The role of platelet-rich plasma in androgenetic alopecia: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA), also referred to as male or female pattern hair loss, is the commonest cause of chronic hair loss and affects up to 80% of men by the age of 70. Despite a high prevalence, there are few approved therapies, which show minimal efficacy.

OBJECTIVES

This systematic review aims to evaluate the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PrP) in the treatment of AGA in male patients.

METHODS

MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane (CENTRAL), CINAHL, clinicaltrials.gov, Google Scholar and the Science Citation Index database were searched to identify eligible studies. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and prospective cohort studies related to PrP use in AGA were included. Primary outcomes included changes in hair density and hair count. Methodological quality was assessed using bias assessment tools.

RESULTS

Eight RCTs and one cohort study were included in the review with a total of 291 participants. Six studies reported a statistically significant increase in hair density in the PrP group versus the control. Five studies reported a statistically significant increase in hair count with PrP. Seven studies showed moderate risk and two showed low risk of bias.

CONCLUSION

In a methodologically robust review on the effectiveness of PrP on male AGA, PrP demonstrated some potential to be used therapeutically. However, the low quality of evidence, moderate risk of bias, and high heterogeneity of included studies limit inferences and call for more robust designs to investigate this further.