The stem cell facelift sounds like science: transplanting adult stem cells from the body's own fat tissue into the face so the stem cell growth factors can generate new tissue and restore the smoothness and skin tightness of youth.
However, the problem, according to Dr. J. Peter Rubin, codirector of the Adipose Stem Cell Center at the University of Pittsburgh, is that the science "just isn't there yet," so marketing stem cell procedures for aesthetic medicine is "premature and possibly unethical."
Of approximately 9,000 reports in the medical literature about stem cells, only 20 are peer-reviewed studies about their use in aesthetic procedures, Dr. Rubin said at the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and none "demonstrate superiority of stem cell facelift over [conventional] facelift with standard fat grafting."
Despite the dearth of evidence demonstrating the safety or efficacy of stem cell therapies in aesthetic medicine, the procedures are being widely marketed, he said, noting that in some cases, the treatments don't even include any stem cell work, but simply involve regular fat grafting.
In an effort to discourage the proliferation of unsubstantiated claims about stem cell therapies, a joint task force of the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) released a position statement at the meeting recommending against the marketing and promotion of stem cell procedures in aesthetic surgery until there is adequate clinical evidence to support doing so.
Specifically, the ASAPS/ASPS position statement stressed that "the marketing and promotion of stem cell procedures in aesthetic surgery is not adequately supported by clinical evidence at this time," and as such recommends that:
- The use of phrases such as stem cell therapy or stem cell procedure be reserved for treatments or techniques in which the collection, processing, and therapeutic action of stem cells are the primary goal of treatment rather than the passive result. "Standard fat grafting procedures that do transfer some stem cells naturally present within the tissue should be described as fat grafting procedures, not stem cell procedures," according to the document.
- Data on outcomes and safety should be collected and reported by physicians performing stem cell therapies to advance the knowledge and the science of the process.
- Stem cell therapies in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery should be conducted within clinical studies under Institutional Review Board approval.
- Stem cell procedures should be performed in compliance with Food and Drug Administration regulatory guidelines.
"There are encouraging data from laboratory and clinical studies suggesting the use of adult stem cells is promising, but there is not enough science to justify the widespread marketing of it," said Dr. Rubin.
The goal of the position statement is not to diminish enthusiasm about the potential for stem cell treatments," he said, "but to support evidence-based practices in order to protect patients' best interests."
Dr. Rubin receives educational support from Covidien.