4 Minute Read:

As we age, our facial skin loses some of the essential proteins (collagen and elastin) that keep the skin healthy, strong, and firm. When this happens, our skin looks weathered, worn down, and older than we actually are (and definitely older than we feel).

Wrinkles and fine lines form, and the skin often loses volume, causing it to sag. 

If you suffer from any of these age-related facial concerns, then you know how frustrating it can be.

Fortunately, several non-surgical cosmetic procedures are available to help correct many of these age-related facial problems. Two of the most common and effective of these procedures are stem cell injections and dermal fillers. However, is there a better option between the two? 

In short, the answer is yes! 

Below, you will find out more about stem cell injections to the face and why they are a better option for you!

Why Are Stem Cell Injections Better Than Dermal Fillers?

Both stem cell injections (also known as a non-surgical facelift or a stem cell facelift) and dermal fillers help address aging in the face by restoring volume to areas that have become thin and gaunt (such as the cheeks and under the eyes). 

While these are both minimally invasive injection treatments, there are several differences between the two cosmetic procedures that are important to consider when deciding what type of procedure you should undergo.

Dermal fillers, such as the JUVÉDERM® line of fillers, work by injecting a hyaluronic acid (HA) solution into the face. Hyaluronic acid is found naturally in the body and attracts and retains moisture, which helps to rejuvenate areas of the face that have suffered volume loss. However, portions of the injected HA are synthetic, which means that you are still having a foreign substance put into your body. This can be problematic, especially if your body rejects the filler solution. 

On the other hand, the solution injected into your skin with stem cell injections comes completely from your own body, which means that there is no chance of your body having any adverse reactions to the treatment.

Another difference between these procedures is that stem cell injections last longer than dermal fillers. While the results from dermal fillers often last about six to eight months, the results of stem cell injections can last anywhere from five to 10 years! 

So, while it may seem that dermal fillers are more popular than stem cell injections, especially when you look at the 2020 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report and see that over 2.5 million dermal filler treatments were performed that year, the reality is that there were more treatments because the results were not as long lasting.

How Is a Non-Surgical Facelift Performed?

The non-surgical facelift is performed under local anesthesia to ensure that you do not feel any pain or discomfort during your procedure. 

First, stem cells are harvested from your fat cells. This is achieved with liposuction that extracts the fat from an area of your body with fat to spare. An enzymatic process is then used to separate the stem cells from the fat. This stem-cell-rich fat is then injected into various areas of your face. The stem cells in the fat help to fill in areas of volume loss and help kickstart your body into healing itself by creating new blood vessels and helping to promote collagen and elastin production. 

Because of this, you can achieve long-lasting improvements to the look and feel of your skin.

What Benefits Will I See After My Non-Surgical Facelift?

Stem cell injections to the face can help rejuvenate the look and feel of the skin. No matter how old you are, you can achieve a more youthful facial aesthetic that can help you feel more confident and comfortable. 

Many patients have reported feeling more confident in social and professional settings, without the feeling of needing to hide their appearance under makeup, clothing, or accessories. Instead, they feel proud of their smoother skin and fuller facial contours.

Interested in Learning More?

If you are interested in having a non-surgical facelift with stem-cell-rich fat, then contact us today. You can call our Beverly Hills office at (310) 879-1488, our Rancho Mirage office at (760) 836-0077, or our Milan, Italy, office at +393494662323 or by filling out our online contact form.

2 Minute Read:

Facelift surgery has come a long way from the overdone, wind-swept look that used to be associated with this procedure. 

New techniques and technological advancements now offer results that range from subtle to dramatic while keeping a natural appearance.

The Vertical Facelift

One of these advancements is the vertical facelift. This technique changed the way skin was manipulated during surgery. While plastic surgeons used to pull the skin more horizontally, using a vertical motion led to better, more natural results. 

Additionally, repositioning the underlying tissues more appropriately addressed sagging skin and facial features.

Adding Stem Cells to the Vertical Facelift

While recontouring the muscles of the face helps add volume, the technique has limitations. This critical aspect of a youthful face can be more fully restored by injecting purified stem cell-containing fat into the hollowed facial areas. This is what’s known as a stem cell facelift.

The stem cell facelift offers the following benefits:

1. A Vibrant Younger-Looking Appearance

Not only do stem cells help add volume where most needed, but their regenerative properties also increase the quality of the skin, giving your face a vibrant and youthful glow.

