There is a lot of media hype around stem cells and a number of other additives touted to improve the results of fat grafting. Unfortunately, these are all marketing hypes with limited science backing. Although in the lab, on rats, stem cells and other additives might enhance the survival of fat grafts, none of the carefully controlled studies in patients have shown that any of these additives provide a significant beneficial effect compared to simple fat grafting. As a matter of fact, the FDA is clamping down on these so-called “Stem Cell Centers”. Doctor Khouri is a recognized international expert and opinion leader on that subject. He is a member of the Stem Cell Task Force, he has published extensively on this subject in peer reviewed scientific medical journals and was recently asked by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons to write an authoritative review on that matter in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the Official Journal of the Society.
To reconstruct a breast we need large volumes of fat to survive. The limitation of large volume fat grafting is a recipient large enough to accept this large graft volume. It is a recipient site limitation; the quality of the fat is not much of a rate-limiting factor in the clinical applications. At the Miami Breast Center, we shun away from this hype meant to fool the gullible. We espouse the guidelines of the FDA and graft back unprocessed, and intact the fat we harvest by simple gentle syringe liposuction. Our results speak for themselves.