Stem Cells, PRP, NanoFat and Orthopedic Injuries
Platelet-rich plasma has been shown to be extremely beneficial for orthopedic injuries, especially sport injuries in the joints (knees, hips, and shoulders are most common) and for chronic osteoarthritis. Arthritis in the joints happens to even us non-athletes as we get older-it's just the wear and tear on our bodies. The cartilage cushion between the bone can get worn down and that's when you hear about people getting surgery where their knee is "scoped" with a camera and sometimes repaired with the placement of cadaveric cartilage to replace what you've lost. However, someone figured out that injecting platelet-rich plasma (PRP) into the joint decreased the inflammation because of the growth factors or what we call "cytokines." Even better, there are multiple reports of stem cell injections into the joints that have stimulated regrowth of your own cartilage. Since we are removing fat to harvest the stem cells anyway, we also add Nanofat into the joint. Nanofat is the finished product of powerful growth factors (think PRP on steroids) that is left over after fat is pulverized until the fat cells disappear.
While there are no multi-center big studies with statistical evidence, intra-articular (meaning “in the joint”) stem cell treatment has shown continued success, and is supported by many orthopedic surgeons. I perform most of my cosmetic procedures at Summit Surgery Center in Beverly Hills, where I have access to the most advanced stem cell technology by the company Healeon and of course, the Stem Cell King himself, Dr. Kevin Tehrani, on my team (see video). Dr. Tehrani has mastered the art of harvesting hundreds of millions of stem cells from small amounts of fat.
A great upside is that it is a short procedure, using all of your own "stuff”. So often, when I am performing a cosmetic procedure on a patient, I can easily collect a small amount of your fat and hand it off for stem cell extraction. This process is approximately a one hour procedure and is performed while I am working on your cosmetic procedure, so no time is lost. Since we can incorporate these stem cell treatments in at the same time as your procedure with us, your cost for the stem cells is much less than it would be if you went to have them placed alone by an orthopedic surgeon, which could cost starting $10,000 and up. At the patient's request, we can also give IV stem cell treatment during the procedure, which can help with recovery and overall wellness. Again, there is no statistical data to support it, but stem cell treatments have been shown to help treat autoimmune diseases such as fibromyalgia and Lyme disease.