2. Customized for the Results You Want

You may want results that portray the younger version of yourself, or you might want to change a little here or there. 

The vertical facelift repositions loose skin and underlying tissue for a more youthful appearance, while stem cell injections enhance volume and skin quality.

Combining these techniques allows your surgeon to customize your procedure for the look you desire.

3. The Natural Results You Want

The vertical facelift itself offers dramatic but natural improvement to aging skin and droopy facial features. When you add the benefits of stem cells, you not only get great results, but you can expect them to get better over time.

Because stem cells secrete growth factors, even after recovery from surgery, your skin and facial tissues will continue to create new cells, enhancing the appearance of your face for months after surgery.

Where Do the Stem Cells Come From?

Liposuction is used to remove fat from the body, such as the lower abdomen. This fat is carefully collected and processed by Celution®. 

This advanced medical device purifies the regenerative stem cells and prepares them to be injected under the facial muscles, where they grow within existing tissue to restore facial volume. 

What Is the Stem Cell Facelift Recovery Like?

The stem cell facelift involves a shorter recovery than other facelift techniques, and the discreet incisions lead to less scarring. Still, you should expect some swelling and bruising; this typically subsides within three weeks, and discomfort can be controlled with prescription medication.

You should be able to return to your regular activities within 10 to 14 days after a stem cell facelift.

Your Beverly Hills, CA, Stem Cell Facelift Expert

Dr. Calabria provides a range of cosmetic surgeries incorporating stem cell technology, including surgical and non-surgical facelift procedures in Beverly Hills, California.

Check out his before and after photos here!

4 Minute Read:

Stem cells are the biological building blocks that create all the parts of our bodies. There are several different types of stem cells, including embryonic stem cells (found in the earliest stages of development), tissue-specific/ adult stem cells (first appear during the fetal stage but are carried with us throughout life), and amniotic stem cells (found in the placenta and umbilical cord).

All stem cells duplicate themselves and then develop into more specific organ or tissue-related cells. Other than these similarities, stem cells are diverse and have unique abilities. 

Over the years, the use of stem cells in the medical profession has sparked some controversy. However, much of this controversy is based on incorrect assumptions about the origin of medical stem cells.  

What Is the Difference Between Embryonic, Amniotic, and Adult Stem Cells?

Researchers have investigated every type of stem cell. Each of the following kinds of stem cells has its own special characteristics.

Embryonic Stem Cells

Embryonic stem cells come from blastocysts, a mostly hollow sphere of cells that develop in humans three to five days after an ovum (female egg cell) is fertilized by a single sperm.  

Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means they can generate every cell type except those of the placenta and umbilical cord. 

While many people believe that embryonic stem cells come from aborted fetuses, the truth is they are typically derived from blastocysts created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques and come from embryos that were never implanted and are no longer needed. 

This knowledge may not make those who oppose the use of embryonic stem cells feel much better, but the good news is that most of the time when you hear the term “stem cells” being used in relation to a medical procedure, they are almost always adult, or tissue-specific stem cells.

Tissue-Specific (Adult) Stem Cells

Some tissues and organs contain tissue-specific stem cells designed to replace cells in that tissue that are lost to age or injury.

While embryonic stem cells are fundamental and pluripotent, tissue-specific stem cells, also referred to as adult stem cells, are specialized and can generate different cell types for the specific organ or tissue in which they are needed.

For instance, stem cells that come from bone marrow can generate red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. However, they can not be used to generate skin, liver, lung, or brain cells. 

When you hear about regenerative medicine, these are most often the types of stem cells used.

Amniotic Stem Cells

Amniotic fluid surrounds a fetus during pregnancy and is most often discarded after birth. However, some mothers of babies delivered through cesarean section often donate this fluid for medical use and research. 

Amniotic fluid contains an abundance of fundamental cells that include stem cells, cytokines, proteins, and many other essential compounds. 

Clinical studies have clearly illustrated the regenerative and inflammation-reducing properties this fluid contains. It may also help reduce the visibility of scars and is highly valuable in the field of plastic surgery. 

Other Experimental Stem Cells

Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Mesenchymal stem cells or MSC refer to cells extracted from stroma, the connective tissue that surrounds organs and tissues. 

