Abstract

Objectives: 1: Diagnose pattern hair loss. 2: Consider PRP as potential treatement option for both genders. 3: Formulate a tailored approach to each individual including 3-4 injections of PRP. 4: Ensure patient compliance, analyze clinical effects and patient satisfaction by using a short questionnaire and taking global photographs. Introduction: Hair loss is a widespread condition in both genders. Over the past decade PRP has become a common treatment for hair loss. Our goal was to analyze patient and clinician satisfaction and to investigate all potential clinical effects of PRP on male and female pattern hair loss in a simple and practical way instead of counting the number of hairs per cm², which requires advanced technologies such as trichoscopic imaging and is usually not available daily practice. Materials / method: Over a period of 12 months, we treated a total of 56 patients for androgenetic alopecia with PRP. 49 patients were treated with a series of three injections at monthly intervals, 3 patients with a series of four injections, 2 patients with a series of 5 injections, 1 patient was treated with a series of 7 injections, and 1 patient with a series of 8 injections. Follow-ups were conducted 1 month after the last treatment. Global photographs were taken and a self-drawn questionnaire was used to assess the satisfaction and clinical results from the patient's and the clinician's perspectives. Results: 32 patients were male and 24 female. The average patient satisfaction score was 7.29 (scale: 0-10). The clinician's rating was similar (6.46). The recommendation rate was high (8.0). Female patients' ratings were slightly but not significantly better. The probablity of occurence of clinical effects was reported as follows: improvement in hair density: patient‘s rating: 64%; clinician's rating: 46%, thickness: 38%; 45%, quality: 46%; 54%, sheen/lustre: 27%; 21%, new hair growth: 57%; 68%, less hair loss: 48%; 20%, other positive effects: 5%, 2%, no effects: 4%; 4%, negative effects: 0%; 0%. Conclusion: Using a short questionnaire in daily practice is easy and may be also helpful to increase compliance and satisfaction. Our study revealed encouraging results for the treatment of male and female pattern hair loss with PRP. In 96% of all patients positive clinical effects were found. The autologous treatment was rated with high satisfaction scores and can be considered a safe and effective treatment modality for both genders. As patient satisfaction scores are subjective to some extent, we added clinician satisfaction scores and found out that they were consistent with the patients' scores.