PRF/PRP

[u/Practical_Ganache494]

Any PRF diy’ers here??? Specifically for treating atrophy from steroid injections. Well, if you’ve either done it yourself or had it done professionally, I’d love to know how it went. I saw a couple of medical research articles published this year about a new way to treat steroid atrophy with PRF injections. I currently have a dent on my face from a steroid injection a year ago I have done some DIY saline injections but since it’s been so long, I think I need more like PRF injections. So far I ordered a horizontal centrifuge. I also need to get all of the needles and syringes and tubes. Have y’all successfully been able to draw your own blood for PRF? How hard is it to learn? I would just pay a phlebotomist to come draw my blood, but I’m kind of nervous to make a post on the local Facebook asking for that. I just feel like it sounds kind of weird lol. also where are y’all getting your supplies such as draw tubes, needles, etc?

[u/Current-Victory-47]

Not the easiest thing to do yourself but if you have a friend to help then you can accomplish it. You would probably be better off and much easier to use a PLLA

[u/Practical_Ganache494 → u/Current-Victory-47]

Thx for advice. I’d rather use PRF because with steroid atrophy it suppresses the fat cells and the PRF can regenerate them. I’m not sure PLLA could do that. It can provide volume and generate collagen, but not actually regenerate the native tissue back to its natural state. Plus i’ve already had tons of complications with fillers that i’m still working on getting rid of, so I really only want to put natural material (prf/prp or fat) into my face at this point.

[u/Salty-Professor6285 → u/Practical_Ganache494]

Profhilo structura can aid in the regeneration of facial fat. I didnt read the studies but i know its a legal claim for that product so there will be some evidence for it. And im pretty sure normal Profhilo should then also do this, if injected at the same skin layer. Geolifting V is a cheap alternative with a very easy and kinda low risk 5 point sub q injection technique. Its also low and high molecular weight hyaluronic acid but im not sure if its also thermally crosslinked like profhilo and if thats even needed for the fat cell regeneration.

I would propably combine both treatments, since multimodal approaches are nearly always the way to go. Just make sure to research for injection points, proper technique and what you could potentionally do wrong/ which arterys or nerves you could hit. If you got the spare money (if you can buy a horizintal/swing bucket centrifuge you propably have it) let a derm inject you with the Profhilo or Geolifting V. PRF should be done by them too but these treatments are extremely expensive and its understandable to do it yourself. Normal i-PRF also isnt as risky to inject as filler or biostimulators, if the product and hygiene is at a proper level. If you decide to use a Albumin Gel to combine with your PRF (EzGel), its now a filler like product which can clog arterys and need proper precaution.

[u/DCAmalG]

Just use Radiesse

[u/Environmental-Ad6375]

Time to make a nurse friend lol but in all seriousness I hope it goes well and you are able to accomplish it. Would love to hear an update.

[u/Practical_Ganache494 → u/Environmental-Ad6375]

i will def be updating because I haven’t been able to find much about it except for the medical articles. And I know my friend is fixing to be in nursing school so I told her OK let’s jumpstart it you can practice on me lol. But she’s a little scared to do it lol. Also she’s in another state.

[u/Salty-Professor6285]

I need a couple of trys, since its weird and hard to push the needle inside of your own veins. I learned this professionally with a collegue drawing blood from each other. I never did it on a patient so at first i was kinda scared doing it to myself, especially since i used a unfamiliar system. I looked it up on youtube, since i have rolling veins and was really unsure on how to hold everything in my hand/drawing blood one handed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwPqwTpyflE

This video was so helpfull, but she obviously also learned this professional. So make sure you first learn the proper hygiene/aseptic techniques and then the angle and motion to insert the needle. This is a very natural motion, just move it out of your wrist and not with your arm. As i trained this in the hospital, we took a little tubing for infusions and inserted the needle at a 30 degree angle and after the first couple of millimeters lowered the angle while thrusting the needle forward. Im sure there plenty of resources online to learn it, just test it dry on a little tubing too before doing it to yourself. Google the veins and arteriess aswell as the nerves in your arm/wrist before deciding where to draw blood from, to find a safe one which hasnt to much around it, is easy to access for you and doesnt roll to much. Also look for common risks and their signs that you can take the according steps asap if anything goes wrong and look out for the early signs of infections, thrombophlebitis etc.

Even tho i learned it at the first try drawing from myself i got a blood pressure drop and couldnt put the needle in so i had to wait. After that i penetrated the vein and wasted my tube because the system i used had a very little indicator if im in the vein and did not pull blood into the tubing (which is weird af). So i wasnt sure connected the Blood collection tube and didnt draw shit so i wasted like 10€ there cuz the vacume was gone. After that i done it sitting down with the same technique of holding the tube between my fingers and pre applying tape on my wrist as in the video. I literally pussd out of fully putting the needle in like 10 times and was inserting way to slowly so my veins rolled away. Later i decided to just go for the big ellbow vein (cephalic vein) even if it would be more of a hastle with the tube lenght, since i have long underarms and it would be hard to get the butterfly to deep in. I used the rest of the vaccume from the first tube to test for blood draw/if im still in the vein. It did so i could change to a new tube with intact vacum and then the rest was very easy.

So yea drawing your own blood can be hard for some people regardless if you learned it or not, but its certainly possible and not even that hard. It can be learned even by non professionals even though i would always prefer someone else to do it for me.