Over the years, you’ve likely put many different products on your face — especially if you’re a woman trying to keep your skin hydrated after a certain age. In the course of your lifetime, you’ve undoubtedly tried your share of moisturizers, blemish control serums, anti-wrinkle creams, and liquid foundation that’s supposed to “blur the lines” of all those visible imperfections.
Perhaps the one thing you haven’t yet tried putting on your face is, well…your own blood. As odd as that may sound at first, here at Dr. McKenna’s Orthopedics and Biologics, with locations in Dallas and Trophy Club, Texas, Dr. Wade McKenna often recommends just that for men and women who want to rejuvenate their complexion.
As director of a cutting-edge medical wellness center, Dr. McKenna shares the benefits of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) with adults who want to look their best at every age. With a PRP treatment, your own blood can take years off your face. Take a minute to learn how and find out if a PRP facial may be an ideal solution for you.
Seriously? My Own Blood Can Make Me Look Younger?
Your blood contains growth factors, or proteins, that can be found in your blood platelets. These growth factors are instrumental when it comes to healing a wound, such as a small laceration on your finger, to a skinned knee, to repairing your body after surgery. When your body perceives an injury, platelets rush to the area to ignite the healing process.
The growth factors in your blood cells stimulate new tissue growth, reduce inflammation, and promote clotting so you don’t bleed excessively from a simple cut. When you apply these healing properties to your face, the same tissue regeneration occurs.
So, a PRP facial, or vampire facial as it’s sometimes called, promotes new tissue growth within the deeper layers of your skin. As a result, your skin appears firmer — thanks to the new collagen fibers that grow — and rejuvenated from the inside out.
PRP facials can minimize the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, blemishes, and other skin imperfections, too. Once your face fully “heals” from its perceived injury, all you’re left with is more evenly toned skin and a more youthful complexion.
How a PRP Facial Works
It’s important to realize that PRP facials are medical procedures, rather than simply cosmetic treatments, and therefore should only be performed by a board-certified medical professional.
For the first step of the treatment, a member of Dr. McKenna’s medical wellness team collects a small sample of blood from your arm and processes the blood in a high-speed centrifuge. This procedure extracts the protein-rich plasma and platelets from your blood.
Combined together, the protein-rich plasma and platelets create the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) that Dr. McKenna applies to your face through a treatment called microneedling. Microneedling is just as it sounds — a series of tiny, sterile needles that create micro punctures in the surface of your skin. This “injury” as your body perceives it, is crucial in helping your skin absorb the proteins from the PRP.
As the PRP gets absorbed into the tiny punctures on your face, it goes to work “healing” your skin from its wounds. PRP stimulates new tissue and new collagen production. In the days and weeks following your treatment, your skin continues to produce healthier tissue from the inside out, so you get visible, long-lasting results.
Expect Long-lasting Benefits After a PRP Facial
Some of the benefits of a PRP facial include:
- Tighter skin
- Reduced appearance of age spots
- Reduced appearance of acne scars
- Smoother, less visible wrinkles
- More even skin tone, overall
While your face may appear red or pink at first, recovery is minimal. And since the PRP comes from your own blood, there is little chance — if any — of an adverse reaction or infection from the facial. After all, blood is a natural part of your body and doesn’t contain artificial ingredients, as dermal fillers and other types of anti-aging injections often do.
While you may have never imagined having your face covered in your own blood, there truly are anti-aging benefits from this regenerative procedure. If you’ve tried all the other lotions and potions that claim to tighten and rejuvenate aging skin, why not try the proven results of a PRP facial?
Dr. McKenna invites you to schedule a consultation at MOAB to learn more. Call or book online, today.