We have all seen science fiction movies where a scientist rivaling Dr. Frankenstein puts a stem cell in a petri dish and miraculously grows a new body part. In fact, there is a fair amount of stem cell research going on around some types of illnesses and skin for burn reconstruction.  As far as stem cells regrowing your youthful skin, fat and collagen, that is another story.

A lot of advertising hype has appeared  lately about a “Stem Cell Facelift”. At our big yearly Aesthetic Surgery meeting in Boston,  Dr. Peter Rubin reviewed the literature on the so-called Stem Cell facelift. He noted that there is no consistent technique for this method. The”stem cell facelifts” being advertised are simply regular facelifts with regular fat grafting and don’t involve any special stem-cell work at all. He also stressed that there is NO DATA that this technique is superior to a regular facelift with standard fat grafting.

So, as of now, there is  “marketing hype” but no miracle lift to regrow your youthful skin. While we await the real-life Dr. Frankenstein to grow new body parts, the relatively easy mini facelift or laser resurfacing are still the gold standard. Sometimes you have to look at advertising claims carefully to see that while someone’s nose may be growing as they speak, it won’t be yours!