MedEsthetics magazines offers business education and in-depth coverage of the latest noninvasive cosmetic procedures for physicians and practice managers working in the medical aesthetics industry.
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44 SEPTEMBER 2014 | Med Esthetics with the technology, it's quite amazing. The problem is, there are other, less expensive procedures that can give improvement in these conditions, whether it be fractional CO 2 or fractional nonablative resurfacing for acne scars and fi ner lines; Sculptra, which does improve skin texture and tone; or fi llers for wrinkles and rolling acne scars." The cost to the physician is about $12,000, and it has some distinct diferences when compared to fat and HA dermal fi llers. "It takes about three months to get the material back after biopsy, and you have to get it all orchestrated because of the refrigeration and sterilization regulations," says Dr. Lupo. "It doesn't require any special equipment on the part of the doctor, but the material has to be injected within a couple hours after delivery—the timing is what makes it very diffi cult for practices." Patients receive three injections and get gradual im- provement as their bodies' collagen and elastin produc- tion is stimulated. "It's a hard sell because it doesn't give the 'wow' that some of our other treatments do, like a CO 2 , aggressive Fraxel Dual or three vials of Voluma," says Dr. Lupo. AUTOLOGOUS SKIN CARE Building on the promise—and public interest—in autologous cosmetic procedures, Personal Cell Sci- ences, part of American CryoStem, developed the U Autologous skincare line. The personalized skincare line blends the patient's own cytokines with topical antiaging skincare ingredients. "There are three different products—a serum, which contains a 10% concentration of cytokines; an eye cream with 2.5%; and a moisturizer that contains 5%," says Dr. Stern, who is a member of the company's scientifi c and medical board. To create the products, the patient under- goes fat harvesting at the physician's practice, then the fat is sent to the Personal Cell Sciences lab where stem cells are isolated from the fat, grown in culture, multiplied and stimulated to produce their own cytokines. The entire process takes four to six weeks. Dr. Stern performed a split-face clinical study on the products. Patients used their own daily skincare products on one side of the face and U Autologous Eye Cream on the other for eight weeks. "We did baseline readings using Canfi eld's Visia system and I also did biopsies of the skin at baseline and eight weeks," he says. "There was an aver- age 26% improvement by Visia analysis in wrinkle scale, pigmentation and solar damage as well as a reduction in redness and broken capillaries. The biopsies showed a signifi cant stimulation of elastin as well." The cost for the products is $260 for the eye cream and up to $540 for the fi rming serum. Patients can purchase the full line for $1,200 plus the initial cost of harvesting. "My patients who tend to buy the more expensive, higher end products are the most interested, because the costs aren't that different from what they're used to spending on skin care," says Dr. Stern. "And they have the added benefi t of banking their fat and stem cells for future use." Looking at both the current and potential future uses of fat and stem cells, Dr. Stern sees a win-win for cryopreservation. "So many people are interested in fat transfer today, so to me it's a no-brainer for someone to put aside an extra 100cc to 200cc of fat for a patient who is already having liposuction," he says. "Then the patient has the option of future fat transfer, stem cell banking and a personalized skincare line. We always give our patients the option, and a signifi cant portion of them opt to do this even if they're not currently considering fat injections or the U Autologous line. It's a nice option to offer." Inga Hansen is the executive editor of MedEsthetics. Facial fat injections are most successful in young faces, which is not always a positive. © GETTY IMAGES T AUTOLOGOUS MEDICINE