How Platelet Rich Plasma Promotes The Body’s Natural Healing Process
Our bodies break down in various ways. Sometimes it’s sped up due to injuries or degenerative abnormalities and it can cause pain and discomfort. When we go to doctors seeking answers, it’s something very invasive, cortisone injections or surgery. Those types of treatments can be temporary at best and can create more problems. But, what if we could use the healing abilities found in our blood to repair that damage and live a life free of pain.
A regenerative therapy is making its way to sports medicine. Platelet Rich Plasma therapy Arizona is a new kind of treatment isn’t a painkiller, and it doesn’t require surgery.
What is Platelet Rich Plasma?
Our blood cells have three components in them: red cells, white cells, and platelets. The platelets in our blood are responsible for clotting that's why scabs form when we cut ourselves. But the platelets also have growth factors that are important in healing. Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is created by drawing blood out of the patient's arm it is placed inside and spun in a centrifuge. The centrifuge separates the different components in our blood cells so they can be extracted.
The blood cells don’t contain a lot of platelets themselves but when they are separated in a centrifuge, the platelets from all of our tiny red blood cells rises to the top. They are then added to our blood in a platelet-rich solution. Our blood cells are comprised of about 6% platelets, but with Platelet Rich Plasma that number increases to around 60%. They are then injected back into the patient using an ultrasound to reintroduce it in the right spot.
It is a safe procedure with no risk of infection or our body rejecting it because it is made with our own blood.
What are Some Areas Where Platelet Rich Plasma Can Help?
- Tendonitis — Is a common injury among athletes who put their bodies through rigorous stress. Tendonitis happens in areas where there are joints or rotator cuffs such as the shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, and heel. These types of injuries are treated with cortisone injections. In recent years athletes have sought PRP out because it’s not as invasive as surgery and lessens the recovery time.
- Arthritis — When the cartilage lining the joints weakens and shrinks the friction between the bones causes inflammation and pain. When arthritis is treated early Platelet Rich Plasma can reduce the inflammation and pain as well as regenerate new cartilage eliminating the problem altogether.
- Hair loss — The growth factors in the platelets recruit new hairs to grow, it keeps the hair that is already there to continue to grow, and it stimulates the stem cells around the follicles of the hair to get thicker.
Platelet Rich Plasma And Noninvasive Facial Rejuvenation
But, one fascinating area where Platelet Rich Plasma has seen tangible results is in facial rejuvenation. UV damage, weather changes, pollution, and an aging generation can make the skin look tired and damaged. Many patients want a change, but they want noninvasive treatment to get rid of their wrinkles, fine lines, scarring, and dark circles under the eyes.
Since Platelet Rich Plasma encourages healing and new growth when it’s injected. It acts as a matrix that heals and grows new collagen regenerating tissue that tightens and smooths the skin. The wrinkles and lines are softened promoting even skin tone and pigmentation. It’s different from other skin tightening regimes like Botox or Restylane. One paralyzes your face muscles preventing wrinkles from forming, and the other fills in wrinkles.
PRP doesn’t need to be injected into each individual wrinkle it needs to be injected into one area and the platelets concentrated with growth factors go to work helping the body’s natural ability to make new collagen that smooths out the skin. Leaving it looking younger and healthier.
When people are looking for ways to rejuvenate their skin and look younger their only options seems to be invasive plastic surgery or injections that mask and fill in wrinkles. With Platelet Rich Plasma the body’s own natural response to degradation occurs and heals what has been lost to aging and environmental damage.
Conclusion
To say it’s natural for the body to want to heal itself is an understatement. Many procedures can create additional scarring of tissue. Platelet Rich Plasma increases what the body already makes in response to injuries and pain. It’s a game changer for athletes making the recovery time from injuries manageable because they don’t need surgery.
Platelet Rich Plasma isn’t just for injuries either. Hair loss and facial rejuvenation benefit from the body’s natural healing process. While PRP is a new procedure that has yet to be adopted by all doctors. It may just be the beginning of a revolution using the body’s natural resources to promote its own healing.
