Some things people bring to a med spa need a doctor rather than a treatment room. Some things people bring to a med spa are not aesthetic problems and need a doctor rather than a treatment room. See a physician or a dermatologist, not us, if you have a mole or a mark that has changed shape, colour or size, or that bleeds, itches or will not heal; a sore anywhere that has been there more than three weeks; a rash you cannot explain; a patch of skin that is newly numb, hard or ulcerated; sudden hair loss in patches, or hair loss alongside fatigue or weight change; or swelling, heat and spreading redness that could be an infection. And if you have had filler treatment anywhere and the area becomes white or mottled, severely painful, or your vision changes, that is an emergency — telephone us immediately if we treated you, and go to an emergency room if you cannot reach somebody within minutes. We would far rather you rang a doctor and never rang us at all.
A tube of your blood is spun in a centrifuge to separate the platelet-rich fraction from the rest. Platelets carry growth factors involved in tissue repair, and the concentrate is injected in a grid across the thinning areas of the scalp. The working theory is that those growth factors extend the growth phase of follicles that have begun to miniaturise, so hairs grow thicker, darker and for longer before shedding.
The evidence is genuinely reasonable and it is not overwhelming, and we would rather say that than overstate it. Multiple studies show measurable increases in hair density and thickness in androgenetic thinning; the studies are mostly small, the preparation protocols vary considerably between clinics, and the effect size differs between people in ways nobody can yet predict. Somewhere around two thirds of appropriately selected patients see a worthwhile improvement. That means a third do not.
The single most important thing on this page is that follicles must still be alive. This treatment stimulates hair that is present and getting finer. Scalp that has been completely smooth for several years has no follicles left to stimulate, and no injection changes that. Acting early — while you still have hair that is thinning — is the difference between a treatment that helps and money spent on nothing.
Before anything is injected
The first appointment is not a treatment. It is finding out why your hair is thinning.
Blood tests, first
Thyroid function, iron stores, vitamin D and a full blood count as a minimum. Hair loss caused by thyroid disease, iron deficiency or a nutritional problem is treated by correcting that problem, and injecting a scalp instead is both useless and a delay. We insist on this and some people find it frustrating.
What pattern of loss you actually have
Gradual thinning at the crown and along the parting behaves quite differently from sudden diffuse shedding, and both differ from patchy loss with clean edges. The last of those needs a dermatologist, not us, and so does anything with scaling, redness or scarring of the scalp.
Whether medical treatment should come first
There are prescription treatments for pattern hair loss with better evidence than this one. Where those are appropriate for you, the honest recommendation is to see a physician about them, and this treatment works better alongside them than instead of them. We do not prescribe and we will refer.
An honest look at timing
Somebody in the early stages of thinning is a good candidate. Somebody with several years of smooth scalp is not, and no amount of treatment changes that. We will say so at the consultation, and it is the most common reason we do not proceed.
The course
Three or four sessions, then maintenance, and a long wait before you can judge it.
The session
A blood draw, twelve minutes in the centrifuge, then a grid of small injections across the thinning areas. Numbing cream and a cooling device make it manageable; it is uncomfortable rather than painful and takes about twenty minutes. Scalp tenderness for a day afterwards is normal.
Three or four sessions, a month apart
The initial course. Nothing visible happens during it, which is exactly what makes people lose faith in the third month. Hair grows slowly and a follicle stimulated in March produces visibly better hair in July.
Assess at six months
With standardised photographs taken in the same light at the same distance — the only honest way to assess hair, because nobody can remember accurately what their own scalp looked like six months ago. Those photographs are yours and stay in your record; they are not published anywhere, here or elsewhere.
Maintenance
One session every four to six months if the course worked. Hair loss is progressive: stopping means returning to your underlying trajectory across the following year. That ongoing commitment is worth understanding before you begin.
Risks and honest limits
A low-risk treatment with a genuinely uncertain response rate.
Risks
Scalp tenderness and swelling for a day or two, small bruises, occasional headache after a session. Because the material is your own blood there is no allergy risk. Infection is rare with sterile technique.
It does not work for everybody
Around a third of appropriately selected people see little or no worthwhile change, and there is currently no way to predict who. Anybody promising you a response is promising something the evidence does not support.
It is not permanent
It stimulates existing follicles; it does not stop the underlying process. Without maintenance the benefit fades across roughly a year. This is a treatment you continue rather than complete.
We will not treat
Patchy hair loss with clean edges, or any scalp with scaling, redness or scarring — those need a dermatologist; anybody who has not had blood tests; anybody with a blood or platelet disorder or on certain blood-thinning treatment without their physician's input; anybody with an active scalp infection; and anybody whose scalp has been smooth for years, for whom there is nothing to stimulate.
