'Be cautious': Edmonton professor debunks online beauty trends

Canadian Research Chair and Health Law and Policy Chair at the U of A Prof. Tim Caulfield joined CTV Morning Live to debunk beauty treatments being influenced on social media.

 

Kent Morrison: Social media is filled with celebrities and influencers endorsing all kinds of beauty treatments. But do they work? We're starting with platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections for hair restoration. Does this live up to the claims that are being made online?

 

Tim Caulfield: The evidence here is actually emerging. There is real science. PRP is something that we've actually studied how it's represented in the public sphere. Basically you take your blood, you spin it, you separate it – red blood cells, white blood cells, serum and platelet – and you inject a product back in that has more serum and platelet. And the hope is this is going to help heal, it's going to regenerate growth, etc. So with hair injections, there is evidence, but there's also a lot of hype. In fact, in the whole PRP space, the science is filled with hype and the good research is actually kind of underwhelming. So bottom line, some evidence that it might help. It might increase the density of the hair follicles. The research is iffy. We need to standardize the research more. We need bigger studies. So basically, manage your expectations, but some evidence points to the possibility of efficacy. The other really important thing is, make sure you go to a licensed practitioner. This is a medical procedure, so I would recommend going to an MD and making sure that this is a licensed procedure.

 

Kent: PRP is also used in "vampire facials," which is really catching attention on social media because it's blood on your face. Does this one work?

 

Tim: So this one was made famous by Kim Kardashian 10 years ago. I remember when this came out. Ten years ago, Kim Kardashian got it and posted it, and we've actually filmed someone doing this for one of my projects. Does not look fun, okay? In fact, Kim Kardashian has bowed out on them. She doesn't think it's worth it, so that's your data point. I guess Kim says it's not worth it. A colleague of mine says, "best to think of this as evidence-thin." But the other thing with vampire facials, is there are harms. And this goes with all procedures. In the United States, this is rare, but this is a real risk – infections have been transmitted, including HIV, using vampire facials. So if you're going to do this, be cautious, manage expectations and be aware of rare but potential risks.

 

Kent: Vitamin drip, which is like an IV of vitamins into your bloodstream. Does that help you at all?

 

Tim: I'm glad you're landing on this one, because I can be definitive. No, it's completely ridiculous. This is built on this idea that the human body needs vitamins, so therefore more must be better. That's just not how the human body works. No evidence to support this at all. (It's) extremely popular, especially in that wellness space. In fact, I think it, to such a degree, that it can be called bunk if you see a practitioner offering this, it should be viewed as a red flag. Basically, expensive pee. You're just going to pee this stuff out. Don't bother.