Stem cells on the way to cosmetology
From chest to bald spot
The article by Paul Knoepfler From Boobs To Baldness: Stem Cells Go Cosmetic is published on the Science 2.0 website.
Translated by Evgenia Ryabtseva
The prevalence of the use of stem cells in cosmetics and during cosmetic procedures is growing rapidly, despite the lack of answers to many extremely important questions.
- How legitimate are stem cell-based cosmetic products and related cosmetic procedures?
- Are they safe and effective?
- For the treatment of what diseases are they used?
Regardless of what happens in research laboratories, the plastic and cosmetic surgery industry earns literally billions of dollars every year, and many companies dream of joining this cash flow.
One of the officially described procedures based on the use of stem cells is breast reconstruction after removal of a malignant tumor. According to press reports, the famous Susan Somers (Suzanne Somers) recently underwent surgery for plastic breast reconstruction using stem cells.
Since the publication of the article, she has also tightened her face, and according to rumors, also with the help of stem cells. If you don't look closely, you won't guess that this beauty is born in 1946.
Just do not forget that for medical advice it is better to turn not to celebrities, but to doctors – VM.
In addition to treating cancer patients, a similar procedure is performed to increase the size of the mammary glands of women who do not have cancer.
What is Somers' situation and why did she undergo this procedure?
One of the latest publications of the National Enquirer has just the same screaming headline: "The case of Suzanne Somers breast and stem cells" ("Suzanne Somers Stem Cell Boob Job").
In the 70s, Somers played the role of a typical frivolous blonde, Christmas "Chrissy" Snow (Christmas "Chrissy" Snow) in the comedy series "Three is Company". At that time, almost 40 years ago, she was known as a young and sexy actress.
Therefore, it is not surprising that Somers is currently famous mainly thanks to a series of books on how to stay sexy at any age, and her own line of health products presented on her website.
To date, she has millions of fans, as well as at the age of 20 four decades ago.
Somers was diagnosed with breast cancer about 10 years ago. The treatment prescribed to her has side effects, which, for obvious reasons, worried.
On her website , she writes:
Like millions of other women diagnosed with breast cancer, I have had to make numerous frightening decisions regarding therapy and recovery. In 2000, I underwent surgery to remove the tumor and a full course of radiotherapy. After that, my right breast became almost flat (barely reaching the size B cup), while my right breast retained its natural size (the size of the cup D).
One of the possible options chosen by many women in such a situation is breast reconstruction by implantation of an implant. Another additional possibility is to move adipose tissue from another part of the body to the breast area to improve the results of its reconstruction.
Somers chose a more modern and less understandable option: using a combination of stem cells from abdominal fat and adipose tissue as an autologous transplant for breast reconstruction. On another site, Somers posted several videos showing her in the process of performing a surgical procedure and recovering. Creating such videos is definitely a very brave act on her part. Some of the videos posted on the site are very visual and may not be acceptable for viewing by certain categories of viewers.
The above image is a frame from a video recording in which Somers stem cells are added to her adipose tissue before transplantation into the mammary gland.
Approaches to breast reconstruction after surgical removal and treatment of a malignant tumor are important medical procedures aimed at improving women's self-esteem and quality of life, therefore, the "breast case" in the National Enquirer version is an incorrect and rude definition. Obviously, the purpose of such a title is to increase the sales volume of the magazine.
What is Somers' goal?
It is very difficult to evaluate her decision to postpone such a procedure, since, undoubtedly, it is necessary to have a certain courage in order to become one of the first "test subjects" for the procedure, which, by the way, was carried out absolutely legally as part of a clinical trial. Perhaps the purpose of her decision to become an example for other women was the desire to draw the attention of other breast cancer patients to this treatment method that could potentially improve their quality of life. She deserves respect for that.
However, it is very important to remember that the procedure carried out by Somers is experimental and it is not yet known whether the addition of stem cells to a graft from adipose tissue provides any significant advantage. Theoretically, it can be assumed that they can improve the result by forming new healthy tissue, however, until further research is carried out, it remains unclear whether adipose tissue stem cells make any positive contribution to breast reconstruction. Moreover, the procedure is definitely associated with elements of risk.
In what other conditions are stem cells used or their use is considered as a cosmetic treatment?
Baldness
There are certain prerequisites for optimism that stem cells will be able to cure baldness in the future. A number of therapeutic approaches, including radiotherapy of malignant tumors, as well as medical conditions such as burns and alopecia, cause baldness, which affects the self-esteem of millions of patients. In addition, many people just gradually go bald as they age, and not as a result of any diseases.
There is reason to hope that specialized skin stem cells that give rise to hair will find wide application in the practice of treating baldness over the next 10-20 years. To date, the results of studies devoted to the study of the possibility of such an application of cellular technologies look very promising. Two main approaches have already been formulated. One is a possible autologous stem cell transplant for the treatment of baldness. The second is based on a very real possibility of creating a drug that stimulates the stem cells of hair follicles to form new hair.
In addition to the methods of treating baldness and breast reconstruction currently being tested as part of official clinical trials, today stem cells are offered for many other cosmetic purposes that, to put it mildly, do not have a scientific context.
Facelifts?
The introduction of "stem cell facelift" (facelift with stem cells) into the Google search bar brings more than 300,000 results, and thousands of videos dedicated to this procedure are posted on Youtube. One of them is given below as an example (without comments about a particular doctor and the method he practices).
There are many doctors offering to improve the appearance of the face with the help of transplantation of their own adipose tissue and /or mesenchymal stem cells obtained during liposuction. It is unclear whether these procedures bring stable results, but many people believe in their effectiveness and hundreds of patients are subjected to such manipulations every year in the USA alone. It is very possible that in the near future this figure will increase to several thousand. Will stem cells become the new botox?
In general, such procedures, provided they are performed by specialists, are quite safe due to the autologous nature of the transplanted material. However, like all medical manipulations, they are associated with a certain risk. There is also some reason why nature does not allow the adipose tissue of some parts of the body to just randomly migrate to other parts of the body.
If you go back to Google and type "stem cell cosmetics" into the search bar, you will see a huge number of products sold under this brand, which will allow you to assess the scale of this area and the potentially serious problems associated with it. The composition of many commercially available cosmetic preparations includes "stem cells", which, presumably, should externally rejuvenate the people who use them. However, there is no logical reason that could explain the mechanism of action of such anti-aging creams. When you enter "stem cells" (stem cells) into the search bar of the E-bay auction, you will receive almost 2,000 items for sale, mainly represented by creams that slow down skin aging. Some of them are extremely expensive. In the description of some it is said that their basis is plant stem cells. Stem cell-based dietary supplements are also offered for oral administration in order to improve health.
Many of these products avoid the need to obtain approval from the FDA, as they are positioned as food additives.
In general, it should be recognized that stem cell-based cosmetic products have a certain potential, but their use is associated with risk, at least definitely with the risk of withdrawing thousands of dollars from buyers' wallets. According to the author, the procedure transferred by Somers differs from most cosmetic approaches based on the use of stem cells, since it was carried out within the framework of scientific/medical research, can be effective and can be called auxiliary therapy in the treatment of breast cancer. However, it is also undoubtedly risky and, most likely, extremely expensive.
In general
The field of cosmetic approaches based on stem cells is currently developing rapidly and is poorly regulated. Until convincing evidence of safety and efficacy is obtained, all cosmetic products and procedures whose action is presumably based on the use of stem cells should be considered as experimental. The author of the article is not inspired by the idea of being a "guinea pig", however, when it comes to cosmetic procedures, an unexpectedly large number of people are willing to put themselves at such risk.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
09.02.2012