Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a concentrated preparation of a patient's own platelets, injected into an injured joint, tendon or ligament to deliver the growth factors the body uses to start repair. At Texas Orthobiologics in Dallas, every PRP injection is prepared in the office from blood drawn the same visit and placed under ultrasound guidance by a board-certified orthopedic surgeon.
Platelet-rich plasma is a patient's own blood, spun down so that the platelets are concentrated into a small volume of plasma and everything unwanted is discarded. Platelets are best known for clotting, but they also carry a large reservoir of the growth factors and signalling proteins the body uses to recruit cells to an injury and start repair. PRP delivers a concentrated dose of that signal directly to the tissue that needs it.
Concentration is the part that varies most between providers, and it is worth asking about. Blood normally carries around 200,000 platelets per microliter. Current evidence suggests platelet count in PRP should approach or exceed 1,000,000 platelets per microliter — roughly a five-fold concentration. A preparation that does not reach that is a different product with the same name.
PRP is prepared in the office from blood drawn the same visit. The centrifuge takes under ten minutes to concentrate the platelets, and the injection follows immediately. Nothing leaves the building, nothing is banked or shipped, and no donor material is involved.
What is actually in it
Among the growth factors and cytokines released by concentrated platelets:
- Platelet-Derived Growth Factor (PDGF)
- Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF)
- Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF)
- Transforming Growth Factor Beta (TGF-β)
- Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 and 2 (IGF-1, IGF-2)
- Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF)
- Interleukin-8 (IL-8)
Injections are performed under ultrasound guidance
Injections are placed under direct ultrasound guidance rather than by surface landmarks. The needle is visible on screen throughout, and the joint, tendon or ligament being treated is identified before anything is injected.
This matters more than it sounds. A blind injection relies on the anatomy being where the textbook says it is. Ultrasound shows where it actually is in the patient on the table that day, confirms the needle has reached the intended structure, and shows the injectate spreading where it was meant to go. When the treatment is a single dose of the patient's own concentrated biology, placing it accurately is not a refinement — it is the procedure.
Ultrasound also adds diagnostic information during the visit itself. Tendons can be examined dynamically, in motion and under load, which a static scan cannot show.
What PRP is used for
PRP has been studied across most of orthopedics. The strongest body of randomized evidence is in knee osteoarthritis, where more than thirty Level 1 studies have compared PRP against corticosteroid and against hyaluronic acid injection. Beyond the knee it has been used and studied for effectively every joint, tendon and ligament injury in the specialty, and for back pain arising from disc disease and facet arthrosis.
Tendon problems — chronic tendinitis and partial-thickness tears
- Rotator cuff and biceps tendon
- Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow
- Gluteus medius, hamstring and piriformis-related pain around the hip and thigh
- Patellar and quadriceps tendinitis
- Peroneal and tibialis posterior tendinitis around the ankle
- Achilles tendinopathy
- Plantar fasciitis
Ligament injury
- Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injury of the elbow
- Medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury of the knee
Degenerative joint disease
- Knee osteoarthritis
- Hip osteoarthritis
- Shoulder osteoarthritis
- Ankle osteoarthritis
- Elbow and wrist osteoarthritis
- Symptomatic articular cartilage injury
Fracture care
- Delayed union and nonunion
What a PRP visit actually looks like
- Examination and diagnosis. The problem is identified before any treatment is chosen. Imaging is reviewed against the examination, and ultrasound may be used during the visit to look at the tendon in motion.
- Blood draw. A standard venous draw in the office.
- Preparation. The sample is centrifuged to concentrate the platelets. Under ten minutes.
- Injection. Placed under live ultrasound guidance into the target structure.
- Follow-up. Scheduled, not left to you to chase.
The whole visit is an office appointment. There is no operating room, no general anesthetic and no overnight stay.
What happens after the injection
Most patients have some soreness afterwards that decreases fairly quickly. Plan on avoiding significant physical activity or sport for about a week.
Do not take aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen or other NSAIDs after the procedure. Anti-inflammatory medication blocks the inflammatory phase that the treatment is deliberately trying to start, so taking it works directly against the injection you just paid for. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and other pain medicines that do not block inflammation are fine. If you take an NSAID or a blood thinner regularly for another condition, raise it before the procedure rather than after — it changes the plan.
