Platelet-Rich Plasma For Breast Augmentation: How it works
“You start out happy that you have no hips or boobs. All of a sudden you get them, and it feels sloppy. Then just when you start liking them, they start drooping.”
Cindy Crawford
Just like men associate (some of) their masculinity with the shape and size of their muscles, women associate (some of) their femininity with the shape and size of their breasts. However, unlike the muscles, exercise won’t be of much help for augmenting the size of breasts.
Fortunately, we have an array of procedures to the rescue. And today, we’re going to take a look at everything that Platelet-Rich Plasma can do for breast augmentation.
Platelet-Rich Plasma For Breast Augmentation
PRP & Breasts: The Incorrect Perception
Currently the traditional breast augmentation procedures like breast implant surgery and fat grafting are still the most effective methods. However, the general public do talk about Platelet-Rich Plasma for breast augmentation. And often times, they have a wrong perception of it. Here’s their typical conversation with a dermatologist goes.
Patient:”Hey, I heard about this thing called PRP, and I was told it’s just a couple of injections with stuff drawn from our own blood.”
Doctor: “Yeah, they are really good.”
Patient: “Really? You think so? I also heard they’re good for breast augmentation. Can you do it for me?”
This follows by the doctor slapping on their forehead. Then the doctor patiently explains how PRP is a healing tool and not an implant tool.
Platelet-Rich Plasma For Breast Augmentation
How Platelet-Rich Plasma For Breast Augmentation Works
Here are two ways PRP is used for breast procedures.
- Fat Transfer & Platelet Rich Plasma For Breast Lift
Fat transfer is the process of taking unwanted body fat (liposuction procedure) from other parts of the body and processing it before injecting it to upper part of the breast and in the cleavage area. This is immediate enhancement. And since it’s immediate, the sudden expansion of the breast can cause blood vessels to be blocked causing some parts of the breasts or the nipples to lose sensitivity. Sometimes it can even cause the skin at those areas to go haywire.
So the best way to avoid that is to make sure enough collagen and growth factors are supplied, well in excess of the area’s needs. That’s why it makes sense to combine the Fat Transfer procedure with Platelet-Rich Plasma. In this combination, the doctor adds PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) derived from the patient’s own blood, to the fat when processing the fat, which includes many blood-derived growth factors and tissues containing collagen for skin rejuvenation. The end-product is then injected like a typical PRP Injection. The result is firmer breasts with not just a change in size, but also changes in skin texture and shape of the breast. And there’s no worry of losing sensitivity. Some call the entire procedure as Platelet-Rich Plasma Facelift. Results generally last from 9-18 months.
This great procedure has boosted the confidence levels of thousands of women who wanted to overcome their unnatural shaping and aging of breasts. However, even though it works for all kind of breast sizes, it’s not recommended for women with:
Extreme Loss of Volume
Excessive Sagging
Previous Breast Implants
- Only Platelet Rich Plasma For Breast Rejuvenation
This second procedure is purely PRP for rejuvenation purposes. It’s for women who’re happy with their breast size but would love to rejuvenate the skin for youthful looks, restore fullness for healthy breasts and regain sensitivity in areas where it’s diminished. The procedure is same as any other Platelet-Rich Plasma procedures. It starts with drawing 20ml of patient’s blood, spinning it (twice) in a tabletop centrifuge and then injecting to necessary areas. PRP injection not only enhances the looks, it actually produces new tissues in the area because of all that growth factors resulting in better cleavage and fullness.
So if any of your beautiful, intelligent and man-loving female patients need a little help in augmentation, you can confidently recommend these two Platelet-Rich Plasma procedures for breasts. It works.
Additional perks
Some of us in the medical profession hold the opinion that, “if you want to enlarge your breasts, stick with the gold standard. Breast Implants performed by a board certified plastic surgeon.” Artificial implants are anything but gold standard. Natural is the new gold. Besides, to implant artificial stuff you need to cut up the breasts. And the scars that results can take time to heal. Plus, implants may need to be replaced sometime after 10 or 20 years.
“It wasn’t just her beauty. It was the attitude in her smile, the tilt of her head, and the loving look in her eyes when she caught me sneaking a peek down her shirt.”
John L. Monk, Kick
- Published in Corporate News / Blog
The History of Research on Adult Stem Cells: We’ve Come a Long Way
An adult stem cell is an undifferentiated cell, found among differentiated cells in tissue or an organ. The adult stem cell can renew itself and can differentiate to yield some or all of the major specialized cell types of the tissue or organ. The primary role of adult stem cells in a living organism is to maintain and repair the tissue in which they are found. Scientists also use the term somatic stem cell to describe adult stem cells, where somatic refers to cells of the body (not the germ cells, sperm or eggs). Unlike embryonic stem cells, which are defined by their origin (cells from the preimplantation-stage embryo), the origin of adult stem cells in some mature tissues is still under investigation.
Research on adult stem cells
Research on adult stem cells has generated a great deal of excitement. Scientists have found adult stem cells in many more tissues than they once thought possible. This finding has led researchers and clinicians to consider whether adult stem cells could be used for transplants. In fact, adult hematopoietic—or blood-forming—stem cells from bone marrow have been used in transplants for more than 40 years. Scientists now have evidence that stem cells exist in the brain and the heart, two locations where adult stem cells were not at first expected to reside. If the differentiation of adult stem cells can be controlled in the laboratory, these cells may become the basis of transplantation-based therapies.
