A dab of saliva may stop a run in your pantyhose, but research has proven that a small amount of your own blood may give you youthful glowing skin, less cellulite and thicker, more lustrous hair.
Medical Aesthetician Aimee Rowe runs Nuderm Skin Care Clinic in St. John’s, where her team has recently started using PRP therapy to harness the amazing power of the human body.
“A lot of people are nervous about injecting themselves with foreign substances like Botox, so this is just something from your own body — with nothing added to it,” says Rowe. “This is a more natural anti-aging alternative.”
Since a person’s skin naturally starts to lose firmness and youthful vitality with age — and the skin’s ability to regenerate itself decreases with time — adding collagen can provide the elasticity it needs to appear youthful and healthy.
PRP stands for Platelet Rich Plasma. During PRP therapy, a small amount of blood is removed and spun in a centrifuge to separate and activate the platelet-rich plasma, and then it’s injects it back into the skin to increase their collagen production.
Rowe says this natural boost in collagen production can help improve a person’s skin tone, smooth fine lines, fill wrinkles, reduce dark circles, minimize cellulite and even increase hair growth on their scalp.
“The treatment has the capability to generate growth factors, which signals the collagen molecules to revitalize the skin area — making it smoother, tighter and stronger,” says Rowe.
Nuderm Skin Care Clinic started offering PRP therapy in the spring, and Rowe says it’s been getting a fantastic response — especially since Kim and Khloe Kardashian famously went for “vampire facials” on an episode of their reality show, and their sister Kourtney Kardashian is “a huge fan” of the treatment.
Whenever someone is interested in PRP therapy, Rowe recommends they come in for a consultation to discuss it. If they’re a candidate, they can often get the treatment that very same day. Numbing cream is applied to the area, so it involves minimal discomfort and very little down-time. In fact, platelet rich plasma treatments are sometimes used in sports medicine to help with pain and inflammation.
“There may be some redness of a bit of bruising for the first few days, so we always recommend to schedule their treatment at least a week before any special events,” says Rowe.
She says most patients typically need three PRP sessions — each between 30 and 45 minutes — spaced six weeks apart. For hair growth treatments, it’s best to come in once a week for eight weeks.
PRP therapy can also help with acne scars and blemishes, so Rowe tested it out to see how it fared.
“I had it done recently because I do get the odd hormonal breakout,” says Rowe. “I broke out a little afterwards, but ever since then my skin’s been super smooth.”
It’s also been popular for patients wanting to do something about cellulite on their thighs. Rowe says PRP therapy is “the strongest way of dealing with cellulite areas” and ensuring your skin is brought back to its naturally smooth surface. When the blood product is injected back into the skin, the biostimulation process activates the skin’s biological functions in order to smooth out the depressions and add firmness.
Rowe performed the treatment on a Nuderm employee just last week, focusing on the cellulite on her legs, and the employee reports that she already notices a difference — just in time for bathing suit season.
To learn more about PRP therapy, call Nuderm Skin Care Clinic at (709) 579-5717 or visit nuderm.ca.