Follow-up is scheduled rather than left to the patient to arrange. Progress is reviewed at intervals so the response can be judged against what was expected, and the plan adjusted if it is not tracking.
Your investment
Worth being direct about, because most sites are not: in the United States, most insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid do not currently cover orthobiologic treatment. This is an investment you make in your own health rather than a benefit you claim, and you should expect a clear number rather than a vague one.
High-dose PRP
Nationally, the range for a high-dose, single-injection PRP treatment is $1,500 to $3,500.
Lower-dose PRP often requires multiple injections, and clinical outcomes are often not as good. That is why Texas Orthobiologics specializes in the higher-dose PRP protocols — one well-concentrated treatment placed accurately under ultrasound, rather than a series of weaker ones. It is also why the platelet concentration question above is worth putting to any provider you are comparing.
What the figure for an individual patient reflects:
- How many joints or sites are treated in one visit
- Which structure is involved — a joint, a tendon, or both
- The complexity of the treatment being planned
- Whether imaging or a diagnostic step is needed first to confirm the source of pain
What you are quoted includes the follow-up care that normally goes with the procedure. It is not a deposit against a series of further visits.
Every patient leaves the consultation with a clear understanding of the risks, the benefits and the potential investment before making any decision. Nobody is asked to commit to treatment at the visit.
CareCredit is available for patients who prefer to spread the investment over time. Interest rates are typically lower than regular credit card rates, and we offer financing plans up to twelve months in length. Our clinical specialists handle these questions directly, and it is worth speaking to them before you rule a treatment out — there are usually more options than are obvious from the outside.
To discuss the investment for your own treatment, call (877) 777-8883.
What we do not offer, and why
This field has a marketing problem, so rather than just listing exclusions it is worth stating the standard being applied.
We do not use any product that lacks a clear FDA regulatory pathway for use in humans and clear human clinical outcomes data showing that it is safe and that it works for the indication being treated. Both halves, not either one. That single sentence accounts for most of what is on the market and not on the menu here.
Amniotic fluid, Wharton's jelly, exosomes and regenerative protein arrays
These are marketed heavily, often as “stem cell” injections, and patients are frequently quoted a great deal of money for them. None of them is used here. There are two reasons, and the second matters more than the first.
The regulatory reason. The FDA regulates these products as biologic drugs. None of them currently holds an approved orthopedic indication. That is a description of their regulatory status rather than a matter of opinion, and it holds whatever a clinic's marketing says about it.
The evidence reason, which is the more significant one. Treatment here is based on evidence, and there is no published literature for any of these injectable allograft options in orthopedics showing that any of them works better than PRP or bone marrow concentrate. Not equivalent-but-cheaper, not better-in-a-subgroup — the comparison that would justify using them has not been made in their favour. PRP and bone marrow concentrate, by contrast, have a substantial published human literature behind them.
So even setting the regulatory question aside entirely, there is no evidence-based argument for choosing one of these over a treatment prepared from your own tissue.
Adipose (fat) based treatments, also called microfat
Texas Orthobiologics does not currently offer adipose-based orthobiologics. That is a practice decision, and it is worth separating from the regulatory picture, because the two kinds of adipose treatment are not in the same position.
Adipose preparations produced with a device carrying FDA clearance or approval are regulatory compliant. An adipose-based biologic is often called microfat, after the way clinicians in the United States must process the tissue. It is a legitimate orthobiologic option and some clinicians have success with it.
Treatments based on stromal vascular fraction — SVF — are not currently regulatory compliant. This is now settled, and it is worth being specific about how it got there, because clinics still advertise these injections.
In 2024 a federal appeals court held that SVF is a drug under federal law, and that it does not qualify for the same-surgical-procedure exception that same-day fat procedures had relied on. The Supreme Court declined to review that decision in 2025. On 28 August 2026 the district court entered a permanent injunction on remand in United States v. California Stem Cell Treatment Center, Inc., which also names Cell Surgical Network Corporation. That is not a warning letter or an opinion — it is a standing federal court order.
The practical meaning for a patient is simple. An SVF injection is an unapproved drug unless it goes through the drug approval pathway, whatever the clinic offering it advertises about same-day processing or minimal manipulation. That argument has been made, and it lost.
