What is PRP treatment for hair loss?

PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) treatment for hair loss uses your body's own natural growth factors to revive thinning hair, strengthen follicles and boost new growth. The London PRP Clinic offers doctor-led PRP treatments for hair, scalp, and beard growth with proven results.

Does PRP work for beard growth?

Yes, PRP beard growth treatment is highly effective for filling patchy areas, enhancing beard density, and promoting thicker facial hair. Our doctor-led PRP beard treatment at £395 per session uses platelet-rich plasma to stimulate dormant hair follicles in the beard area.

How much does PRP treatment cost in London?

PRP treatment prices at The London PRP Clinic range from £395 for PRP Hair Signature or Beard PRP single sessions, to £545 for comprehensive treatments. We offer package discounts - for example, 3 PRP Hair sessions cost £1,085 (save £100).

What PRP services are available at The London PRP Clinic?

We offer PRP treatments for hair loss, beard growth, facial rejuvenation, under-eye treatment, knee joint pain, and scalp health. All treatments are doctor-led and evidence-based, delivered at our Marylebone, Canary Wharf, and Belgravia London locations.

How much does PRP cost for hair loss in London?

At The London PRP Clinic, PRP hair treatment costs £545 per session including Viviscal™ supplements and organic oils. Most patients need 3-4 initial sessions (package available at £1,500, saving £135). ExoRevive exosome treatment is £445 per session.

Does PRP really work for hair loss?

Yes, clinical studies show PRP is 70-90% effective for androgenetic alopecia. At our clinic, 87% of patients report significant improvement with an average 32% increase in hair density after 3-4 sessions. Results are best for Norwood stages 1-4.

What's better PRP or hair transplant?

PRP is ideal for early-stage hair loss (Norwood 1-4): non-surgical, no downtime, £545 per session. Hair transplants suit advanced loss (Norwood 5-7): permanent but surgical, 2-week recovery, £3,000-15,000. Many combine both for optimal results - PRP strengthens existing hair and enhances transplant survival.

How long do PRP results last?

PRP results typically last 12-18 months with proper maintenance. After initial 3-4 sessions, maintenance treatments every 6 months sustain results. Some patients using our combined protocol (PRP + supplements) report results lasting up to 2 years.

Is PRP painful for hair?

PRP involves minimal discomfort. We use topical numbing cream 30 minutes before treatment. Most patients rate pain as 2-3/10, describing it as 'mild pinching.' The entire procedure takes 60 minutes with no downtime - you can return to work immediately.

Can I wash my hair after PRP?

Wait 24 hours before washing your hair after PRP. Use lukewarm water and gentle shampoo for the first wash. Avoid swimming pools, saunas, and intense exercise for 48 hours. We provide detailed aftercare instructions and organic hair oil for optimal healing.

What are the newest hair loss treatments in 2025?

The newest effective hair loss treatments in 2025 include low-dose oral minoxidil (2.5-5mg daily), topical finasteride (0.25%), platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, and low-level laser therapy devices. Emerging treatments like JAK inhibitors and topical androgen receptor antagonists are showing promising results in clinical trials.

Does oral minoxidil work for hair loss?

Yes, low-dose oral minoxidil (2.5-5mg daily) has proven highly effective for both male and female pattern hair loss. Studies show it's particularly effective for overall thinning, with manageable side effects primarily limited to mild hypertrichosis (extra hair growth).

Is PRP effective for hair restoration?

Yes, PRP therapy has demonstrated significant improvement in hair count and thickness in clinical trials. Most patients see noticeable results after 3-4 sessions, using the body's own growth factors to stimulate dormant hair follicles.

What's the best hair loss treatment in London?

The best hair loss treatment depends on your specific condition, but combination therapy often yields optimal results. The London PRP Clinic offers personalised treatment plans combining PRP therapy with other evidence-based treatments. Book a free consultation to determine the best approach for your hair loss pattern.

How much does PRP hair treatment cost in London?

PRP hair treatment costs vary based on the number of sessions needed. The London PRP Clinic offers competitive pricing with free initial consultations. Contact us via WhatsApp for a personalised quote based on your specific treatment needs.

Is PRP Safe, and Who Should Not Have It

14 Sept

Written By Guest User

For joint and tendon injections, PRP has a good safety record. A 2026 meta-analysis of randomised trials found mild, transient pain and swelling as the main side effects, more with leukocyte-rich preparations, and no severe adverse events. NICE found no major safety concerns. The real risks sit in who prepares it, who injects it, and who was not told no.

