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Blood is spun to concentrate platelets and injected into the scalp. It is sold widely for hair loss and is expensive. The one randomised study in people treated for cancer injected one half of the scalp and left the other half alone: both halves improved by the same amount.
Platelet-rich plasma is autologous: the patient's blood is centrifuged, the platelet-rich fraction separated, and injected into the scalp, on the reasoning that the growth factors platelets release stimulate follicles. It is offered by dermatology and cosmetic clinics at a price, usually as a course of sessions, and most of the evidence behind those offers comes from androgenetic alopecia rather than from cancer.
Until recently there was no evidence at all in this group: the 2019 review of hair disorders in cancer survivors stated plainly that there was no reported experience of using platelet-rich plasma to treat alopecia in survivors and that costs may be high. That changed with a single-centre randomised controlled pilot (Rossi et al., Dermatologic Surgery 2026), which enrolled 27 patients, 15 with endocrine-induced alopecia and 12 with persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, and used a split-scalp design, treating one side and leaving the other as the control. Global assessment improved by 1.2 points from baseline at week 12 on both the treated and the untreated side, with no significant difference between them. Hair density rose on both sides, by 21 and 16 hairs per square centimetre, again with no significant difference. Quality of life did not improve. Adverse events were grade 1 to grade 3 scalp pain. The authors note that plasma injected into one side may diffuse to the other, which would blunt a real difference, so the result is not proof that it does nothing.
One finding in that study belongs on a patient page: in 2 of 12 circulating tumour cell assays, malignant cells were detected in the platelet-rich plasma itself. No tumour seeding was observed, and the number is tiny, but anyone considering injecting their own concentrated blood into their scalp after cancer should know it was looked for and found. The grade here is insufficient because the only controlled study in this population is a pilot of 27 people that did not separate treated from untreated scalp, not because the approach has been shown to fail.
Platelets release platelet-derived growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor and transforming growth factor beta when activated; the proposal is that injecting them around follicles prolongs the growth phase and enlarges miniaturised follicles.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Platelet-rich plasma for hair after cancer treatment" OR ABSTRACT:"Platelet-rich plasma for hair after cancer treatment") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Platelet-rich plasma for hair after cancer treatment, not a curated reading list.
Shares Endocrine-therapy-induced alopecia, Persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Endocrine-therapy-induced alopecia, Persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Camouflage and restoration: fibres, micropigmentation, transplantation, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Persistent chemotherapy-induced alopecia, Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care, hair-loss.
Shares Camouflage and restoration: fibres, micropigmentation, transplantation, Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Minoxidil for persistent chemotherapy- and endocrine-therapy hair loss, Toxicity and quality of life are undervalued and the tags complementary, supportive-care.