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 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.

Does PRP Work for Back Pain. Disc, Facet and Sacroiliac Injections, and Why We Mostly Say No

20 Sept

Written By Sofian Youssef

For most back pain, no, and we decline most enquiries about it. The evidence for PRP into a spinal disc is a single double-blind trial of 16 patients that missed its primary endpoint, small series, and a reported disc infection requiring surgery. NICE advises against spinal injections for non-specific low back pain. The treatment for most back pain is movement.

Key points

A 2022 double-blind randomised trial in the Journal of Clinical Medicine gave 16 patients with discogenic low back pain an intradiscal injection of PRP releasate or corticosteroid. The primary outcome, change in pain at 8 weeks, did not differ between groups, with a disability score advantage for PRP at 26 weeks in a secondary analysis.
A 2022 single-arm study of 31 patients given one intradiscal PRP injection reported that 71 percent were classed as successes over 48 weeks and that 1 patient required surgery 2 weeks after injection for intervertebral discitis, an infection of the disc.
A meta-analysis of intradiscal PRP could find only 3 studies to pool, 1 randomised trial and 2 observational studies, and found pain reduced at 2 and 6 months but not at 1 month.
NICE guideline NG59 on low back pain and sciatica advises against spinal injections for non-specific low back pain, recommending exercise, manual therapy within an exercise programme and psychological support instead.

If you have back pain and have been offered PRP into the spine, message us on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com and a doctor will tell you what the evidence supports, which for most people is not an injection.

Why back pain is different from a knee or a tendon

PRP has trial evidence in the knee, in several tendons and in the carpal tunnel, and the temptation is to assume that what helps a joint will help a spine. The spine is different in 3 ways that matter. First, most back pain has no single identifiable source. NICE calls it non-specific, meaning it cannot be attributed to a disc, a facet joint or a sacroiliac joint with any confidence, and an injection needs a target. Second, the structures that can be injected sit next to the spinal cord, the nerve roots and the major vessels, so the procedure risk is of a different order from a knee. Third, the disc is avascular, meaning it has almost no blood supply, which makes it slow to heal and dangerously slow to clear an infection introduced by a needle.

The natural history is also different. Most episodes of low back pain settle within 6 to 12 weeks with movement and reassurance, which means any injection given in that window takes credit for a recovery that was coming anyway. That is why NICE guideline NG59 recommends exercise, manual therapy as part of an exercise programme and psychological approaches for persistent pain, and advises against spinal injections for non-specific low back pain. A clinic offering PRP for a bad back is offering a procedure the national guideline says not to do, on evidence the next section sets out. The non-surgical options that do exist are worth knowing before anyone reaches for a needle.

What the disc evidence actually is

The strongest study is the 2022 double-blind randomised trial in the Journal of Clinical Medicine from Mie University in Japan. Sixteen patients with discogenic low back pain, confirmed by imaging and discography, received an intradiscal injection of either PRP releasate or corticosteroid. The primary outcome was change in pain at 8 weeks, and it did not differ between the 2 groups. In secondary analyses the PRP group had a better disability score at 26 weeks and better walking ability at 4 and 8 weeks. Sixteen patients is a pilot, the primary endpoint was missed, and the comparator was steroid rather than saline.

The other studies are smaller or uncontrolled. A 2022 single-arm study of 31 patients given a single intradiscal PRP injection reported that 22, or 71 percent, were classed as successes over 48 weeks, and that 1 patient developed discitis, infection of the disc, requiring surgery 2 weeks after injection. A meta-analysis attempting to pool the evidence found only 3 eligible studies, 1 randomised and 2 observational, and reported pain reduction at 2 and 6 months but not 1 month. A 2016 review in International Orthopaedics called intradiscal PRP safe and possibly effective and asked for the trials that, 10 years later, are still largely missing.

Send us your spine MRI report on WhatsApp and a doctor will tell you whether there is a target worth discussing, and with whom.

