PRP vs Botox
Botox is the answer for lines that appear when you move your face. It relaxes the muscle that folds the skin, works within a few days, and lasts three to four months. PRP is the answer for skin quality or thinning hair. It uses your own blood, works slowly over months, and takes a course of three or more visits. They are not rivals, and neither one does the other's job.
What it is
Blood is drawn, spun in a machine to separate the platelets, and the platelet-rich part is injected back. Platelets release growth factors as they heal an injury.
It blocks the signal from nerve to muscle in the small area where it is placed.
What problem it fixes
Dullness, fine crepey lines, some acne scarring, and hair that is thinning but not gone. Most PRP in the world is used on scalps.
Frown lines, forehead lines and crow's feet. Also jaw clenching, underarm sweating and some headaches.
How soon it works
Hair often stops shedding first, then thickens. Skin changes are gradual and easy to miss week to week.
Fully settled at two weeks. You will see it in the mirror.
How long it lasts
Most plans include maintenance every four to six months, indefinitely.
Then the muscle wakes up and the line comes back.
How many visits
Spaced about a month apart, then maintenance.
Fifteen minutes. Most people go three or four times a year.
What it feels like
The blood draw is the part people dread and the easy part. Scalp injections sting. Numbing is usual.
Very fast. Most people skip numbing cream entirely.
Downtime and side effects
Because it is your own blood, an allergic reaction is not a concern.
A drooping lid or brow happens occasionally, wears off, and is more likely with an inexperienced injector.
What it will not do
PRP does nothing to muscle. A crease made by movement stays.
Skin can look smooth in the frown area and still be dull, rough or thinning.
Cost
Priced per session with several sessions to start. Ask for the cost of the whole plan.
One appointment at a time, so the number is easy to pin down. It repeats a few times a year.
The at-home or drugstore version
The active part comes from your own blood and must be spun down in a machine. Nothing sold as a growth factor serum is the same thing.
Creams marketed as "Botox in a bottle" sit on the surface. A muscle sits several millimetres below it, and nothing you rub on reaches it.
Who each suits
They are treating different things
Botox works on muscle: A frown line is a fold made by a muscle pulling the same way thousands of times. Relax that muscle and the fold stops being made, so the line softens over the following weeks.
PRP works on tissue quality: It is used where you want skin or hair follicles to behave better, not where you want a muscle to stop pulling.
That is why a clinic may suggest both: They act in different places, and using one does not use up the other.
Which one for a line on your face
Ask yourself whether the line is there when your face is still: If it only appears when you frown or smile, that is a movement line, and botulinum toxin is the treatment for it.
A line that sits there when your face is relaxed is a different problem: These respond better to resurfacing, filler or a collagen treatment. PRP may help the skin around them look better, but it will not erase them.
PRP for hair is where it is used most
Most PRP is done on scalps, not faces: It is offered for thinning hair that is still producing fine hairs, and it works best early.
It does not bring back hair from a bald scalp: Once follicles are gone, no injection restores them.
It is usually added to treatment rather than replacing it: Minoxidil and finasteride have far more evidence behind them, and most plans use PRP alongside one of those, not instead.
Has anyone compared them directly
No trial has compared PRP with Botox, because there is nothing to compare: They treat different problems, and no sensible study would put them head to head.
Before you book
Decide what you want fixed first. Movement lines and skin quality lead to two different answers.
For PRP, ask for the total cost of the course and what happens if the first course does nothing.
For PRP on the scalp, ask what else is in the plan. On its own it is rarely the whole answer.
For botulinum toxin, ask how many units you are getting and where.
Ask to see photos of the injector's own work rather than photos from a brochure.