Hair Restoration in western Queens
Your own blood is spun to concentrate the platelets, and the concentrate is injected into the scalp to stimulate thinning follicles. It works on hair that is thinning, not on scalp where hair has gone.
Every treatment here starts the same way: a full hour at a table in a room with no treatment couch in it, a proper medical history, your skin looked at in daylight, and then a plain statement of what we think would achieve what you described. You are told what it costs, how many sessions it usually takes, how long it lasts, what the recovery looks like and what can go wrong — on paper, to take home and read somewhere other than a treatment room. If the honest answer is a different treatment, or nothing, or a dermatologist, that is what you get instead, and it costs exactly the same.
Aesthetic treatment is elective medicine, and this page is not medical advice for you. Aesthetic treatment is elective, it is medicine wherever it breaks the skin, and nothing on this website is medical advice for you in particular. We do not diagnose disease. Every treatment here begins with a consultation and a medical history, because your health, your medication, your skin type and what you have had done before all change what is safe and what is sensible. Some people are told no. Being told no is a normal outcome of a consultation here rather than a failure of one, and it costs exactly the same as being told yes.
No before-and-after photographs, and no promised outcome. There are no before-and-after photographs on this website and there never will be. Every set you have seen somewhere else was chosen from a much larger pile, and the second picture is usually taken in different light, at a different angle, at a different time of day, often with makeup and frequently after retouching. Even an entirely honest pair shows you what happened to somebody else's face. What we publish instead is what a treatment typically changes, by roughly how much, how long it lasts, how many sessions it usually takes and how often people are disappointed. We do not guarantee an outcome, we cannot, and anybody who does is either guessing or selling.
The risks, plainly. Every treatment on this site has side effects and some carry real risks. The common ones are minor and short-lived — redness, swelling, tenderness, bruising, a day or two of looking like you have had something done. The uncommon ones matter more: burns, blistering and long-lasting pigment change from light-based treatment, which is a greater risk on deeper skin tones and on recently tanned skin; infection anywhere the skin is broken; and lumps, asymmetry and, very rarely, a blocked blood vessel from injectable filler, which is the one true emergency in this field. We screen for what makes each of these more likely, we tell you your own risk rather than the average one, and we decline to treat when the answer should be no.
What a med spa does not treat. We treat the appearance of healthy skin, hair and body. We do not diagnose or treat disease. If you bring us a mole, a changing mark, an unexplained rash, a sore that will not heal, skin that has become hard or numb, psoriasis, eczema, an autoimmune skin condition, or hair loss that came on suddenly or in patches, what you will get is the name of a doctor rather than a treatment plan. Aesthetic treatment applied on top of an undiagnosed skin problem can mask it, delay the diagnosis and occasionally make it worse. We would rather lose the booking.
Questions
Hair Restoration — the questions we are asked most
Will it regrow hair where I am bald?
No. This stimulates follicles that are still alive and producing progressively finer hair. Scalp that has been completely smooth for several years has no follicles left to stimulate, and nothing injected changes that. If that is your situation, a hair transplant surgeon is the honest referral and we will make it.
Why do you insist on blood tests first?
Because thyroid disease, iron deficiency and several nutritional problems cause hair loss, and they are treated by correcting the cause. Injecting a scalp while an untreated thyroid problem continues is both useless and a delay to a diagnosis worth having. It is the most useful thing the first appointment does.
How well does it actually work?
Reasonably, in appropriately selected people, and not universally. Studies show measurable increases in hair density and thickness; they are mostly small, protocols vary between clinics, and roughly a third of people see little worthwhile change. Nobody can currently predict who. That is a more cautious answer than you will get in most places and it is the accurate one.
Does it hurt?
It is uncomfortable rather than painful. Numbing cream and a cooling device are used, the injections take about twenty minutes, and most people describe brief sharp pressure at each point. Scalp tenderness for a day afterwards is normal.
How long before I can tell?
Six months, assessed against standardised photographs. Hair grows slowly and there is nothing meaningful to see at three months, which is when most people lose confidence in it. Those photographs stay in your record and are not published anywhere.
Do I have to keep having it?
If you want to keep the benefit, yes — a session every four to six months. This stimulates follicles; it does not halt the underlying process, so without maintenance the benefit fades across about a year. It is an ongoing commitment rather than a course you finish.
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Book a consultation
Pick a clinician and an hour from the calendar — it shows only the times each of them genuinely has free. A consultation is a full hour at a table with no treatment couch in the room, and it costs $85, or $120 with the medical director. If you go ahead, that comes off your first treatment. If we tell you the answer is nothing, or a dermatologist, it costs exactly the same.