P latelet rich plasma application by dermapen microneedling and intradermal point‐by‐point injection methods, and their comparison with clinical findings and trichoscan in patients with androgenetic alopecia

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is a progressive hair loss disease that occurs with the effect of androgens and genetic predisposition. Hair thinning and hair loss affect people's self-confidence and self-image more than is thought. In these patients, platelet rich plasma (PRP) treatment is used in addition to the limited medical treatments available. However, there is a lack of standardization for the application method of PRP treatment in the literature. The number of studies in which objective data and hair analysis parameters were revealed to demonstrate the effectiveness of PRP treatment is also very limited. In this study, it was aimed to show the efficacy of PRP treatment with trichoscan data in AGA patients and to compare dermapen-mediated microneedling and point-by-point technique injection application methods. The study was conducted with 62 male AGA patients, aged between 18 and 55 years, who applied to the University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, and ranged from Norwood-Hamilton Stage II-V. The patients were randomly divided into two groups and one group was given microneedling with a dermapen, an electrical device that makes automatic needling, and the other group was given manual injection with point-by-point technique with a 30-gauge needle. Before the first treatment, each patient underwent a trichoscan hair analysis evaluation. A total of four sessions of PRP treatment were performed, as three sessions at 2-week intervals and the fourth session 1 month after the last session. The mean age of the cases was 33.13 ± 6.36. According to Norwood-Hamilton staging, stage III was detected with the highest rate of 46% (29). Hair pulling test became significantly negative after treatment (p < 0.05). Statistically significant differences were found in trichoscan analysis parameters for hair count, hair density, terminal hair count, and terminal hair density in both groups compared to pretreatment (p < 0.05). Between the groups, a statistically significant difference was found between the averages of anagen hair, telogen hair, and hair length in the dermapen treated group compared to the group treated with the point-by-point technique. In our study, the efficacy of PRP treatment for AGA patients was demonstrated by trichoscan parameters. Among the PRP application methods, dermapen-mediated application was found to be superior to the point-by-point technique in terms of anagen, telogen, and average hair length parameters.