Androgenetic alopecia AGA is the most common cause of hair loss in males and manifests as a gradual conversion of terminal hairs into vellus-like hairs, called miniaturized hairs. Several treatment lines were prescribed for treatment of AGA. Platelets Rich Plasma PRP is an autologous blood product containing high concentrations of platelets. Platelets contain hundreds of growth factors and cytokines. These growth factors have a role in enhancing the formation of keratin, regeneration of hair matrix and increasing cell proliferation. Recently, laser treatment for hair loss has become very popular as there is evidence that laser light stimulates hair growth at some wavelengths. Laser-assisted drug delivery is an evolving technology with potentially broad clinical applications. The current study aimed to evaluate and compare the efficacy of ablative fractional CO2 laser alone and combined with PRP in the treatment of AGA. This study is a split-scalp included 35 male patients, aged 20-50 years old with male pattern AGA. All patients received bilateral ablative fractional CO2 laser treatment on the alopecic scalp then the right side of the scalp was covered with PRP and the other half of the scalp was covered with saline after the laser at the same session. The combined therapy showed statistically significant increase in terminal hair TH count in frontal, vertex and fronto-temporal regions compared to the monotherapy, while the combined therapy didn’t show any significant difference in vellus hair VH count in all 3 regions compared to the monotherapy. The combined therapy showed statistically significant increase in hair thickness in all 3 regions compared to the monotherapy. These observations suggest that fractional CO2 laser with PRP is effective in improving AGA in all 3 regions as evident by the increase of TH count and hair thickness.

Amira Nagy has completed his PHD at the age of 30 years from Ain Shams University, Egypt. Her paper published in an International journal of Medicine: Oxford Academic.