Adult Stem Cells: The New Plastic Surgery?

A new article in Live Science predicts that adult stem cells may replace silicone breast implants and other contemporary plastic surgery techniques. But first, a crucial admission you once would never see in a science-oriented journal. From the story:

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to make more of themselves and to differentiate into special types of cells, like skin or other tissue types. Some stem cells, called pluripotent or multipotent, are capable of turning into many different kinds of cells and growing wide varieties of tissues ranging from bone to neurons to organs and muscle. While embryonic stem cells are the most well-known type (and the type that raises controversy), not all pluri- and multi-potent cells come from embryos. Certain so-called adult stem cells, which we make in our bodies, also have these abilities and would most likely be the cells used in plastic surgery.

What? That can’t be true. And don’t tell Dr. Steven Teitelbaum of Missourians for Lifesaving Cures who I saw testify that adult stem cells are merely unipotent, that is, become the kind of cell they are precursors for.

But never mind. The old ESCR junk biology shoveled by propagandists like Teitelbaum and William Neaves is fast becoming irrelevant. Even the news blockade on these matters is breaking down.

But back to the story:

Today, as part of ongoing clinical trials and regular practice, doctors outside the United States are taking stem cells from liposuctioned fat and using them to make traditional fat grafts more effective.

Tom Baker, director of investor relations for Cytori, a San Diego-based company that makes machines for processing fat stem cells in the operating room, described how it works: First, a doctor liposuctions fat from a patient. Half that fat gets set aside, while the other half is processed to pull out a mixture of cells rich in stem cells. That mixture is then injected back into the reserved fat, which is grafted into place inside the patient. The result is a fat graft supercharged with stem cells.

Reconstruction surgery aside, I don’t understand why women risk their lives and health for such procedures. But apparently adult stem cells are the next step forward.