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.

Told You Are Too Young For A Knee Replacement

18 Sept

Written By Sama Samy

Being told to wait is sensible advice, because a replacement has a finite lifespan and a second operation is harder than the first. It is also incomplete advice, because nobody usually explains what to do with the intervening years. Those years are not a holding pattern. What you do with them changes how much pain you have now, how fast the joint deteriorates, and how well you recover when the operation eventually happens.

Key points

Surgeons advise waiting because a replacement lasts a finite time, so a joint replaced at 48 may need revising, and revision surgery is more difficult with poorer outcomes.
The waiting years are treatable. Strength, weight and load management change symptoms and function more than most people are told.
For injections, the evidence is condition-specific. PRP outperforms hyaluronic acid in pooled data, while a 2021 randomised trial in JAMA found PRP no better than placebo for knee osteoarthritis.
The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness does not perform surgery, so our view on whether you need it has no commercial pull in either direction.

Told to wait and unsure what to do meanwhile? Message a GMC-registered doctor on WhatsApp or email team@thewellnesslondon.com.

Why surgeons say wait

A knee replacement is one of the most successful operations in medicine, and it does not last forever. The younger and more active you are when it is fitted, the more load it takes and the more likely you are to outlive it. A revision operation is technically harder, results are generally less good, and the bone stock available for a third is limited.

So the advice to wait is about protecting your long-term function rather than dismissing your pain. The problem is what the conversation usually leaves out. People walk away with a diagnosis, a timeline measured in years, and no plan. Many respond by reducing activity, which accelerates the very deconditioning that makes both the waiting years and the eventual recovery worse.

What the waiting years are actually for

Strength, which does more than most people expect

Quadriceps and hip strength are among the strongest modifiable determinants of pain and function in knee osteoarthritis. This is not a consolation prize offered because nothing else is available. Structured strengthening changes symptoms meaningfully, and it also determines how well you do after eventual surgery, because people who go into a replacement strong come out of it better.

If you have been given a photocopied exercise sheet and nothing else, you have not had a trial of this. Supervised, progressive loading over months is a different intervention from a sheet of exercises.

Load and weight

Every kilogram of body weight translates into several kilograms of force through the knee with each step, which is why weight change has an outsized effect on symptoms. Alongside that, managing how you load the joint, meaning what you do, how often and with what recovery, frequently reduces pain without reducing activity overall.

Correcting what else is going on

Vitamin D deficiency, inflammatory conditions and metabolic factors all influence joint symptoms and are worth identifying rather than assuming. This is straightforward to check.

Buying good years

Where the above has been done properly and pain still limits you, injections become a reasonable conversation. The aim is not to avoid replacement forever. It is to be comfortable and active for the years between now and the right time to operate.

Want to know what your knee actually needs? Ask our doctors on WhatsApp.

Where injections fit, honestly

Corticosteroid

Works quickly and suits a defined short-term need, such as getting through an event or a busy period. Repeated use carries recognised risks, and relief that keeps wearing off is a signal that the underlying problem is unchanged rather than a reason for another injection.

Hyaluronic acid

Aims to restore lubrication and cushioning. Reasonable, and now generally outperformed by PRP in pooled comparisons.

PRP

Uses growth factors concentrated from your own blood. Against hyaluronic acid the pooled data favour it, with a 2023 meta-analysis of 30 studies covering 2,733 patients finding PRP outperformed hyaluronic acid on both standard knee outcome scores, and a 2025 meta-analysis of 28 randomised trials covering 3,246 patients confirming better functional improvement.

Against placebo the picture is different and we will not pretend otherwise. A large randomised controlled trial published in JAMA in 2021 found PRP no better than placebo saline for knee osteoarthritis symptoms, and NICE describes the efficacy evidence in this setting as limited in quality.

The honest summary is that PRP is a reasonable option if you are choosing between the injectable treatments commonly offered, that some patients improve meaningfully, and that it is not a proven disease-modifying treatment and does not regrow cartilage. Any clinic telling you otherwise is going beyond the evidence.

Who does better, and who does not

Better. Mild to moderate osteoarthritis with joint space still present on imaging. People who have done the strength work rather than skipped it. Lower body mass index. Pain that is activity-related rather than constant.

Less well. Established bone-on-bone change, where the realistic conversation is the timing of replacement rather than an injection. Mechanical symptoms such as locking, catching or giving way, which suggest something physically in the way and a surgical problem. People hoping an injection will substitute for rehabilitation.

