Fri 26 Apr 2013
Dr. Carlos Wesley to Discuss the Preservation of Extracted Follicular Unit Grafts in Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) at Upcoming Hair Restoration Conference
Category: Complications , Hair Loss Blog , Hair Restoration Physicians , Hair Transplant Surgery , New Advances , Physician and Clinic News
In order to increase the ultimate survival, caliber, and even the rate at which hair follicles grow after transplantation, patients and hair restoration physicians alike are looking for methods to best care for them when they are in the precarious state out of the body (after extraction, but before implantation). Dr. Carlos K. Wesley will lecture to fellow physicians on “New Frontiers in Surgical Hair Restoration” at the Mount Sinai Medical Center Multi-Specialty Spring Symposium in New York City in which he will discuss the various advancements in hair follicle storage prior to transplantation.
Sentiment in the field of surgical hair restoration is increasingly favoring the use of platelet rich plasma (PRP) as a possible storage solution to achieve the three goals stated above. Dr. Wesley has even noted the benefit of incorporating PRP into the intra-operative graft storage process as patients appear to produce transplanted hair growth slightly earlier than the standard timeline at which transplanted hairs are normally appreciated.
While these observations related to PRP are promising, the mystery behind this product remains: What is it about PRP that may produce this benefit? Is there a particular element within the autologous solution that is most critical in the stimulation of hair growth and development? To shed light on this question, Dr. Wesley collaborated with immunologists at Mt. Sinai Medical Center to investigate the following variables on hair characteristics:
1. The degree of physiologic concentration of platelets in PRP
2. The specific concentration of certain growth factors thought to be involved in the stimulation cascade:







Unfortunately, we are not at the point where we can grow unlimited hair follicles. Every year new research on the molecular mechanisms and signals which affect hair growth are being learned. We are getting closer but not there yet. A person with extensive 




