Your own source of youth | body cosmetics | stem cells

We live in a world that is changing rapidly. Over the past decades, we have lived as if the trees were going to grow to the sky, but now we really realize that this is not the case. More and more, we are realizing that we need to use our environment in a sustainable way. And with ourselves. Sustainability is also starting to have a place within the cosmetic industry, especially among customers like you. There is more and more room for natural products and for the “less is more” idea. People want to look beautiful, healthy and young, but this has to be done on a natural way. For example, regular exercise, good nutrition, less stress and less use of radical and permanent cosmetic procedures are increasingly being valued as ways to age beautifully. One trend that fits this observation is the rise of body-made products. Stem cells that are used to rejuvenate your skin and fillers based on your own blood to cure wrinkles? It all sounds too good to be true: you are your own medicine, your own source of youth. The upcoming blogs will be about what you can expect from the body's own products that are already on the market and will make their appearance in the next few years. This time, the “use” of stem cells as injectables has been reviewed.

What are stem cells?

Simply put, stem cells are cells that are able to transform into other types of cells. The idea of stem cell therapy is that activated stem cells are placed in the body to help the body make cells that the body can no longer make itself. Stem cells are found in human embryos (omnipotent stem cells; these stem cells can in principle transform into any type of cell), but also in adult cellular tissue (pluripotent and unipotent stem cells; these cells can change into several other cells or into a type of other cell, respectively). In adults, stem cells can be found in almost all tissue, but especially in the bone marrow. Stem cells are usually in sleep mode and are only activated when necessary. Science is now eager to learn how these “wonder cells” can be switched on, off and put to work in a specific way. Because stem cells are changeable, there are many medical applications to come up with. The potential of stem cell therapy is therefore enormous. Here we can think of creating healthy brain cells to counteract the effects of Parkinson's disease and dementia or even the growth and relocation of entire body parts. Because the potential benefits of stem cell therapy are so great, a great deal of research is being done into how stem cells work and ways to make stem cells work for the body. There is also great potential for stem cells in the cosmetic field. For example, you can think of using stem cells to prevent the natural loss of facial collagen due to age and to ensure that the skin maintains its volume and elasticity. Stem cell therapy could also mean a lot when it comes to healing scars.

Are cell products already on the market?

There are already a number of products on the market that give the impression that they use or can activate stem cells in order to achieve a nice cosmetic result. For example, there are injectables based on the body's own fat, better known as the “stem cell facelift”. This treatment actually existed for a long time (under the name lipofilling), then fell out of popularity for a while, but is back in the picture, partly thanks to the attention for stem cells. The body's own fat cells are removed from the body and then centrifuged in a laboratory. Healthy cells distinguish themselves from unhealthy cells during the centrifuge process. The healthy cells also include stem cells, which are activated from sleep by the centrifuge process. The healthy cells, including stem cells, are then injected back into the skin, where the stem cells provide wrinkle softening, more volume and a decrease in scar tissue. At least, that's the theory. There are proponents and opponents of this treatment. The proponents argue that the treatment is cheaper than synthetic fillers and because it is a body-made product, there are fewer side effects. The filler not only provides improved contours, but also has a positive effect on the overlying skin. The positivists think that this skin improvement is due to the stem cells. It has not been proven that this is actually the case. Opponents name disadvantages such as prolonged swelling and bruising. It is also very difficult to properly estimate how much fat will provide a balanced result. Fat is usually injected on both sides of the face. How the fat is then absorbed by the body varies from side to side. There are also doubts about how the injected fat “grows”; it ages faster than the surrounding tissue. Not a nice side effect. Anyway, this treatment has little to do with actual stem cell therapy.