Facial Fat Graft with or without Stem Cells?

I would like to even out some irregularities (dents, PS called them "tissue deficits") and give just a tiny bit of volume to my cheeks with facial fat grafts. The PS I visited said that I do not need a lot of volume and that he has to proceed carefully in order not to do any harm, but also clearly noticed the irregularities. He offers fat grafting without and with stem cells, the later being exactly double the price. Are stem cells really worth the price? Will frozen fat be good enough later on?

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face stem cell

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4 Doctor Answers | Asked by 4747anon in Europe

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Fat Transfer

Fat grafting and or facial resurfacing are options. Stem cell research for this is still new so I would wait on this for a year or so. Thank you for your question and good luck with everything.

Fat Grafting and stem cells

Many plastic surgeons who perform structural fat grafting report that patients often describe a variety of improvements in their facial skin following fat grafting surgery. This observation has led to the use of fat grafting in reconstructive surgery, for instance in the management of chronic wounds such as those seen in some patients following radiation treatment for cancer. Fat grafting into the tissues below a chronic, non-healing wound has been shown to stimulate successful wound healing... more

Michael Law, MD

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Raleigh-Durham Plastic Surgeon

michaellawmd.com

Facial fat grafts do not need stem cells for successful result

The use of adipose-derived stem cells (which come from your own fat collected by doing liposuction) is still debated and there is no consensus on whether they are particularly helpful when added to fat grafts. If you don't need high volumes of fat to achieve the desired result, it would probably work well without stem cell enhancement.

Fat graft

The surgeon you consulted may have something the rest of us do not. Isolating the stem cells from the fat is very difficult and expensive. One company has been doing the research and has a machine to isolate the stem cells(CYTORI). In an office setting or hospital the aspirated fat contains stem cells if you do the harvesting right, and the surgeon can not take out the stem cells or add stem cells. Some surgeons with experience in this field feel that when fat is centrifuged at... more