LA Docs Master "Vampire Facelift"

Past the cobwebs and spiders at Aesthetic Anti-Aging Medicine in Redondo Beach lies a dermatologist with vials of blood, ready to inject. This is not a scary tale but the story of a new procedure aimed at making you look younger almost instantly. It's called the Vampire Facelift, a term first trademarked by Alabama cosmetic surgeon, Charles Runels.

Dr. Gail Humble, a dermatologist with 16 years of experience, is one of a handful of doctors in the Los Angeles area performing the procedure PRP or Platelet Rich Plasma therapy.

"We draw the patient's own blood and then we separate the plasma that has the platelets in it and we re-inject it into the face," Humble said. "We can use growth factors that they emit to regenerate your skin and give you better texture and tone and volume."

"Two or three weeks after I had my first one, I could tell that is was filling in nicer and I had a glow. My daughters could tell right away," said Norma Paez, 48, who was in the office having her third treatment on Monday.

Results are visible during the platelet cycle, which is about seven days; volume is noticeable in eight weeks and the effects of PRP last up to 19 months, Humble said.

Kits for humans, like the one she uses from ResenPlasma, were first used in 2009, but the benefits of PRP have been part of medical treatments of years.

"Whenever you have a small muscle tear or you have a shoulder tear you can inject it into the joints and you have a repair," Humble said.

Humble has been performing the procedure for two years and said from start to finish, it takes about 30 minutes. Humble activates the plasma with materials like calcium chloride and the PRP can be used anywhere on the body to change the texture of the skin. She insists we lose a teaspoon of volume every year and PRP allows people to reverse or stay the aging process.

"Many people call PRP 'the poor man's stem cells.' In addition to the platelets there are about 2 percent stem cells in the plasma and in many, the platelets act to recruit stem cells to the area," Humble said.

"The procedure itself is really easy and fast so I am comfortable with that, and it's painless and I can do it in my lunch break," Paez said.

The non-invasive procedure costs about $950 to $1,400 per visit, comparable to chemical fillers, and can be done based on the patient's desire and need, said Humble.

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