Key points

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in PM&R of randomised trials published since 2015 foundintra-articular PRP for knee osteoarthritis associated with mild, transient knee pain and swelling,particularly with leukocyte-rich formulations, resolving without intervention, with leukocyte-poor PRPshowing a safety profile similar to hyaluronic acid and no severe adverse events observed.
NICE interventional procedures guidance IPG637 states that current evidence on PRP injections for kneeosteoarthritis raises no major safety concerns, while describing the efficacy evidence as limited in quality.
A systematic review of 5 randomised hip osteoarthritis trials of 43 to 111 patients each reported no majoradverse events, and a 2025 double-blind trial of 86 patients receiving intraosseous PRP into bonerecorded no serious adverse events.
Serious complications are rare but real. Septic arthritis after intra-articular leukocyte-rich PRP has beenreported in the case literature, which is why sterile technique, a medical setting and a same-day pathwayfor a hot, red joint matter more than the product itself.

If you are weighing the risks for your own situation, message us on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com and a doctor will go through your history before saying whether PRP is appropriate.

Why PRP is safer than most injections, and where that ends

PRP is made from your own blood. There is nothing foreign to reject and no drug to react to, which removesthe allergic and systemic risks that come with steroids and with some hyaluronic acid products. The 2026meta-analysis in PM&R compared adverse events in randomised trials of intra-articular PRP againstcorticosteroid, hyaluronic acid and saline and found the PRP side effect profile was mild pain and swelling thatsettled on its own, with no severe events. The hip trials and the intraosseous trial report the same. Across thetendon trials, including the 240-patient Achilles trial and the 79-patient hip trial in the UK, serious harm wasnot reported.

Where that reassurance ends is the procedure around the product. Any injection into a joint can introduceinfection, damage a structure the needle passes through, or provoke a reaction to the process rather than theplasma. Those risks are not PRP risks. They are needle risks, and they scale with who is holding the needle,whether it is guided, and how the blood was handled between the vein and the joint. A perfectly safesubstance injected by the wrong person into the wrong place is not a safe treatment.

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The side effects you should expect

The commonest experience is a flare. The treated joint or tendon is more painful for 2 to 4 days, sometimeswith swelling and stiffness, because platelets release their growth factors by triggering a controlledinflammatory response. The 2026 meta-analysis found this more often with leukocyte-rich preparations, andthe 2026 network meta-analysis of 21 knee trials and 2,254 patients advised leukocyte-poor PRP as the moreprudent choice on tolerability. Bruising at the blood draw site and at the injection site is common. Light-headedness during the blood draw affects some people and is over within minutes.

Less common are a longer flare of a week or more, which is more likely in the tendon than the joint, and ashort-lived increase in stiffness. Rare, and worth naming because they are the ones that matter, are infectionin the joint, bleeding into the joint in someone on anticoagulants, nerve irritation from a needle passed nearone, and tendon damage from an injection placed into rather than around a tendon that was already close totearing. Each of those is a technique or a selection failure rather than a property of the plasma.

Ask us about the risks for your joint on WhatsApp and a doctor will tell you which of these apply to you andwhich do not.

Who should not have PRP

Some people should be told no, and a clinic that never says it is not screening. The clearest exclusions aremedical. Platelet disorders or a low platelet count, since the treatment depends on functioning platelets.Active infection anywhere in the body or at the injection site. Active cancer, particularly blood cancers,because injecting growth factors is not something to do without an oncologist’s view. Severe anaemia or anunstable medical condition. Pregnancy, where there is no safety data and no reason to take the risk.Anticoagulant treatment is a relative rather than absolute exclusion, needing a doctor’s judgement on bleedingrisk and never a patient stopping their own medication.

The second group is people for whom PRP is safe but pointless, which is its own kind of harm. A full-thicknesstendon tear needs a surgeon. A bone on bone joint needs a surgical opinion. Ankle osteoarthritis, thumb basearthritis, refractory greater trochanteric pain and Achilles tendinopathy all have placebo-controlled trialsshowing no benefit, and taking money for an injection the evidence says will not work is not made safe by theinjection being harmless. The third group is timing. A steroid injection into the same site within recent weeks,anti-inflammatory use in the fortnight before, or a joint in an acute inflammatory flare are reasons to wait ratherthan to inject.

