is a safe and effective intervention for female AGA. 

To read more about the study, click the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2020.06.1021