This is why assessment and imaging come before any decision. The same diagnosis on paper describes knees with very different prospects.

When to stop injecting and have the operation

Worth saying plainly, because a clinic that sells injections has an incentive not to.

If your function is deteriorating year on year, if pain wakes you at night consistently, if you are declining things you want to do, and if injections are giving progressively shorter relief, the conversation has changed. At that point continuing to inject is delay rather than treatment, and delaying too long makes rehabilitation after surgery harder.

We will tell you when we think you have reached that point. Referring someone for a surgical opinion is a routine outcome here rather than a failure, and since we do not perform surgery we gain nothing either way.

What treatment costs in London

Image-guided joint PRP at specialist central London clinics commonly costs from around £780 to £900 or more per injection including assessment, with a course of two to three taking a plan past £2,000. Outside central London the range is roughly £250 to £500, where injections are frequently performed without image guidance.

PRP is not routinely commissioned by the NHS for osteoarthritis, and private insurance rarely covers it, so this is almost always self-pay. For comparison, private knee arthroscopy runs to several thousand pounds and private joint replacement well into five figures once surgeon, anaesthetist, implant, hospital stay and rehabilitation are counted.

Our care is doctor-led and priced below flagship central London rates, with your plan and the exact figure confirmed after your free suitability review rather than quoted before anyone has examined the knee.

Ask what your plan would cost. Message us on WhatsApp.

The suitability review

Every enquiry begins with a free doctor-led suitability review rather than a booking. A GMC-registered doctor takes your history, examines the knee, reviews or arranges imaging, and gives one of two answers.

Approved, with your diagnosis, where your condition sits on the evidence, how many injections and why, what to expect at six and twelve weeks, the rehabilitation that runs alongside and the total cost before you commit.

Or not approved, in which case we say so. Frequently that means completing a proper strengthening programme first, or that the knee has reached the point where the useful conversation is about the timing of surgery.

We decline a meaningful share of knee enquiries. Given that the evidence here is contested and that advanced arthritis does not respond, treating everyone who asks would be poor medicine and would show up quickly in our outcomes.

Why people choose The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness

The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness is a doctor-led clinic treating from 10 Portman Square in Marylebone and the Light Centre in Belgravia. Every treatment is performed by GMC-registered doctors using image guidance, and no clinician treats a patient here until they have completed 100 supervised treatments.

We teach ultrasound-guided joint PRP to doctors through our Academy, and we are candid about evidence, including where it does not favour us. Across our work we report more than 187 five-star reviews.

Book your free suitability review. Message us on WhatsApp, email team@thewellnesslondon.com, or call +44 20 3951 3429.

Frequently asked questions about being too young for a knee replacement

Why am I being told to wait for a knee replacement?

Because a replacement has a finite lifespan, so a joint replaced young is more likely to need revision, and revision surgery is harder with generally poorer outcomes. The advice protects your long-term function.

What should I do while I wait?

Structured progressive strengthening of the quadriceps and hips, weight and load management, and correcting anything found on blood tests. These change symptoms meaningfully and improve recovery after eventual surgery.

Does PRP work for knee osteoarthritis?

Pooled data favour PRP over hyaluronic acid, including a 2023 meta-analysis of 30 studies and 2,733 patients. Against placebo the evidence is contested, with a 2021 JAMA trial finding no benefit and NICE describing the evidence as limited in quality.

Will PRP delay my need for a replacement?

It may improve symptoms and function in suitable patients, but it is not a proven disease-modifying treatment and does not regrow cartilage. It buys comfort rather than changing the underlying joint.

When should I stop injections and have surgery?

When function is deteriorating year on year, pain wakes you consistently, you are declining things you want to do, and relief from injections is getting shorter. At that point continuing to inject is delay rather than treatment.

Is knee PRP available on the NHS?

Not routinely for osteoarthritis, and private insurance rarely covers it, so treatment is almost always self-pay.

This article is for information and does not replace personal medical advice. The evidence for PRP in knee osteoarthritis against placebo is contested and PRP preparation is not standardised. Surgical decisions should be made with an appropriate specialist. All treatments at The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness are performed by GMC-registered doctors. Reviewed by [GMC-REGISTERED DOCTOR NAME, GMC NUMBER TO CONFIRM], The London PRP Clinic by The Wellness. Last updated July 2026.

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Sama Samy