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How PRP is regulated in the UK, and why that matters to you

PRP prepared for a medical purpose is treated by the MHRA as an unlicensed medicine. Doctors are permittedto prepare it for their own named patients under an exemption, which is why a doctor-led clinic can offer it andwhy the doctor’s name should be on your treatment. The same product prepared by someone without thatstanding sits outside the framework, whatever the marketing says. The government’s proposed licensingscheme for non-surgical procedures places PRP in its amber tier, meaning it should be performed by or underthe oversight of a qualified healthcare professional, and NICE’s guidance for the knee requires clinicalgovernance, consent and audit arrangements.

For a patient this translates into 3 questions. Is the person injecting a GMC-registered doctor. Is the blooddrawn, spun and injected in one place under one clinician’s control, with the preparation system named. And isthere a clinical governance structure, meaning someone answerable if it goes wrong. A clinic that injects PRPinto joints on the same menu as facial treatments, staffed by injectors without medical registration, may belegal in the narrow sense and is still the setting in which the rare complications above are most likely to happenand least likely to be recognised.

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A 10 point safety checklist for any PRP clinic

Take this to whichever clinic you see, including ours.

Who will inject, and are they a GMC-registered doctor whose name I can check.
Has anyone asked about my platelet count, anticoagulants, infections, cancer history, pregnancy andcurrent medication.
Has a diagnosis been made, with imaging where needed, before PRP was recommended.
Is the injection ultrasound guided, and will I see the needle in the target on screen.
Is the blood drawn, prepared and injected in the same room by the same team, with a closed system.
Which preparation system is used, and is it leukocyte-rich or leukocyte-poor.
Have I been told to stop anti-inflammatories for 2 weeks before and after.
What is the plan if the joint becomes hot, red or increasingly painful after day 3, and who do I call.
Has anyone told me the conditions for which PRP has failed against placebo, and confirmed mine is notone.
Has the clinic ever told anyone no.

Our doctors put it this way. PRP is one of the safer things you can inject into a joint. The unsafe part is theclinic that has never declined a patient, never scanned one, and never had to manage a hot knee at 9 inthe evening.

Message us on WhatsApp with your joint or tendon, your medical history in brief, and any imaging, and adoctor will give you a straight answer.

What a good safety record does not mean

A good safety record does not mean PRP works. The two are separate questions, and NICE answered themseparately, finding no major safety concerns and limited evidence of efficacy in the same paragraph. It doesnot mean the injection can be done anywhere by anyone, since almost every serious complication in theliterature is a procedure failure rather than a product one. It does not mean there are no exclusions, and it doesnot mean a clinic is safe because it has never reported a problem, since a clinic without governance hasnowhere to report one. PRP is not routinely commissioned by the NHS and private medical insurance rarelycovers it, so the safeguards that come with NHS or insured care are the ones you have to check for yourself.

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What safe PRP costs, and what unsafe PRP costs

Specialist central London clinics commonly charge from around £780 to £900 or more per image guided PRPinjection including assessment, with a course of 2 to 3 taking a plan past £2,000. Outside central London PRPis advertised from around £250 to £500, and the cheaper the injection the more likely one of the safeguardsabove has been removed, most often the doctor, the scan or the ultrasound.

The reframing is the one every patient understands after the fact. The cost of an infected joint is a hospitaladmission, a washout, weeks of antibiotics and a joint that may never be the same. The cost of an unguidedneedle into the wrong structure is a second problem on top of the first. Against those, the difference betweena £300 injection and an £800 one is not the number that matters.

Care at The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness is doctor-led and priced below flagship central London rates,with your exact figure confirmed at the free suitability review, which is also where the screening abovehappens.

Ask about the cost for your joint on WhatsApp and we will explain what the review covers.

The free suitability review

Every enquiry here starts with a free, doctor-led suitability review rather than a booking. A GMC-registereddoctor goes through your medical history, medication, the joint or tendon, and any imaging, and gives one oftwo answers. Either you are approved for treatment, with the risks specific to you explained and a plan forwhat to do if anything goes wrong, or you are not approved, with an honest explanation of why, whether that isa medical exclusion, a condition the evidence does not support, or a reason to wait.

