Vaginal PRP: your own blood, used to rebuild the tissue.
Platelet-rich plasma treats vaginal dryness, painful sex, and reduced sensation without hormones — because it isn't a drug. It's a concentrate of the growth factors already circulating in your body, prepared from a small blood draw and returned to the tissue that needs repair.
What vaginal PRP actually is
Vaginal platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a concentrate of your own platelets, prepared from a small blood draw and injected into the vaginal wall to stimulate tissue repair. The growth factors released by those platelets signal for new collagen, new blood vessels, and new epithelial cells — the three things that decline as estradiol falls. It contains no hormone, no drug, and no donor material.
Adipose-derived PRP is a different procedure — it uses your own fat to restore structure, and it treats laxity rather than dryness.
For women who can't take hormones, and women for whom hormones weren't enough.
Local estrogen is the established first-line treatment for genitourinary symptoms after menopause, and where it's appropriate we prescribe it. But two groups are left without a good option: women with a history of hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, for whom systemic estrogen is generally contraindicated, and women who have used hormone therapy and found it helped partway.
PRP acts on the tissue rather than on a hormone level. It's prepared from your own blood, contains no synthetic material and no donor material, and carries no risk of allergic reaction to an injected substance. That combination is why it has become the most-studied non-hormonal regenerative option in this field.
How vaginal PRP is prepared and delivered
01
Blood draw
Around 20 to 60 mL is drawn from a vein in your arm, the same as any routine blood test. Nothing is added to it.
02
Centrifugation
The sample is spun to separate it by density into three layers: red cells at the bottom, a thin platelet-rich band in the middle, and plasma above.
03
Extraction
The platelet-rich fraction is drawn off into sterile syringes. A PRP preparation typically concentrates platelets several times above their level in whole blood.
04
Injection
Under local anesthetic, the PRP is placed across multiple sites in the vaginal wall and at the posterior fourchette, so the growth factors reach tissue rather than sitting in one depot.
What an appointment looks like
Performed in-office under local anesthetic. The blood draw and preparation take most of the appointment; the injection itself is brief. Most patients describe pressure rather than pain, and return to normal activity within 24 to 48 hours.
Sexual activity is paused for a short period afterward — Dr. Merhi will give you specific timing for your case.
In the published breast cancer survivor study, treatment-related effects were vaginal spotting, irritation, discharge, burning, cramping and mild pain, all of which resolved within 24 hours, with no serious adverse events.
Three things platelets signal for
New blood vessels
Vascular endothelial growth factor drives angiogenesis. More capillary supply means more engorgement during arousal, more lubrication, and better tissue oxygenation — which is why sensation often changes alongside dryness.
New collagen
Transforming growth factor beta and platelet-derived growth factor stimulate fibroblasts to lay down collagen in the layer beneath the epithelium. That layer is what gives tissue elasticity and resistance to tearing.
New epithelial cells
Epidermal growth factor supports turnover of the surface layer itself. A thicker epithelium is more resilient, retains moisture better, and is less reactive to friction.
This is the same biology used elsewhere in medicine
PRP has been used for years in orthopedics and dermatology for the same reason: platelets are the body's own repair signal, and concentrating them at a site of damage amplifies a process that already exists. What's newer is applying it here — to tissue that most of medicine stopped studying after reproductive age.
It is not a hormone and does not raise your estrogen level. That is precisely the point for women who can't take one.
The published studies - The Research
Obstetrics & Gynecology · 2025
Platelet-Rich Plasma for Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause in Breast Cancer Survivors
Significant improvement in vaginal and vulvar assessment, sexual function, urinary symptoms and quality of life at six months. 90% showed increased vaginal caliber; 95% reported improvement. No serious adverse events, no recurrences during the study.
Who PRP is for — and who it isn't.
Likely a fit if
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You have dryness, painful sex, or reduced sensation and hormone therapy isn't an option
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You've completed breast cancer treatment and were told nothing was available
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Local estrogen helped partway but not enough
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Your symptoms are driven by tissue change rather than by a hormone level alone
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You want a physician performing the procedure, not a technician
Not a fit if
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You have an active infection or unexplained bleeding, which must be evaluated first
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You have a platelet or bleeding disorder, or are on anticoagulation that can't be managed around the procedure
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Your symptoms are primarily psychological or relational rather than physical.
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You can't attend in person; this cannot be done remotely