A few years ago, Kim Kardashian posted a picture on her Instagram feed of her undergoing the infamous “Vampire Facial”. This post saw Vampire Facials soar in popularity around the world and it remains a firm favourite in aesthetic practices.
The vampire facial is a skin treatment where we inject and infuse platelet rich plasma (PRP) into the skin for rejuvenation purposes. I refer to it as a PRP treatment. Click here to see a video of the procedure in fast forward.
Why do we love PRP?
You heal yourself – literally!
PRP is derived from our own blood thus making it an autologous procedure where we use your own body to heal, rejuvenate and pep up your skin. A natural skin treatment.
We start off by drawing blood, injecting it into a special cartridge and then placing it in a centrifuge where it undergoes two spinning cycles to separate the blood components. We use the Dr PRP kit to obtain our PRP.
Whole blood contains red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, proteins and plasma. With the centrifuge cycles, red cells are separated from the plasma. This separation is further locked off and centrifuged again to maximally concentrate the portion of plasma that contains the platelets – the platelet rich plasma or PRP. This is the liquid gold that we always refer to with this procedure – the PRP contains all the good stuff.
Platelets contain a multitude of growth factors and cytokines and when administered into the skin, trigger a whole healing cascade. This improves collagen and elastin production and over the next few weeks, a glow and radiance is seen. This makes it a firm favourite of mine personally in my own skincare treatment program and that of my patients. The results are truly magical.
How do we administer the PRP?
Your facial skin is numbed with a medical grade topical local anaesthetic beforehand. The PRP is then injected into the dermis of the skin. This is where it will have the maximum benefit of collagen and elastin production over the coming weeks. This is followed with superficial microneedling of the PRP into the outermost layer of the skin as well.
How long does it take to see benefits?
Just like going to the gym, you’re not always going to see results from one session. Think of when you cut yourself for example, it takes a few days to heal and not resemble a wound. As collagen and elastin production are (sadly) not instant, PRP procedures start showing visible results from two to three weeks post procedure and are best seen six weeks down the line.
There are other PRP uses!
PRP therapy was actually first introduced to medicine in the 1980s where it was initially used for sports injuries in basketball players – assisting with tendon injuries and ligament sprains. It is still used in quite a few orthopaedic injuries which have shown clinical evidence of improvement.
As we use PRP to rejuvenate skin, we can also use PRP for hair loss in the scalp (also skin) where the platelets will activate the hair follicles and maintain their health in preventing hair loss and encouraging new hair growth.
Finally, I also perform the V shot where PRP is used in the vagina and clitoris to improve mild stress incontinence, vaginal dryness and treat sexual dysfunction by improving orgasms in women.
There you have it… PRP in a very small nutshell! This is a firm favourite of mine and so rewarding to see the benefits in patients of whatever indication. It’s always best to come catch to me to see if you’re an ideal candidate for this incredible procedure!
Dr Allison van der Riet is a general practitioner with a special interest in aesthetic and integrative medicine. What makes Dr. Ali’s approach different is that treatments are focussed foremost on accentuating your best features, achieving natural results and softening the negative signs of aging. Dr. Ali is absolutely passionate about happy, healthy skin! She offers all cosmetic treatments including antiwrinkle injections, dermal fillers, biostimulators, medical micro-needling, platelet rich plasma, chemical peeling and skin boosters to name a few. To contact Dr. Ali: hello@drallison.co.za or 076 161 6690.