More accurately named “stromal cells” by some scientists, they still don’t fully comprehend the types of cells they are capable of generating and whether these cells are even true stem cells. 

They are in agreement about the fact that MSC characteristics rely on the part of the body they come from and the way they are best duplicated.

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are those that have been engineered by a lab. This achievement is accomplished by converting tissue-specific cells into those that act like embryonic stem cells. 

While iPS cells can be very similar to embryonic stem cells, they aren’t the same. Scientists are still exploring what these differences are and what exactly they mean. 

Stem Cells in Plastic Surgery

Dr. Renato Calabria is a board-certified plastic surgeon voted as one of ‘America’s Top Plastic Surgeons’ by Consumers Research Council of America and was nominated as ‘Physician of the Year’ by the NRCC Physician Advisory Board. 

He and his team are experienced in using a patient’s stem cells obtained directly from their own body fat.

“I strongly believe that using could aid not only in plastic surgery procedures such breast reconstruction, facial deformities caused by an injury or congenital defects and burns but also in the cosmetic surgery field in procedures like face lift and facial rejuvenation, breast augmentation, body and buttock augmentation, and reshaping and hand rejuvenation.”

• Dr. Renato Calabria

Call Dr. Calabria’s Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery Practice to Learn More!

Dr. Calabria believes that the emergence of stem cell use in plastic surgery is the start of a new era. He is committed to staying on top of all the advancements made in the study of stem cells’ regenerative properties. 

Some of his stem cell procedures include:

• Facelifts with stem cells  
• Breast implants with stem cells
• Hand rejuvenation with stem cells
• Body contouring with stem cells

He and his patients have seen firsthand the benefits of regenerative medicine in plastic surgery, not only at the tissue level but at the cellular level as well.

Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Dr. Renato Calabria, is now accepting new patients who want to improve their appearance by using the most advanced techniques available today.

Dr. Calabria also has an office in Rancho Mirage for your cosmetic surgery needs.

2 Minute Read:

Are you not completely satisfied with your liposuction results? Did liposuction leave you with divots and dents in your contours? 

While liposuction is considered a safe and effective means of eliminating unwanted pockets of fat in specific localized body areas, some patients are left to deal with unsatisfactory results.

The trend is especially prominent among older patients with poor skin elasticity, leading to irregularities or skin dimpling after liposuction. Much has also to do with the expertise and experience of your surgeon in knowing the correct techniques to use to achieve optimal results. 

An inexperienced surgeon can perform aggressive or under-correction liposuction that leads to a not-so-natural-looking appearance.

If liposuction did not provide you with your desired results, there could be room for improvement. Body contouring with stem cell fat grafting can be used to smooth out irregularities, improve the skin’s overall texture, and tone the areas of your body once treated with liposuction.

How Stem Cell Fat Grafting Corrects Skin Dimpling and Irregularities

Stem cells are a special group of cells with regenerative properties, meaning they help form new tissues when transferred to new areas. Through liposuction, fat cells are harvested from a donor area and purified using advanced technology to extract a higher concentration of stem cells which are then injected into defect areas. How long the procedure takes will depend on the extent of donor and recipient areas.

The stem cell-enriched fat is very effective in restoring fullness and eliminating hollows, “peaks and valleys” in the skin to create a smoother and more evened-out look. Additionally, stem cell fat grafting significantly improves the firmness and quality of the overlying skin to establish the body’s youthful contours. And the best part is most of the grafted fat gives permanent results without the worry of reabsorption, making this technique a more reliable form of body contouring.

If you are struggling with unsightly dents that make your body look disproportionate, this procedure can be life-changing.

Repair and Fill Post-Liposuction Irregularities With Dr. Calabria

It is crucial to find a trusted liposuction revision expert to attain a natural, even outcome. 

Everyone can benefit from working with a qualified, highly experienced plastic surgeon with a good technique like Dr. Calabria. With a stunning reputation of using the revolutionary technique of stem cell fat grafting to increase a patient’s chances of smooth contours and a beautiful outcome, you can rest easy that you are taking a step in the right direction.

Interested in Learning More?

Want to learn more about the aesthetic and regenerative advantages of having stem cell fat grafting? Contact us today at 310-777-0069 or 760-836-0077 or fill our online form to schedule your consultation with Dr. Calabria. Let us help you create a more pleasing post-liposuction appearance you can feel good about.