An Easier and Less Expensive Way to Get Stem Cells

Stem cells are stem cells are stem cells, right?

It’s true. You can get stem cells from placenta, from bone marrow, from fat, and from other tissues.

But they aren’t all the same. There are several reasons why the results doctors get from stem cell injections can vary widely. Sometimes they work great and sometimes they are not worth the expense.

And now a brand new paper is describing what might be the next big breakthrough in stem cell therapy. But first, what are stem cells anyway? And aren’t they illegal?

Stem cells are a group of different cells that have the ability to turn into other cells. For example, when a part of your body becomes damaged either from an injury, inflammation, or infection, your body will send stem cells there to repair the injury. When the stem cells get there, they can turn into the kind of cells that are needed. If you break a bone, it can turn into bone cells. If you cut your skin, they will turn into skin cells. If you have a stroke, they can turn into brain cells. No other kind of cell can do this. So stem cells are unique in what they do. But that’s not the only thing unique about them.

Stem cells also secrete many bioactive molecules that assist with the healing and regenerative process of the body. And in this way, they are just like “mini-drugstores.” As we get older, our stem cells don’t work as well. And this is why we don’t heal as well as we did in our younger years. Did you know that a baby’s stem cells are so good at regenerating damaged tissue that they can literally grow back an amputated finger? Amazing! But it does show the kind of regenerating and healing that stem cells are doing in our bodies all the time. And here’s another thing you need to know about stem cells.

There are all kinds of different stem cells. These days, more attention is being placed on mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs. MSCs are being used increasingly for many clinical applications, such as repairing damaged or arthritic joints and in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Here’s why this new paper might be a breakthrough in the field of stem cells.

Normally, in order to get the best MSCs, doctors have to get them from your fat. That means that they need to make an incision into an area where you have a little extra fat and take some of the fat out using a liposuction process. Normally, this is painful, and a fair amount of fat has to be removed. And that’s where this new procedure looks so good. It’s called Lipogem stem cell therapy. The incision is much smaller. The amount of fat needed is much smaller. And the process of separating out the MSCs from the fat is much shorter and simpler.

Not only that, but since the MSC separating process is so simple, the MSCs are more active, and they secrete more of those bioactive healing molecules I talked about. Ask your doctor about this treatment.

Yours for better health,

Frank Shallenberger, MD