Platelet Rich Plasma for Treatment of Facial Photoaging: A Double-blind, Randomized, Split-face Study

Photoaging is characterized by cellular changes and alterations in dermal extracellular matrix proteins with degeneration of connective tissue caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The clinical manifestations of photoaging included wrinkles, pigmented changes, tissue loss, and sagging. Autologous platelet-rich plasma is a preparation of platelets in concentrated plasma from peripheral blood. The α granules of platelets contained many growth factors. According to previous literature, growth factors in platelet-rich plasma directly stimulate fibroblast proliferation to boost collagen production. It has also been shown to modulate extracellular matrix metabolism and remodeling by increasing the expression of specific matrix metalloproteinases. In review of previous literatures, there was only limited researches of platelet-rich plasma for treatment of photoaging. Therefore, the present study was conducted for analyzing the efficacy and safety of autologous platelet-rich plasma in photoaging therapy.