We decline a meaningful share of the people who enquire. That is deliberate. A clinic that approves everyone isoptimising for bookings, not outcomes.

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Why people choose The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness

An 87 percent patient success rate across treatments.
More than 187 five star reviews.
Every treatment performed by a GMC-registered doctor.
100 supervised treatments completed by every clinician before they treat a patient here unsupervised.
A 32 percent average density increase reported in our hair restoration programme.

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Frequently asked questions

Is PRP safe for joints

Yes, with the usual caveats for any injection. A 2026 meta-analysis of randomised trials found mild, transientpain and swelling as the main side effects and no severe adverse events, and NICE found no major safetyconcerns. The risks that remain are infection, bleeding and needle injury, which depend on technique andsetting rather than the plasma.

What are the side effects of PRP injections

A flare of pain and swelling for 2 to 4 days is the commonest, more so with leukocyte-rich preparations.Bruising at the blood draw and injection sites is common. Longer flares, stiffness and, rarely, infection orbleeding into the joint are the less common ones, and infection needs same-day attention.

Who should not have PRP

People with platelet disorders or low platelet counts, active infection, active cancer, severe anaemia, unstablemedical conditions, or who are pregnant. Anticoagulant use needs a doctor’s judgement. PRP is also notappropriate for full tendon tears, bone on bone joints, or conditions where placebo-controlled trials show nobenefit.

Can PRP cause infection

Rarely. Septic arthritis after intra-articular PRP has been reported in case reports, and it is a procedure riskrather than a property of the plasma. Sterile technique, a closed preparation system, a medical setting and asame-day pathway for a hot, red joint are what keep the risk low.

Is PRP regulated in the UK

PRP prepared for a medical purpose is treated by the MHRA as an unlicensed medicine that doctors mayprepare for their own named patients. The proposed licensing scheme for non-surgical procedures places it inthe amber tier, requiring a qualified healthcare professional, and NICE requires governance and auditarrangements for knee use.

Can I have PRP if I take blood thinners

Sometimes, with a doctor’s assessment of bleeding risk and a decision on whether and how to proceed. Neverstop a prescribed anticoagulant or antiplatelet drug on your own before an injection. A clinic that does not askabout blood thinners has not screened you.

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References

PM&R, 2026. Nakagawa et al. Assessment of adverse events and safety associated with intra-articularplatelet-rich plasma injections compared to other injectates for knee osteoarthritis, a systematic reviewand meta-analysis. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42101047/
NICE, 2019. Platelet-rich plasma injections for knee osteoarthritis, interventional procedures guidanceIPG637. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg637/chapter/1-Recommendations
Cureus, 2024. Almutairi and Alazzeh. Efficacy and safety of PRP intra-articular injections in hiposteoarthritis, a systematic review of randomised clinical trials.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11578636/
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025. Sánchez Santiuste et al. Plasma rich in growth factors versus salineintraosseous infiltrations combined with intra-articular PRGF in severe knee osteoarthritis, a prospectivedouble-blind multicentric randomised controlled trial with 1-year follow-up.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12653810/
1. Adverse events related to platelet-rich plasma therapy and future issues to be resolved, including acase of septic arthritis after leukocyte-rich PRP.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382426495_Adverse_events_related_to_platelet-rich_plasma_therapy_and_future_issues_to_be_resolved
Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research, 2026. Leukocyte-rich versus leukocyte-poor platelet-richplasma and hyaluronic acid for knee osteoarthritis, a systematic review and network meta-analysis of 21randomised trials. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13018-026-06689-4
JAMA, 2021. Kearney et al. Effect of platelet-rich plasma injection vs sham injection on tendondysfunction in patients with chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy, the ATM randomised clinical trial.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8278266
Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 2025. Atchia et al. Efficacy of platelet-rich plasma versus placebo forthe treatment of greater trochanteric pain syndrome, a double-blinded randomised controlled trial, theHIPPO trial. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39804899/
Central London clinic price lists for image guided PRP and steroid injections, accessed September 2026.

This article is for general information and does not replace a medical assessment. Speak to one of our doctors,and your own GP or specialist if you have a medical condition, before deciding whether PRP is safe for you.

Reviewed by [GMC-REGISTERED DOCTOR NAME, GMC NUMBER TO CONFIRM], The London PRP Clinic byThe Wellness. Last updated September 2026.

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