Hair Loss

What causes hair loss?

You can lose hair for many reasons, such as:

• Physical stress (illness and excessive exercise)
• Extreme emotional stress
• Fungal infections (ringworm)
• Hormonal imbalances (low estrogen and progesterone)
• Alopecia areata (an autoimmune disease)
• Traction alopecia (tight braids and ponytails)
• Androgenetic alopecia (inherited hair loss)

Of all the possible causes, androgenetic alopecia is the most common. The condition, also called male-pattern and female-pattern hair loss, makes your hair follicles shrink. At first, the follicle grows thinner hair. Over time, the follicles fail and stop growing new hair.

Male-pattern baldness causes a receding hairline and hair loss on the top of the head. Female-pattern hair loss typically results in general thinning over the scalp.

How is hair loss treated?

Hair loss treatment often begins with medications or a surgical transplant. One of the biggest drawbacks to medications (beyond possible side effects) is that you must use the drug continuously to maintain hair growth. As soon as you stop applying the medication, your hair loss returns.

At Regenerative Sport, Spine and Spa, Dr. Cherukupally offers an effective alternative to traditional treatments: platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy.

How does PRP treat hair loss?

PRP consists of a high concentration of platelets mixed in plasma. These components are safe because they come from your blood.

Platelets are one of your body’s natural healing agents. They’re packed with specialized proteins — growth factors — which they release at the site of damaged tissues. Growth factors stimulate healing, including the growth of new blood vessels and other tissues needed to restore optimal health.

Dr. Cherukupally draws a sample of your blood and processes it to separate the platelets and plasma from other blood cells. Then she treats your scalp with PRP using one of two possible techniques.

She may inject PRP into targeted hair follicles. Or, she could use microneedling to create tiny openings and then she spreads PRP over the area. The openings allow PRP to penetrate into the follicle.

After PRP reaches the follicle, it goes to work, healing the follicle and rebuilding the tissues. As a result, they start growing new hair that’s thick and healthy.

Don’t put up with hair loss when effective treatments are available at Regenerative Sport, Spine and Spa. Call the office or request an appointment online today.