Many breast augmentation patients have joked that if they could magically shift fat from one area of their bodies to another, implants wouldn’t be necessary. Little do they know that each day, a number of plastic surgeon scientists are inching closer to breakthroughs in fat-derived, adult stem cell therapy that will not only revolutionize plastic surgery, but also carry the potential to reshape medical care in general.
“The fat must be introduced in small aliquots, through many injections over several weeks,” according to Roger Khouri, MD, Miami. “Big blobs of fat introduced at one time will die. You need to disperse in the recipient site tiny droplets of fat that have a good tissue interface to survive. Because you cannot overstuff the grafts, the recipient size limits the amount of graft possible per session.”