The platelet-rich plasma application which increasingly became popular in the last years has a well-deserved popularity with its use in especially aesthetics and sportsmen injuries. It is commonly being talked about in media with its use and success mainly in aesthetical situations like skin wrinkles related to aging, face and body scars, and hair loss.
However, application of PRP goes back to 20 years earlier. Though this technique which at first was used for cardiovascular surgeries is drawing attention for its use in aesthetics, it has many more applications that it is successful at. Especially in tendon and ligament injuries, PRP applications give very promising outcomes.
Platelet Rich Plasma Application
With its other name, thrombocytes are the smallest cells in volume that ensures blood clotting. It ensures wound healing with growth factors it contains. Benefiting from these properties of Platelets they use them in medicine for scar and skin recovery.
In Platelet Rich Plasma technique, the blood of the patient is centrifuged and the Platelet Rich Plasma is obtained. They obtain much more platelet and growth factor values in blood than in normal conditions.
It was shown in many experiments especially in tendon and ligament injuries that it is giving out successful results. The healing process of tendon injuries is very long and troublesome, to tell the truth.
The reason the healing process is slow is that the blood flow of tendons is low. In these type of injuries, the scarred skin, and adhesion of the tendon that is caused by the inflammation that forms after every recovery technique including surgeries and occurs after healing will increase the chance of re-injuries. It cannot go back to its earlier biomechanical form after an injury occurs. PRP application can be a successful solution in all these unwanted situations.
The wound healing process of the PRP application is done by increasing of extracellular liquid, expression of the collagen gene and by stimulating the angiogenesis.
The growth factors that it contains are; platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor(EGF), insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), fibroblastic growth factor (FGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). (ref 1)
Alongside these growth factors, platelets also contain; osteocalcin, osteonectin, fibrinogen, vitronectin, fibronectin, and thrombospondin-1, which are released from alfa-granules after platelet activation. These proteins are also in charge of extracellular liquid formation and collagen synthesis.
The success of PRP is, of course, related to many factors. The age of the patient has a very big importance. Especially, the growth factors that start to decrease by age can be a crucial factor in recovery.
It is also important that the application is done properly. The exact localization of the injured area should be defined by the practitioner.
And for this, ultrasound imaging with injection decreases the chance of a mistake.
So, isn't there any disadvantages or side effects?
Yes, there is no known side effect. The trick is that the own blood of the patient is used for recovery. This eliminated the risk of allergic reactions. With the natural result of recovery that it accelerated, there can swellings and pain due to inflammation for a few days after application.
The application can be done in a short time as 20-30 minutes with the help of today's technological achievements. I think this treatment process will continue on spreading because it can easily be applied, It doesn't have a side effect and more important than all, it provides a miraculous increase in skin recovery.
And I think the aesthetical use of PRP applications will probably increase like an avalanche year by year.
images sources: 1 2 3 4 5
references:
• Ref 1. : Anitua E, Andia I, Sanchez M, Azofra J, del Mar Zalduendo
M, et al. Autologous preparations rich in growth factors promote proliferation and induce VEGF and HGF production by human tendon cells in culture. J Orthop Res 2005; 23:281-286.