Every injection here is made from your own tissue
Every biologic injection performed at Texas Orthobiologics is autologous — prepared from the patient's own blood or bone marrow on the day of treatment.
That is deliberately a statement about injections rather than a blanket position on donor tissue. Donor cartilage used as a structural graft in cartilage transplantation surgery is a different proposition entirely: it is regulated under an established pathway, it is implanted rather than injected, and it carries decades of published human outcomes data. It meets the standard above. An injectable donor cell product does not.
A note for clinicians and buyers
A meaningful share of the people who reach this page are not patients — they are physicians, athletic trainers and practice managers comparing PRP systems and asking what a given kit actually yields. That is a fair question and the answer is not on the box.
Dr. Buford has published bench testing of commercial PRP systems and writes regularly about what different preparations deliver in practice, including platelet capture, leukocyte content and the economics per treatment. If you arrived here comparing systems rather than looking for treatment, the blog and the research and publications page are the more useful destinations.
A biologic is one option, not the only one
A consultation here is not a pre-decided route to an injection. Some presentations of joint and tendon pain respond well to an orthobiologic. Some do better with an operation. Some need physical therapy, a change in loading, or time, and would get neither benefit nor harm from a syringe.
Dr. Buford performs the injections personally, and performs shoulder and knee surgery. He does not perform hip, elbow, hand and wrist, foot and ankle, or spine surgery — so where an operation in one of those regions is the better answer, you will be told plainly and referred, with your imaging and workup handed over personally rather than left to you to arrange. That also means the recommendation here is not shaped by what happens to be on offer. If a biologic is unlikely to help your particular problem, you will be told that at the visit rather than after a course of treatment.
Request an appointment or call (877) 777-8883.
How Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy Works
- Consultation. Patient receives orthopedic evaluation and diagnosis.
- Blood Draw. A sample of blood is collected from the patient.
- PRP Preparation. Blood is processed in a centrifuge to concentrate platelets.
- Injection. PRP is injected into the injured or painful area.
- Recovery. Healing and recovery are monitored during follow-up visits.
Common questions
How much does a PRP injection cost in Dallas?
Nationally, the range for a high-dose single-injection PRP treatment is $1,500 to $3,500. Lower-dose PRP often requires multiple injections and clinical outcomes are often not as good, which is why Texas Orthobiologics specializes in the higher-dose protocols. The figure for an individual patient reflects how many sites are treated and the complexity of the treatment, and includes the follow-up care that normally accompanies it. Call (877) 777-8883.
Does insurance cover PRP injections?
In most cases, no. Most United States insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid do not currently cover platelet-rich plasma therapy for orthopedic conditions, so it is an investment you make in your own health. Every patient leaves the consultation with a clear understanding of the risks, the benefits and the potential investment before making a decision.
How long does a PRP injection take?
It is an office visit. Blood is drawn, the centrifuge takes under ten minutes to concentrate the platelets, and the injection is performed under ultrasound guidance immediately afterwards.
How long does PRP take to work?
PRP works by starting a repair response rather than by masking pain, so it is not immediate. Patients are re-evaluated at intervals after the procedure so progress can be judged against what was expected for that specific problem, and the plan adjusted if it is not tracking.
Can I take ibuprofen after a PRP injection?
No. Aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and other NSAIDs block the inflammatory phase that PRP is intended to start, so they work against the treatment. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and other pain medicines that do not block inflammation are fine. Tell the office beforehand if you take an NSAID or a blood thinner regularly.
Is PRP made from my own blood?
Yes. PRP at Texas Orthobiologics is prepared in the office from blood drawn at the same visit and injected the same day. No donor material, birth tissue or banked product is used.
Who performs the injection?
Don Buford, M.D., a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, performs the injections personally and under ultrasound guidance.
How many PRP injections will I need?
It depends on the structure being treated and how it responds. That is assessed at the consultation and reviewed at follow-up rather than committed to in advance.
Related
- Cartilage restoration — MACI, allograft, Agili-C
- Bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC)
- What orthobiologics are
- Research and publications
- PRP and orthobiologics for the knee
- PRP and orthobiologics for the shoulder
- PRP and orthobiologics for the hip
- PRP and orthobiologics for the elbow
- PRP and orthobiologics for the wrist
- PRP and orthobiologics for the foot and ankle
- PRP for low back pain