The history of research on adult stem cells began more than 60 years ago. In the 1950s, researchers discovered that the bone marrow contains at least two kinds of stem cells. Hematopoietic stem cells form all the types of blood cells in the body. Bone Marrow stromal stem cells are a multipotent subset of bone marrow stromal cells that are able to form bone, cartilage, stromal cells that support blood formation, fat, and fibrous tissue.
Types of adult stem cells
Bone marrow stem cells are also called mesenchymal stem cells, and were discovered a few years later. These non-hematopoietic stem cells make up a small proportion of the stromal cell population in the bone marrow and can generate bone, cartilage, and fat cells that support the formation of blood and fibrous connective tissue.
In the 1960s, scientists who were studying rats discovered two regions of the brain that contained dividing cells that ultimately become nerve cells, but despite these reports most scientists believed that the adult brain could not generate new nerve cells. It was not until the 1990s that scientists agreed that the adult brain does contain stem cells that are able to generate the brain’s three major cell types—astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, which are non-neuronal cells, and neurons, or nerve cells.
Where are adult stem cells found, and what do they normally do?
Adult stem cells have been identified in many organs and tissues, including brain, bone marrow, peripheral blood,
blood vessels, skeletal muscle, skin, teeth, heart, gut, liver, ovarian epithelium, and testis. They are thought to reside in a specific area of each tissue (called a “stem cell niche”). In many tissues, current evidence suggests that some types of stem cells are pericytes, cells that compose the outermost layer of small blood vessels. Stem cells may remain quiescent (non-dividing) for long periods of time until they are activated by a normal need for more cells to maintain tissues, or by disease or tissue injury.
What tests are used to identify adult stem cells?
Scientists often use one or more methods to identify adult stem cells:
• Label the cells in a living tissue with molecular markers and then determine the specialized cell types they generate;
• Remove the cells from a living animal, label them in cell culture, and transplant them back into another animal to determine whether the cells replace (or “repopulate”) their tissue of origin.
Importantly, scientists must demonstrate that a single adult stem cell can generate a line of genetically identical cells that then gives rise to all the appropriate differentiated cell types of the tissue. To confirm experimentally that a putative adult stem cell is indeed a stem cell, scientists show either that the cell can give rise to these genetically identical cells in culture, and/or that a purified population of these candidate stem cells can repopulate or reform the tissue after transplant into an animal.
- Published in Corporate News / Blog
Stem Cell Research and Stem Cell Therapy: When can stem cells be used to treat patients?
The difference between stem cell research and therapy is in the scientific evidence that supports therapeutic intervention to be beneficial for the patient.
Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different types of cells in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues, stem cells serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the individual is alive. When a stem cell divides, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.
Stem cell research on adult stem cells
Stem cells are distinguished from other cell types by two important characteristics. First, they are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, sometimes after long periods of inactivity. Second, under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become tissue- or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions.
Until recently, scientists primarily worked with two kinds of stem cells from animals and humans: embryonic stem cells and non-embryonic “somatic” or “adult” stem cells in stem cell research.
In 2006, researchers made a breakthrough by identifying conditions that would allow some specialized adult cells to be “reprogrammed” genetically to assume a stem cell-like state. This new type of stem cell is called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).
Stem cells are important for living organisms for many reasons. In the 3- to 5-day-old embryo, called a blastocyst, the inner cells give rise to the entire body of the organism, including all of the many specialized cell types and organs such as the heart, lungs, skin, sperm, eggs and other tissues. In some adult tissues, such as bone marrow, muscle, and brain, discrete populations of adult stem cells generate replacements for cells that are lost through normal wear and tear, injury, or disease.
Stem cell research for treating disease
Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes, and heart disease. However, much work remains to be done in the laboratory and the clinic to understand how to use these cells for cell-based therapies to treat disease, which is also referred to as regenerative or reparative medicine.
Laboratory studies of stem cells enable scientists to learn about the cells’ essential properties and what makes them different from specialized cell types. Scientists are already using stem cells in the laboratory to screen new drugs and to develop model systems to study normal growth and identify the causes of birth defects.
Research on stem cells continues to advance knowledge about how an organism develops from a single cell and how healthy cells replace damaged cells in adult organisms. Stem cell research is one of the most fascinating areas of contemporary biology, but, as with many expanding fields of scientific inquiry, research on stem cells raises scientific questions as rapidly as it generates new discoveries.
In 1964, the World Medical Association developed the Declaration of Helsinki as a statement of
ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. It includes research on identifiable human material and data, last amended in October 2013.
According to the Helsinki Declaration, in the treatment of an individual patient where proven interventions do not exist or other known interventions have been ineffective, the physician, after seeking expert advice, with informed consent from the patient or a legally authorized representative, may use an unproven intervention if in the physician’s judgement it offers hope of saving life, re-establishing health or alleviating suffering.
Intervention should subsequently be made the object of research, designed to evaluate its safety and efficacy. In all cases, new information must be recorded and, where appropriate, made publicly available.
- Published in Corporate News / Blog