The FDA announcement will have fans of dermal fillers like Restylane and Juvederm are smiling from ear to ear without fear of deepening the dreaded nasolabial folds (sometimes called “marionette lines” for the way the lines that bracket either side of the nose and mouth mimic the grooves in a puppet’s face).

This week the FDA has approved “laViv”, a stem cell therapy developed by Fibrocell Science that involves taking a sample of a patient’s stem skin cells containing collagen-producing fibroblasts, expanding them – a processing step that multiples the cells over an 11 to 22 week period – and then reinjecting directly into the patient’s nasolabial folds. The process is repeated three times over a period of months.

The Fountain of Youth?
Most people are at least peripherally aware that stem cells are the future of medicine, and that stem cell therapy is not only possible but beneficial with adult stem cells instead of embryonic stem cells.

In the past few years research in the field of adult stem cell treatment for disease has virtually exploded with more than 50,000 clinical studies and papers registered with the National Institutes of Health libraries.  Treatments for everything from autism to Alzheimer’s, COPD to congestive heart failure are available for patients willing to travel abroad for treatment.  But stem cells for wrinkles?

“Absolutely,” says Dr. Jesus Perez.

The young-looking (aha!) Dr. Perez is the Director of the Regenerative Medicine Institute at Hospital Angeles, the largest private hospital network in Mexico and a stem cell Center of Excellence working with BioHeart, among others,  defining more than 20 protocols for  cutting edge stem cell treatment for congestive heart failure, COPD, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, Type 2 Diabetes/Peripheral Artery Disease, and more.

“Patients consistently report benefits of the treatment beyond the primary therapeutic effect,”  says Dr. Perez, patients like Mort Farina, a compound pharmacist who, with the full approval of his UCLA/Cedars Sinai  cardiologist team had stem cell therapy at Angeles after suffering both a heart attack and  a stroke.

“I feel great, people tell me I’ve never looked better,” says Farina in this video, noting that one of the first effects from the treatment that he noticed was no longer needing a daily nap.

The Proof

Two clinical trials showed that six months after treatment, patients in the test group (receiving stem cells) were almost twice as likely to report significant improvement in the  appearance of their own wrinkles than patients in the control group. The physicians findings were less likely to report the level of improvement that patients saw, but nevertheless were significantly more than twice as likely to report the test patient group (getting stem cell treatment) had more wrinkle reduction than the control group.

Considering the minor side effects reported (redness, bruising, swelling and hemorrhage) and the speculative price – estimated in the NY Times report at about $3500 for the personalized cell banking and multiple treatment sessions – we can expect to see a big response to this among consumers, particularly if the cosmetic effect proves as wondrous as the effect other adult stem cell patients have reported such as, such as Major League Baseball pitcher Bartolo Colon.

Colon, a pitcher for the Yankee’s, suffered from an elbow injury that looked to be a career-ender. Fat and out of shape after missing an entire season, Colon had a stem cell transplant in his arm and has since shown a resurgence of his former Cy Young-award-winning dominance, racking up some sparkling stats including a 3.91 ERA and a shutout shutout.

Sports Illustrated called Colon’s stem cell treatment the “fountain of youth and the Boston Herald compared the performance to the miracle at Lourdes. For those of us who are setting are sights somewhat lower than a miracle, stem cells for wrinkles sounds pretty good – – a whole lot better than botulism toxin injected in the face!

Stem Cell Treatment Resources