PRP therapy is a treatment that is based on the application of platelet growth factors. This treatment uses PRP (platelet-rich plasma), which is made from your own blood. PRP contains 3 to 7 times more platelets than in the uncentrifuged blood.By centrifuging the collected blood, it can be divided into a plasma (components of blood other than blood cells) layer and a red blood cell layer. The lower layer of the plasma layer contains high concentration of platelets and PRP is created from this layer.

The lower plasma layer contains platelets in the range of 150,000-400,000/μL. When blood vessels are damaged due to injury, bleeding occurs from the damaged area. Platelets quickly rush to the injured area to stop the bleeding. The important function of platelets in hemostasis is to adhere and aggregate at the site of vascular injury. They then call out other platelets and further aggregate at the site of injury. This adhesion of platelets forms a thrombus (blood clot) and hemostasis is achieved. Platelets release a number of proteins and growth factors as well as factors that promote hemostasis. PRP releases growth factors that are important for regenerative medicine. These growth factors promote hair follicle growth, adipogenesis, angiogenesis, and the construction of the extracellular matrix (dermis). For these reasons, PRP has been shown to be effective for many dermatological conditions and anti-aging. However, because blood varies individually, platelet counts also vary, and people with low platelet counts may have difficulty obtaining the benefits of PRP. The number of platelets also varies depending on techniques used to create PRP. Please ask our doctors and staff for more details.

The history of PRP dates back to the 1950s, when researchers in Europe and the U.S. developed a method of creating PRP in the course of studying the mechanism of blood coagulation. Many famous athletes have recovered with PRP therapy. Football player Hines Ward was the first professional athlete to receive PRP therapy. He injured his collateral ligament in his knee while playing and was expected to take 4-6 weeks to recover from the injury. Since then, regenerative medicine using PRP therapy has spread rapidly in the sports world, and professional golfer Tiger Woods, tennis player Rafael Nadal, and major league baseball player Shohei Otani have also undergone PRP therapy. The safety and effectiveness of PRP therapy have been widely demonstrated in many cases, and it is now widely used in a wide range of medical departments, including cardiovascular surgery, pediatric surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, urology, plastic surgery, and ophthalmology. Recently, it has also been applied to cosmetic medicine.