A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 10, 2013 at 6:14pm PDT

You may remember a certain Kardashian touting her vampire facial on Instagram a few years back. Her bloody picture certainly caused a stir, but vampire facials are more than just a fad, there’s actually sound science to back up the treatment, otherwise known as platelet-rich plasma (PRP).
PRP treatments have proven successful for treating sagging skin, fine lines, wrinkles, scarring and evening skin tone, and while it doesn’t entail undergoing any type of surgical procedure, it does use your own blood as part of the cocktail to promote collagen growth underneath skin.
?PRP refers to growth factors located in the platelet fraction of human blood,? explains Dr. Gerald Imber, plastic surgeon and director of New York City?s Youth Corridor Clinic. ?A small amount of one?s own blood is drawn and the platelet fraction containing the growth factors is isolated. This sterile substance is either injected into the skin or applied with microneedling or both. It’s all-natural and allergy-free and must be performed by physicians or specially trained nurses.? Like many popular treatments, PRP was not originally intended for cosmetic use. “It was first used to treat orthopedic injuries, like rotator cuff and tennis elbow, where it helps dramatically rehabilitate the injury and improve healing time,” says Imber. The fast-acting, rejuvenating results are why PRP has ent...