For some time now, there has been talk about stem cells and their remarkable ability to grow into fat, bone or cartilage of a desirable shape. Because they are not a “foreign” object that is inserted into the body, and with an ability to maintain their shape as well as prevent some level of scarring, stem cells could be the next big thing to revolutionize the field of cosmetic surgery.

Thus far, it seems like breast augmentation may be the first cosmetic surgical procedure to benefit. In a technique developed by a Japanese surgeon, fat is removed from one part of the body so that half can be processed for the removal of stem cells. These stem cells are then combined with the other half of the fat, and then injected into the breasts. The desired results do not appear instantaneously – it takes a series of treatments over a period of time for results to gradually appear. Unfortunately, the increase in size is far less than what can be achieved by typical breast augmentation with saline or silicone implants.

While stem cells for breast augmentation have been used in Japan for a couple of years now, it remains experimental in North America. Research and studies continue to improve effectiveness, safety and stability.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under Cosmetic Surgery Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.