PRP Injection Costs, Benefits and What To Expect

While it's common for athletes to experience muscle and bone injuries during the course of their activities, the average active and aging person can also suffer injuries that can lead to chronic pain, reduce function, and disrupt their quality of life.

For those who want to avoid extreme treatments such as surgery, steroid injection, treat common tendon, ligament, and muscle injuries or painful conditions; and treat conditions associated with chronic pain like arthritis and neuropathy,  and beautification for hair loss, smoothing fine lines and wrinkles, and sexual dysfunction.  PRP therapy, which harnesses the body's own healing properties, is worth considering.

What Is PRP Therapy?

PRP, short for platelet-rich plasma therapy, extracts the liquid part of the blood, known as plasma, and reduces it to just the platelets, a factor in blood that helps clotting and healing. That platelet-dense product is reinjected into the patient's affected body part, often with a pain-reducing medicine, to encourage healing. Depending upon where the injury is, some healthcare providers may use ultrasound to direct the injection to the areas where it will have the most impact on healing.

What makes platelets so helpful in healing, researchers believe, is that they also contain proteins called growth factors, which have been shown to help bodies heal from injuries.

What conditions can PRP injections treat?

Research is still being conducted on the efficacy of PRP therapy, but some studies have shown that it can be used to treat many issues, including muscle and tendon injuries, chronic pain associated with fibromyalgia and back pain, dental procedures, cosmetic treatments such as hair restoration and skin rejuvenation, and even sexual dysfunction.

• Orthopedic injuries: Probably the most common application of PRP therapy is for musculoskeletal conditions such as tendinitis (“tennis elbow," for example), arthritis and muscle strains, neuropathy.
• Chronic pain conditions: Because PRP therapy is produced from the patient's own blood, it is often considered a good alternative in treating chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia and back pain neuropathy, arthritis, muscle, joint and nerve pain. PRP therapy may be an alternative treatment to steroid injections that eventually wear off because the shots may reduce inflammation in the body.
• Cosmetic treatments: PRP may also treat other non-pain-related conditions such as hair restoration and skin rejuvenation. The higher the number of platelets, the greater the impact on hair density, follicle diameter and more.
• Other conditions: PRP may also be promising for other conditions unrelated to pain or musculoskeletal issues. PRP therapy is being tried as a treatment for such conditions as erectile dysfunction after a small study found that it helped with symptoms and patients had no adverse effects.  Additionally, PRP is sometimes used in dental procedures and dental surgery to reduce inflammation and encourage healing.

How Much Do PRP Injections Cost?

PRP therapy is typically charged per injection. The cost of a single PRP injection may range from $500 to $2,500, depending on such factors as location, the credentials and expertise of our  practitioner, and other details in your tailored plan such as added stem cell therapy or other added therapies that play a factor in your pricing. The median cost for PRP therapy is around $630.  Most insurance companies do not cover PRP therapy and it is private pay out of pocket.

While PRP is not covered by insurance, we recommend after paying for our services you turn in your receipt to your insurance company to see if they will reimburse you.  Or call in advance and ask your insurance provider if they will reimburse you. 
We accept Credit Cards for the consultation and a  Cashiers Check in advance for services.

4 Big Benefits of PRP Therapy

PRP therapy may offer a variety of benefits to patients, though it should be noted that there is still no large body of research on the therapy, and patients should moderate their expectations.

1. Reduced pain and inflammation

Many practitioners recommend PRP therapy, claiming that it can help reduce inflammation, and thus, pain. Injury and illness can cause acute and chronic pain in and around an injury site long after the initial injury has subsided or healed without other interventions.

Adding in PRP therapy, by the stimulation of fibroblasts and endothelial cells in the growth factors in the PRP, can then help reduce inflammation in the body.  These growth factors also help the formation of new blood cells.

With reduced inflammation can come reduced pain, though it can take up to several weeks after PRP injections to feel the effects.

2. Accelerated healing

By stimulating growth factors through PRP therapy and reducing inflammation, experts argue that this can speed the healing process.  It may also enable patients to cut down on, or eliminate, pain medication.

3. Minimal risk of adverse effects

What makes PRP therapy a good choice for almost anyone is that it comes with minimal risk of adverse effects because the plasma and platelets come from the patient's own body.

4. Potentially long-lasting results

You may see immediate benefit however results may not be instantaneous with PRP therapy. On average, it can take between several weeks for joint or tendon injections, and up to six months for scalp injections to see results.  

Multiple treatments are likely to be necessary. However, since they tend not to have any adverse side effects, there is little harm in getting multiple injections over time.

How PRP Therapy Works

The kind of consultation you will have for PRP therapy will depend upon what you're treating. You will see our experienced  doctor — essentially, you would see our PRP specialist for the injury or treatment area.

Ideally, you will have a consultation with the doctor, and then you will want to:

• Stop taking anti-inflammatory medications (such as ibuprofen or aspirin) a minimum of five days before the procedure, as well as stop blood thinning herbs or supplements.
• Unless otherwise advised by your doctor, you'll want to stop systemic steroids up to two weeks before the procedure, and stop steroid injections a minimum of one month before.
• Come to your procedure well hydrated and fed.

PRP preparation and procedure

For the preparation and injection part of the procedure, your blood will be extracted in our office and placed in a centrifuge to pull the platelets away from other blood components and isolate the platelet-rich plasma. Then, your PRP solution will be injected into your injury site or site of treatment, possibly using ultrasound guidance and X-rays.

Most of the time, you are given a local anesthetic to numb the area for the injection.  The procedure should not be terribly painful, though some discomfort is possible at the injection sites.

Post-treatment care for PRP therapy

For muscle and tendon issues, it's recommended that the patient avoid exercise or weight-bearing activities for a couple of days up to a week after receiving the injection, depending on what part of the body has been treated.

For people getting PRP therapy for hair growth, recommendations include avoiding vigorous exercise, sun or heat exposure for a couple of days after treatment, and to use only pH-balanced shampoos. It is also recommended to avoid alcohol, caffeine and smoking for three days after, and avoid using hair growth products such as minoxidil or hair color for at least three days after.

PRP Therapy Risks and Side Effects

In general, PRP therapy comes with very low risks and few side effects. Since the product is made from the patient's own cells and plasma, there's very little likelihood of an allergic reaction. However, because the procedure involves receiving a blood draw like you get at a lab, there may be mild soreness or bruising at the site and/or at the injection site. It's best to be hydrated and eat beforehand to prevent dizziness.