Regenerative medicine is one of the latest developments in skin care and is creating a lot of interest with regard to suitable uses. The subject is especially important in aesthetic surgery where more innovative ways are sought to rejuvenate ageing skin. Regenerative medicine is defined as: "an interdisciplinary field of research and clinical applications focused on the repair, replacement or regeneration of cells, tissues or organs to restore impaired function resulting from any cause, including congenital defects, disease, trauma and ageing"
This definition includes all means to regenerate skin and other tissue. Such means may include cell therapies, tissue engineering, gene therapy and biomedical engineering techniques, as well as more traditional treatments involving pharmaceuticals, biologics and devices.
At the forefront comes stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and there is a already a large amount of information on these therapies. How much is myth and how much reality, is hard to answer as there are not too many official trials.
There are, however, 2 fundamental types of stem cells:
1. Embryonic stem cells (which are present during fetal development and are nonspecific) These can develop into any cell type in the human body.
2. Adult stem cells (which are distributed throughout the body in various tissues and function as our ‘replacement parts’) These act to replace tissue cells that are damaged or aged.
The process is that growth factors or "cytokines" (small proteins that tell other cells what to do) and other signaling peptide messengers direct the stem cells and other cells to perform tasks in the repair or replacement and regeneration of aged or damaged cell tissues. Making full use of this system of cell function is the basis of regenerative medicine and regenerative aesthetics.
Stem cell extracted growth factors and signaling peptides are of great interest in skin rejuvenation. Especially when combined with a personal program, the use of these products can produce remarkable results and there are some clinical trials which have demonstrated positive results.
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