PRP for hair restoration.
Your own platelets, concentrated and injected into the scalp, to support follicles that are shrinking but still alive. It works on early thinning. It does not bring back hair from a scalp that is already bare.
It supports a shrinking follicle, it does not create a new one.
In pattern hair loss the follicle does not die at once. It miniaturises. Each cycle it produces a slightly finer, shorter, lighter hair, until what grows is barely visible and eventually stops. The follicle is still there for a long time in that process, which is the window this treatment works in.
Platelets release growth factors that improve blood supply around the follicle and lengthen the growing phase. Injected into the scalp in a grid, they push miniaturising follicles back toward producing a thicker hair.
Everything about the outcome follows from that mechanism. Where follicles are still present but weakening, there is something to work with. Where the scalp is smooth and shiny and has been for years, the follicles are gone and no injection reaches them. Being told which of those you have, honestly, is the most valuable part of the appointment.
Hair loss gets investigated before it gets treated.
This is the part most clinics skip, and it is the part that decides whether you waste your money.
Causes that need finding first
- Thyroid disease, in either direction
- Low iron stores, which can be low enough to shed hair while a standard blood count still reads normal
- Vitamin D deficiency
- Hormonal causes, including polycystic ovary syndrome and the perimenopausal transition
- Shedding that follows an illness, an operation, a birth or acute stress by two to three months
- Medication, including some for blood pressure, mood and acne
- Autoimmune hair loss, which behaves differently and needs a different route
- Traction from tight styling, and scarring conditions of the scalp
Why it matters
Two of those resolve on their own once the cause passes. Several resolve with treatment that costs almost nothing. One of them, scarring alopecia, destroys the follicle permanently and injecting into it achieves nothing at all.
A course of PRP given to someone whose real problem is a thyroid or an iron level is money spent on the wrong thing, and it delays the treatment that would have worked.
Expect blood work to be requested, or expect to be asked for results you already have. If nobody asks, that is worth noticing.
Who it works for, and who it does not.
Responds well
- Early pattern thinning, in men and in women
- A part line that has widened over the last year or two
- Diffuse thinning across the crown where hair is still present but finer
- Thinning that has been caught while you can still see hair in the area
- Alongside prescription or over the counter treatment, rather than instead of it
- Before and after a transplant, to support the surrounding native hair
Does not respond
- Areas that have been completely bare for years. The follicles are gone.
- Scarring alopecia of any kind.
- Autoimmune hair loss, which follows a different pathway.
- Any loss with an untreated medical cause behind it.
- A receding frontal hairline in a man, which responds far less well than the crown.
What actually happens.
History and scalp examination
How long, how fast, what the pattern is, what runs in the family, what you take and what has happened to you medically in the last year. The scalp is examined under magnification.
Blood work
Requested, or reviewed if you already have recent results. This is where a treatable cause gets found, and it is worth the delay.
Blood draw and spin
A standard draw from the arm, then roughly ten minutes in a centrifuge while the scalp is numbed.
Injection
A grid of small injections across the thinning area, spaced roughly a centimetre apart, just under the skin surface. It takes about fifteen minutes and it is the least comfortable part.
The course
Three or four sessions at four week intervals, then a review. Maintenance every four to six months after that, because the underlying process has not stopped.
Recovery, described honestly.
- Scalp tenderness for a day or two, like a headache on the surface rather than inside.
- Mild swelling of the forehead on the second day happens occasionally and settles by itself.
- Pinpoint scabs at the injection sites, which are gone within a few days.
- No hair washing for twelve hours, then normal shampoo. No harsh products, colour or chemical treatment for two days.
- No exercise, sauna or swimming for twenty four hours.
- A short increase in shedding in the first few weeks happens to some people. It is the old hair being pushed out by new growth underneath, and it is not the treatment failing.
- Nothing visible for three months. Photographs at the start are the only reliable way to judge it, because you cannot see gradual change in your own mirror.
Reasons this is declined or postponed.
- Platelet or clotting disorders, and low platelet counts
- Ongoing anticoagulant therapy, which is a conversation with the prescribing doctor first
- Significant anaemia, which is often part of the hair loss rather than separate from it
- Active infection, psoriasis or inflamed skin on the scalp
- Scarring alopecia, where there is no follicle left to support
- Active cancer or ongoing cancer treatment
- Pregnancy and breastfeeding
- An untreated medical cause, which gets treated first rather than injected over
When something else is the better answer.
PRP is rarely the only thing worth doing, and it is often not the first.
| Option | Where it genuinely wins | Where it does not |
|---|---|---|
| PRP for hair | Early thinning where follicles survive, and as support alongside medical treatment. | Bare scalp, scarring loss, and any loss with an untreated cause behind it. |
| Treating the underlying cause | Iron, thyroid and hormonal causes. Cheapest and most effective thing on this table, by a wide margin. | It does nothing for pattern loss, which has no deficiency to correct. |
| Topical treatment from a pharmacy | Evidence behind it, low cost, and it works while you sleep. Usually the first thing to try. | It has to be continued indefinitely, and results stop when it does. |
| Prescription medical treatment | The strongest option for pattern loss in the right patient. That is a prescribing conversation with a physician. | Not suitable for everyone, and it carries considerations this page cannot cover. |
| Hair transplant | Areas that are already bare, where nothing else will work. | Surgical, expensive, and it still needs the surrounding native hair looked after. |
Often asked about together.
About this treatment specifically.
Will it grow hair back on a bald patch?
No. This is the single most important thing on this page. PRP supports follicles that still exist and are producing weaker hair each cycle. On skin that has been smooth and shiny for years, the follicles have gone, and nothing injected into the scalp brings them back. That area is a transplant question.
Do I really need blood tests first?
Yes, and it is in your interest rather than an obstacle. Thyroid, iron and hormonal causes are common, they are treatable, and several of them cost almost nothing to correct. Paying for a course of injections while an untreated cause keeps shedding your hair is the worst outcome available here.
Does it work for women?
Yes, and female pattern thinning across the crown and part line often responds better than a receding hairline in a man. Women are also more likely to have a treatable cause behind the loss, which is another reason the investigation comes first.
How painful is it?
More than the facial version. The scalp is sensitive and there are a lot of small injections. Numbing is used and it is over in about fifteen minutes, but nobody enjoys it. Most people find the second session easier because they know what is coming.
What happens if I stop?
The thinning resumes on its trajectory. This holds ground and improves it while it is maintained; it does not switch off the process causing the loss. Anyone describing it as a cure is describing something else.
Why am I shedding more after the first session?
It happens to some people in the first few weeks and it is unnerving. It is usually old hairs being pushed out by new growth coming up underneath. It settles, and it is worth mentioning at your next session rather than stopping the course over it.
How will I know whether it worked?
Standardised photographs at the start, in the same light and the same position. Gradual change is invisible in your own mirror, and memory is a poor comparison. Without a baseline photograph, judging this honestly is not possible for anyone.
Call and describe what you notice.
416 475 324871 Albert Street, Oshawa, Ontario L1H 4R1.
Simok Aesthetics is a medical aesthetics clinic at 71 Albert Street in Oshawa, Ontario, offering injectables, skin treatments, PRP, vein treatment and IV nutrition therapy to patients across Durham Region.