Platelet rich plasma, platelet rich fibrin matrix, the vampire facelift, and vampire filler have gotten a lot of press in the last year. The questions arise.
What is this new procedure? Is it the holy grail of fillers?
Platelet rich plasma is obtained by spinning your blood in a centrifuge to separate out the red blood cells and white blood cells from the platelet rich plasma. To activate the growth factors in the platelets and create an injectable gel, the platelet rich plasma is then mixed with calcium chloride to cause fibrin polymerization. What does this mean? About ten minutes later, the liquid has formed a gel. This gel can then be injected as a filler. This injectable has been done with and without traditional fillers (when used with a traditional filler, it is mixed with ones like the hyaluronic HA fillers Juvederm and Restylane.)
One of the leading promoters of PRP and PRPM is Selphyl. There is no “selphyl” filler or substance. Selphyl is a system – a machine which centrifuges the blood, isolates the platelet rich plasma, and then has a system for mixing the PRP to create the gel fibrin matrix.
PRP = Platelet rich plasma.
PRPM =is platelet rich fibrin matrix. This is what you get when you activate the PRP with thrombin or calcium chloride to form a gel like material
This process is done in a doctor’s office and takes about 30 minutes to do.
So is this the best new filler?
Don’t know. You can see my other blogs on the subject. There have been some clinical studies done by Dr. Scalfani published in the facial plastic surgery and cosmetic literature. “Safety, Efficacy, and the Utility of Platelet Rich Fibrin Matrix in Facial Plastic Surgery,” (Feb 2011), “Applications of platelet rich fibrin matrix in facial plastic surgery (2009), and “Platelet rich fibrin matrix for improvment of deep nasolabial folds,” (2010). (Dr. Scalfani is a paid consultant of Selphyl.)
I have other blogs on the subject. The question is what is the advantage of this filler? Does it give other benefits in addition to just filling, like rejuvenation and growth factors? Looking at is as simply a filler, it is cost effective (does it last longer? give more volume?)? Does it have a lower or greater risk profile (does it get infected more/ less, form nodules or lumps, etc?)
As I concluded in my other blog, PRP seems to be promising but not proven. I like the idea of using “you” to reconstruct “you.” I’ll keep updating you as I discover more.