Facet joints, sacroiliac joints and the rest

The facet joints are the small paired joints at the back of each spinal segment, and the sacroiliac joints connect the base of the spine to the pelvis. Both can cause back pain, both are injected with steroid in pain clinics, and both have been injected with PRP in small studies. The literature consists of a small randomised comparison of PRP against steroid in the lumbar facets, a small randomised comparison in the sacroiliac joint, and case series, with follow-up of months and patient numbers in the dozens. None reaches the standard of the knee or carpal tunnel evidence, and none justifies a course sold to a patient whose pain source has not been confirmed by a diagnostic block.

The honest position is that facet and sacroiliac PRP are experimental treatments that a pain specialist might reasonably discuss with a patient who has a confirmed pain source, has exhausted the exercise-based treatment NICE recommends, has had steroid that faded, and understands the evidence is thin. That patient exists. He or she is not the person answering an advertisement for regenerative back pain treatment, and a clinic that injects a spine without a diagnostic block, imaging guidance and a pain specialist is doing something the evidence does not support in a place where the risks are real.

What actually treats back pain

NICE guideline NG59 is clear and it is not what most people want to hear. For non-specific low back pain with or without sciatica the recommendations are to stay active, to use a structured exercise programme tailored to the individual, to consider manual therapy only as part of that programme, and to add a psychological approach for persistent pain that is limiting life. It advises against belts, traction, acupuncture, ultrasound and, for non-specific pain, spinal injections. Paracetamol alone is not recommended, and opioids are to be avoided for chronic pain. Radiofrequency denervation is an option for confirmed facet pain after a positive diagnostic block, and surgery is reserved for specific structural problems with nerve compression.

That guideline exists because the trials of movement-based treatment are large and the trials of injections are small, and because the natural history of back pain is recovery. A patient with persistent back pain who has not yet done a proper exercise-based programme with a physiotherapist has not yet had first-line treatment, and the injection conversation, whatever is in the syringe, comes after that and only for a confirmed source.

A back pain check before any injection

Work through this before booking anything, including here.

Do you have any of the following. Numbness in the saddle area, new difficulty passing urine or controlling the bowels, weakness in both legs, or back pain with fever or unexplained weight loss. Any of these is a same-day A and E visit, not an injection.
Has the pain been there under 12 weeks. Most episodes settle in that time with movement, and no injection improves on that.
Have you done a structured exercise programme with a physiotherapist for at least 3 months. If not, that is first-line treatment and comes before any needle.
Has a specific source been confirmed, by MRI and, for facet or sacroiliac pain, a diagnostic block that relieved the pain. Without that there is no target.
Is a pain specialist or spinal specialist involved, with imaging guidance. If the answer is a regenerative clinic without either, decline.

Our doctors put it this way. The spine is where we say no most often, and we say it before people spend anything. The evidence for PRP in a disc is 16 patients and a missed endpoint, and the risk is an infection in a structure that cannot clear it. Back pain is treated by moving, and we would rather send you to a physiotherapist than into a needle.

Message us on WhatsApp with how long the pain has lasted, what you have tried, and any imaging, and a doctor will give you a straight answer, which for most backs is a referral to physiotherapy or a pain specialist rather than a booking.

What PRP does not do for the back

PRP does not have a randomised trial that met its primary endpoint in the spine, does not have a placebo comparison in the disc, and does not have evidence in the facet or sacroiliac joints beyond small studies. It does not regenerate a degenerate disc in any way shown in patients, and the 1 study that imaged discs found no change in degeneration grade. It carries a documented risk of discitis, an infection in a structure with almost no blood supply, and the procedure sits beside the spinal cord and nerve roots. It does not replace the exercise-based treatment NICE recommends, and it is not commissioned by the NHS for any spinal indication.

What spinal injections cost, and what the wrong one costs

Specialist central London clinics commonly charge from around £780 to £900 or more per image-guided PRP injection including assessment, and spinal procedures through pain clinics carry higher fees for the imaging, the setting and the specialist involved. A course of physiotherapy costs a fraction of a single spinal injection and is the treatment with the evidence.

