Medical Reports: Shots over Surgery

WSVN -- Twenty-six-year-old Josh Mislow was sidelined by a knee injury on the job.

Josh Mislow: "I tore my medial meniscus severely, so they had to operate on it."

His tear was so bad he needed a second surgery, which was followed by a lot of pain.

Josh Mislow: "I walked with a severe limp. I had to take painkillers everyday. It was pretty bad."

Sterling Anifantis knows what that kind of knee pain is like. He's been living with it for years.

Sterling Anifantis: "Bone-on-bone on my whole left side of my knee. There's no cartilage there at all."

Instead of facing total knee replacement, Sterling is trying a new non-surgical option using Plasma Rich Platelets or PRPs.

Dr. Alan Lazar: "Basically, it's taking someone's blood, removing the platelets from their blood and injecting it into an ailment."

Orthopedic surgeon Alan Lazar says PRP injections are great for a number of injuries.

Dr. Alan Lazar: "Torn ligaments, tendons, fractures that don't heal and Osteoarthritis."

Here's how it works: The area is numbed with a local anesthetic. Blood is taken from the patient's arm, then put into a special machine that spins the blood extracting the platelets. Then the platelets are injected back into the injured area.

Dr. Lazar says, it's the thousands of growth factors in the platelets that stimulate the body to heal itself.

Dr. Alan Lazar: "These platelets work as long as a year after you put them into the joint."

Dr. Lazar says most patients start to feel relief about a month after their first shot, but it could take three to four injections to get complete pain relief.

Dr. Alan Lazar: "Their stiffness was less. Their pain is less. They're more active."

Sterling has received his first PRP injection, and he has high hopes of avoiding future operations.

Sterling Anifantis: "I'm always optimistic on things like this, you know."

After three PRP injections, Josh is back at work, walking without a limp and says he's pain-free.

Josh Mislow: "Back to being a normal person. For two and a half years I wasn't, so it's really nice. I like it."

Diana Diaz: "Dr. Lazar says PRP injections can also work on torn muscles and provide relief for moderate arthritis."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Alan Lazar
350 NW 84th Ave. #206
Plantation, FL 33324
Tel: (954) 476-9494
www.dralanlazar.com