Introduction Platelet concentrate has been used in surgery for many years. The initial concept of these autologous preparations was to concentrate platelets and their growth factors and to deliver it to a surgical site, in order to improve local healing. Platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) is the new generation of platelet concentrate. Choukroun's PRF (L-PRF) is the latest development of platelet concentrate protocols, which was first developed in France by Choukroun et al. in 2001 as an autologous biomaterial. PRF is obtained centrifugally by autologous peripheral blood, without adding any biological agents. PRF contains the fibrin matrix polymer, leucocytes, cytokines and circulating stem cells. PRF could be classified into two categories, depending on their leucocyte content: pure plateletrich fibrin (P-PRF) and leucocyteand PRF (L-PRF). PRF is produced with a simple method, it is low cost and easily available, which has been applied in many different fields, particularly oral and maxillofacial, orthopaedic and plastic surgery. L-PRF and PRFM (P-PRF) are both applied in plastic surgery and the applications can be divided into two aspects: facial plastic surgery and wound healing. The aim of this review was to discuss platelet-rich fibrin in plastic surgery. Conclusion Unfortunately, this field of research suffered from some problems for many years, such as the lack of a coincident terminology and the leucocyte content. Further studies are necessary to validate the interest of the PRF in plastic surgery. This review describes the classification, preparation, applications and problems of PRF in plastic surgery.