PRP vs. PRF Therapy: The Differences

Foreign. Talk to you about PRP and prf, kind of the differences between each and how we might use them in either regenerative medicine or aesthetic medicine. So platelet rich plasma, prp, platelet rich fiber and PRF both refer to a blood product. So we take your blood, you might get your blood drawn to your doctor's office and then they spin it in a centrifuge and it separates out between the bottom red portion which is the red blood cells, and the top portion which is the plasma. The plasma is made up of white blood, cel platelets and albumin and various other components. And the platelets are really, we want to function in regenerative medicine or aesthetic medicine. They release growth factors such as platelet derived growth factor and vegf, other factors as well, so they promote healing and regeneration. So fundamental difference between PRP and PRF is very simple. The prp, the platelets have been more or less paralyzed by an additive to the tube. Usually it's called sodium citrate or something similar. And that keeps the platelets from degranulating or releasing their growth factors. And that's the, the most common way that the PRP PRF world works because it's very simple and it's got a long work time effect. When you draw the platelet rich plasma up, it's actually stable for a long time, like a week or so. So there's no hurry to use it. Whereas historically PRF was either taking that PRP and activating it by, by reversing the anticoagulant, that's one way and that's causes some damage to the platelets. And another way is use it immediately after you draw it. And that created some problems. Well, recently in the past few years a new concept has come around on using PRF gives us longer working time, but using it without the anticoagulant, without worrying about it clotting. And that's a new, what some people might call BioPRF. So it's a system which uses a special tube that doesn't have any ability for the platelets to clot because it's hydrophobic. And we draw the blood, we spin it and we draw the platelet rich fibrin out and put it in a chilling machine until we're ready to use it. And it stays unclotted for about, about a 40 minutes or so, so some working time. But it's got all the growth factors associated with prf. There's been no damage to the platelets because of an anticoagulant. And then reverse the anticoagulant. And it allows growth factors such as again platelet derived growth factor and VEGF to stimulate tissue growth, fibroblast growth and healing. In some cases we might use it inside of a joint, or might use it under the skin, or might use it even after laser resurfacing. So our clinic, we've been using exclusively PRF for the last 10 years. But we were doing it more the typical way, which was using an anticoagulant, getting the platelet which plasma, and right when we're ready, ready to use it, we would activate the platelet rich plasma into platelet rich fibrin and inject it. Now we're using a new system that gives us ready made platelet rich fibrin. Now there's another concept called platelet poor plasma gel. And this is what people refer to as a biological filler. Using your own tissue to make a filler. So one type of biological filler would be using your own fat. We've been doing that for decades and that involves liposuction and maybe some people aren't crazy about that. But you can also take your blood, draw your blood, take out the platelet poor plasma. So we talked about platelet rich plasma and platelet rich fibrin. We can spin it a little bit faster and separate the platelets which would fall down close to the red blood cells, and the platelet poor plasma, which would be the plasma, principally albumin. And we extract this albumin out, we put it in a special device that puts it at a temperature where it denatures the albumin and turns it into a biological filler, turns it into a solid and that could be extruded through a needle. But then we also take the platelet rich fibrin that we had prepared in the same time and mix it with the platelet poor plasma or the albumin plasma. We mix them together and we can inject it as biological filler in areas like the under eyes, the temples, areas that you might need volume. I mean that's something that the person that doesn't want filler may choose to do is use their own tissues. Now there's some significant downsides to it. You gotta get your blood drawn. Takes a little bit of time, but it doesn't last nearly as long as the typical hyaluronic acid fillers or calcium hydroxyapatite. So it's going to last in the order of four to six months. But so this is something that you could repeat to maintain your volume or somebody that's had fillers before, such as our magic lift. They might just want to do a maintenance procedure every six months. This to give a little bit of boost to the tissues. Because the hyaluronic acid fillers do not stimulate. They're not bioregenerative. They do not stimulate new tissue growth. Now some of the fillers do, such as radies high calcium hydroxyapatite. When mixed a certain way, that can stimulate collagen growth. But the platelet rich plasma and the platelet rich fibrin specifically along with the this albumin gel stimulates circulation, stimulates collagen growth, stimulates fibroblast. So it stimulates tissue. And as we're aging, we're losing a certain amount of tissue. So if you're doing some biological filler over time, you actually will regenerate your skin. Your skin will look healthier and smoother and brighter over time because you've done this a few times over a couple of years, maybe three times over two years. So this is something that's catching on because we didn't really have the technology, say five years ago, maybe seven years ago to do this. And now it exists. In the early days, using plasma for a filler only lasted a few weeks. Now it lasts on the order of four to six months, maybe even longer. If you do it repeatedly stimulates tissue growth beneficial. And this is sort of part of the anti aging. And a lot of times people say, well, I just want to do some something one time. Well, that's not always the case. You know, Botox, you have to kind of keep up on it. Skin care, doing topical skincare, you have to keep up on it. Fillers last a long time. So in certain areas that are not very vascular, such as the under eyes and the temples, the hyaluronic acid fillers, which is the most common juvederm and reveness and wrestling, these last on the order of several years, maybe a decade or more around the mouth and lips. Less amount of time because of all the movement, the vascularity. They're gonna last more like six months to a year, maybe a year and a half after you've done it a couple times in the biologic filler more, that's four to six month range. But what you're doing is you're stimulating collagen, stimulating circulation, stimulating skin growth. It's really reversing the age of the skin. So this is something I think is going to be kind of catching on because now it's practical. We can do it after you've had a magic lift or a full face filler. And you just need to kind of maintain things using your own tissue. Is no possibility of rejection or for it to grow later on, anything like that. Some people have fears of fillers which are extremely safe. The fillers have been used for, you know, 20 years. The hyaluronic acid fillers in America with a great deal of safety. But sometimes people are looking for something that's a little bit more natural. Natural using their own tissues. I see a lot of people that look a little weird because they did overfilled. You can really do that with anything. And we can always reverse that with a enzyme that breaks down filler. In our practice, we don't offer the weird look. We just do natural fillers. That's again our trademarked magic lift. Different procedures that we do just bring you back to where you were. But now you have an option. If you don't want to do fillers, you want to maintain it with something more natural. You can use the biologic filler or more like a biolift. This is using biological PRF and platelet pore plasma gel. The downtime, little more than a regular filler. There's puffiness for about three to four days. You always get a bruise or something related to the needle. But it's done the same way it's done with a needle or cannula. Puffy for three or four days. A little bit more than filler, which typically doesn't have much puffiness. More in 24 hours. Does stimulate collagen growth, does rejuvenate and renew your tissues in your skin. And it's going to keep getting better. So thank you very much.