The reframing is the disc that gets infected. A single intradiscal PRP injection that goes well costs its fee. One that introduces discitis costs weeks in hospital, intravenous antibiotics, possibly surgery, and a disc that is worse than before. The 31-patient series recorded 1 such case. Against that, a physiotherapy programme that NICE recommends costs less, carries no such risk, and is what the guideline says to do first.

Care at The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness is doctor-led and priced below flagship central London rates, but for back pain the likely outcome of the free suitability review is a referral to physiotherapy or a pain specialist, and we would rather say so here than take a fee.

Ask us what would help your back 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-registered doctor takes a history, screens for the red flags that need emergency care, reviews any imaging, and gives one of two answers. Either you are approved for treatment, which for the spine means a confirmed source, exhausted first-line care and a pain specialist involved, with the thin evidence set out plainly, or you are not approved, with an honest explanation of what would serve you better, which for most back pain is a structured exercise programme and, where needed, a pain or spinal specialist.

We decline a meaningful share of the people who enquire. For back pain that share is nearly all of them, and we publish this article so that fewer people pay elsewhere for what the evidence does not support.

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.

Frequently asked questions

Does PRP work for back pain

Not on current evidence. The only double-blind randomised trial of PRP into a disc, 16 patients, missed its primary pain endpoint at 8 weeks. Facet and sacroiliac PRP have small studies only. NICE advises against spinal injections for non-specific low back pain and recommends exercise-based treatment.

Is PRP safe for the spine

Less safe than in a joint. A 31-patient study of intradiscal PRP recorded 1 case of discitis, infection of the disc, requiring surgery 2 weeks after injection. The disc has almost no blood supply to clear infection, and the injection sits beside the spinal cord and nerve roots. Any spinal injection needs imaging guidance and a specialist.

What does NICE recommend for back pain

NICE guideline NG59 recommends staying active, a structured exercise programme, manual therapy only within that programme, and psychological approaches for persistent pain. It advises against spinal injections for non-specific low back pain, against belts, traction and acupuncture, and reserves radiofrequency denervation for confirmed facet pain after a diagnostic block.

Does PRP regenerate a degenerate disc

Not in patients. Laboratory and animal studies show effects on disc cells, but the 1 trial that graded disc degeneration on MRI after PRP found no change between groups. Any clinic claiming disc regeneration should be asked for the imaging.

Can PRP help sciatica

Sciatica is nerve root compression, usually from a disc bulge, and the evidence-based options are exercise, time, an epidural steroid injection for severe cases and surgery for persistent nerve compression. PRP has no trial evidence for sciatica and is not part of the NICE pathway.

When should I go to A and E with back pain

Immediately if there is numbness in the saddle area, new difficulty passing urine or controlling the bowels, weakness in both legs, or back pain with fever, unexplained weight loss or a history of cancer. These can indicate nerve compression or infection and need same-day assessment.

References

Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2022. Akeda et al. Platelet-rich plasma releasate versus corticosteroid for the treatment of discogenic low back pain, a double-blind randomised controlled trial of 16 patients. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8777786/
2022. Zhang et al. Intradiscal autologous platelet-rich plasma injection for discogenic low back pain, a clinical trial of 31 patients including 1 case of discitis requiring surgery. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9576382/
Frontiers in Pain Research, 2025. Platelet-rich plasma for the treatment of discogenic low back pain, a prospective randomised controlled trial of 40 patients against methylene blue. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12380801/
Meta-analysis of intradiscal platelet-rich plasma for discogenic lower back pain, 3 studies.
International Orthopaedics, 2016. Intradiscal platelet-rich plasma injections for discogenic low back pain, an update. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27073034/
NICE, 2016, updated 2020. Low back pain and sciatica in over 16s, assessment and management, guideline NG59. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng59
Central London clinic price lists for image-guided PRP, accessed September 2026.

This article is for general information and does not replace a medical assessment. Back pain with red flag symptoms needs emergency care. Speak to one of our doctors, or a spinal or pain specialist, before deciding on any spinal treatment.

Sofian Youssef