Doctor Debuts "Stem-Cell Facelift"

Stem-cell growth factors are the key to Giampapa's patented new approach. The plastic surgeon, an assistant clinical professor at the Medical Center of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, N.J., and director of the Plastic Surgery Center Internationale and Giampapa Institute for Age Management, transplants adult stem cells and fat from the lower abdominal area to the face.

The growth factors then activate the grafted stem cells, as well as local stem cells, to generate new facial tissue that produces the more youthful appearance. According to Giampapa, adult stem cells create "Chormone-like" biochemicals that improve the quality of both the surface skin and deeper facial tissues.

This results in a significant, long-term "erasure" of the effects of aging in the face. The Stem-Cell Facelift is done in the doctor's office under local anesthesia in roughly an hour. This gives patients, according to Giampapa, an attractive mix of speed, freedom from pain and discomfort, and avoidance of a hospital visit and general anesthesia.

Dr. Damon Noto, the chief surgeon and physician of the Spine and Joint Center in New Jersey is a leading advocate for the use of adult stem cells to treat a range of health issues: “Here we see the use of adult stem cells restoring a patient’s youthful appearance as a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure.This is a superior approach to the common use of medications currently being used by physicians all over the world since what is being used comes from the patients’ own body. Furthermore, the results we may see using adult stem cells may far exceed the results currently being seen by artificial fillers.”

Those undergoing the procedure recover in about a week, during which time the face is slightly swollen and pink in appearance. The entire procedure costs $5,000 - compared with $7,000 to $13,000 for a surgical facelift. It may also remove the need for continuing facial "filler" injections and Botox treatments.