Everyone heard about the ‘Vampire Facial’ when Kim Kardashian brought the treatment out of the dark in 2013. Though she doesn’t go for the treatment herself, she helped the process gain traction and it quickly built up a huge fan base, including her sister, Kourtney Kardashian. Kim’s elder sister says she swears by the treatment in order to maintain her young, fresh, Instagram-ready skin.
As people start seeing more and more benefits and results from PRP treatments, the curiosity around them has also grown. There are more questions around what PRP treatments can do for the skin and what exactly are PRP treatments? Well, if you’re curious to know what PRP face treatments can do for you, and what exactly they are, keep reading below:
What is PRP?
PRP, or Platelet Rich Plasma is a process by which a person’s own blood is used to rejuvenate skin and hair cells to get better looking and healthier skin and hair. The process works by extracting some amount of a person’s blood and placing it in a centrifuge to separate the red blood cells from the plasma. The plasma is the liquid part of the blood that is made up of water and proteins. It is the medium through which red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are transported throughout the body. Platelets are what are used for the healing and regeneration of the body cells.
When the blood is put into the centrifuge, the spinning allows a concentration of platelets to gather in plasma while removing the red blood cells, hence, the name Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP). This plasma is then put topically or then injected back into the skin to promote the healing of damaged cells and the growth of new cells as well.
What is The PRP Vampire Facial?
When talking about PRP facial treatments, in particular, they are categorized as a cosmetic procedure. This procedure is used to slow down and even reverse some of the signs of ageing, such as wrinkles and fine lines.
A vampire facial is a combination of using PRP with some amount of microneedling to help inject the Platelet Rich Plasma back into the face. The point of adding the microneedling to the process is that it creates a channel for the plasma to reach under the skin and penetrate through to help start the healing process. Once in, the PRP helps create cells that have more collagen and elastin; both of which give the appearance of fresher and younger skin.
What Does a PRP Vampire Facial Help With?
Doctors have studied and learned that the body has an ability to heal itself; it can regenerate and create cells that help fix things the body identifies as problems. By using this already existing ability in the body, doctors have come up with ways to help speed up these processes and called it regenerative medicine. PRP treatments are a form of this type of medicine. They use plasma as a catalyst to speed up the regenerative cell production to help the skin feel healthy and young for longer.
PRP vampire facials help with acne and scarring, stretch marks, rosacea, fine lines and wrinkles.
What is the Procedure?
When you get to the clinic where you want to get your PRP face treatment done, your cosmetic doctor will cleanse your face thoroughly and put a numbing cream to prep you for the facial. The reason why this step is done first is that the cream takes some time to take effect. Once the cream has been applied, it is time to extract the blood for the facial.
Using a vile and a needle, the professional is going to most likely draw blood from your arm. The amount of blood drawn is according to the amount of plasma that is needed for the procedure itself; this can be anywhere from five to 15ml, which is not much more than two teaspoons of blood.
This vile is then taken over to the centrifuge, where it is allowed to spin for approximately 15 minutes. This is how long it takes to isolate the platelets and the blood cells. The more hydrated you are, the more plasma your body will create.
While the blood is in the centrifuge, your skin is prepped for the PRP solution using a microneedling device. This device is used to create tiny superficial punctures in the skin to allow the PRP to penetrate through. The device is gently guided along the skin, starting with the forehead, moving on to the cheeks and so on until the entire area of treatment is covered.
Your face and neck are then covered with the thick, viscous plasma (which is clear since the red blood cells have been removed). The plasma is allowed to sit for a while and the excess is cleaned up before you leave the clinic.
What to Expect After the Vampire Facial
Immediately after the facial, you can expect some amount of redness from the microneedling, but you can also expect your skin to feel tighter and softer as the PRP starts to take effect pretty quickly. This redness is only meant to last up to 24 hours, and just slightly longer for those with more sensitive skin.
For aftercare, you are asked to avoid sun exposure and sweating for the few days following the procedure as your skin can be a little sensitive post-microneedling. You are also asked to avoid any skincare or makeup products for 48 hours after for the same reason.
Within four days of the treatment, you should see some amount of peeling of the skin underneath which you will be able to see the results of the treatment. Within a week of the treatment, you should be able to see your younger, fresher more glowing skin.
Where to Get a PRP Face Treatment in London
If you want to get the Vampire Facial in London to see the results on yourself, get in touch with the Hampstead Aesthetics Clinic. They offer a range of luxury non-surgical facial rejuvenation treatments that will have your skin feeling younger and clearer in no time!