Perhaps you’ve heard about the wonders of stem cell therapy, but you never knew what it really was, or how it works. Well, here’s a simple overview of stem cell therapy, the usefulness of stem cell therapy in regenerative medicine, and how it can help you.
An Overview of How Stem Cell Therapy Works
What are Stem Cells?
Firstly, stem cells are human cells that have the ability to develop into different cell types. This is because stem cells are the body’s raw cells, which are cells that make all other specialised cells. Scientists have figured out a way to divide stem cells into more cells, called daughter cells.
The daughter cells are either new stem cells to make even more daughter cells or become specialised cells. These specialised cells can be anything, like blood cells, heart cells, and muscle cells.
What Can Stem Cell Therapy Do?
By creating specialised cells, doctors can repair damaged cells in the body by reducing inflammation and controlling the immune system. This process is called stem cell therapy, and it is a form of regenerative medicine. It can be used to treat autoimmune, inflammatory, neurological, and orthopaedic conditions, as well as traumatic injuries. Stem cell therapy has been known to be useful in treating paralysis and diabetes.
While stem cell therapy doesn’t necessarily cure these conditions, it can help the body to heal itself well enough to alleviate the symptoms for a long period of time. Stem cells also have the ability to be formed into the tissue to be used in transplants and regenerative medicine. They’re also useful in testing the safety and effectiveness of drugs.
Stem cell therapy can also be used for cosmetic treatments. Stem cell therapy can be used to improve the appearance of textured skin, such as in the case of stem cell facelifts. In a stem cell facelift, cells are taken from your own fat tissue, blood, or bone marrow, and are used to restore skin elasticity, smoothness, and softness of the skin.
Not only can stem cell therapy be used to rejuvenate the skin, but it can also help promote hair growth. Stem cell therapy is a popular treatment for hair loss, and is used in place of a traditional hair transplant. A stem cell hair transplant uses a small patch of skin, where hair follicles are extracted, replicated in a lab, and then implanted into the areas where hair loss is experienced. Hair can then grow where the stem cells are extracted from, as well as where it is placed.
Where do Stem Cells Come From?
Stem cells can be obtained from a variety of sources, such as the umbilical cord tissue and blood, bone marrow, fat tissue, placental tissue, embryos, and even dental pulp, which is the mass of connective tissue in the middle of a tooth.
There are several main types of stem cells, and they are:
- Embryonic stem cells. This controversial group of stem cells comes from embryos that are 3 to 5 days old, which are called blastocysts. At this stage, the blastocysts contain about 150 pluripotent stem cells, which means that they can divide themselves into more stem cells, or become any kind of stem cell found in the body. Embryonic stem cells are often used to regenerate or repair damaged tissues and organs.
- Adult stem cells. They are found in smaller quantities and are located in fully formed tissues, such as bone marrow or fat tissue. Adult stem cells are multipotent, which means that they have a limited ability to differentiate; vastly different from embryonic stem cells.
- Induced pluripotent stem cells (IPSC). IPSCs are genetically modified adult stem cells that have characteristics of embryonic stem cells. They are engineered by introducing specific genes into adult cells, allowing them to self-renew and differentiate into any other type of cell, just like embryonic stem cells.
Stem Cell Therapy vs PRP
While both stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy are considered regenerative medicine, there are some key differences. Both stem cell therapy and PRP aim to help the body to accelerate its own healing in order to address the condition or injury.
Stem cell therapy uses stem cells to help you heal, whereas PRP uses platelets. The stem cells differentiate themselves to become the cells needed to regenerate and repair damaged tissue and organs, whereas, in PRP, the platelet contains specialised protein that can help with healing.
Stem cells are harvested from numerous sources, such as the bone marrow, adipose (fatty) tissue, or even embryos, but platelets are sourced from your own blood.
The advantage of both stem cell therapy and PRP therapy is that they are both non-surgical approaches to regenerative medicine and have a very low risk of infection or allergic reaction, since both stem cells and platelets are sourced from your own body.
In fact, it is common to use stem cell therapy and PRP therapy in tandem with each other, as they are seen as complementary therapies that can help the body heal much faster.
What Are The Risks of Stem Cell Therapy?
Like other medical treatments, stem cell therapy comes with its own set of risks. Some of the risks involved in stem cell therapy are:
- Immune rejection
- Potential to form tumours
- Ability of cells to move from placement sites
- Possibility of changing into inappropriate cell types and multiply
- Failure to work as expected
- Administration site reactions
What Are The Advantages & Disadvantages of Stem Cell Therapy?
Advantages of Stem Cell Therapy:
- Immense benefits in regenerative medicine
- Extreme potential to treat and cure numerous conditions, diseases, and injuries
- Can develop limbs and organs to be transplanted
- Helps in researching the safety and effectiveness of drugs without the need to test on animals or humans
- Helps in researching of human growth and development
- Uses own patient’s own cells, thus eliminating the risk of rejection
Disadvantages of Stem Cell Therapy:
- Involves blastocysts, which are human embryonic stem cells
- Still considered new technology, so long term effects are still unknown
- May make coronary arteries smaller in patients with heart disease
- Adult stem cells are pre-specialised
- Risk of rejection if stem cells used are from embryos
Summary
Stem cell therapy is considered a huge advancement in the world of both medical treatments and cosmetic treatments. It has a huge potential to treat various ailments and injuries, and there is little risk of rejection if the stem cell is harvested from the patient’s own body. Stem cell therapy can also be used to grow organs and limbs, and allow scientists to research the effectiveness and safety of drugs without ever needing to test on humans or animals.
Where to Get Stem Cell Therapy in Malaysia?
At Dr Alice Medispa, we are prepared to deliver desired results while making your safety and comfort our main priority. Our stem cell therapy is among the many treatments offered at our clinic that have seen many satisfied clients that will vouch for our competence. We believe in each patients’ unique wants and needs, which is proven through our development of individualised treatment plans for every patient that walks through our doors.
Our Locations
Dr Alice Clinic
62-1 Jalan Maarof,
Bangsar Baru,
59100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03 2282 0994
Dr Alice Klinik
Klang 46 Lorong Batu Nilam 21-A,
Bandar Bukit Tinggi 2,
41200, Klang.
Tel: 03 3324 6994
Dr Alice Ageless Medispa
257, Jalan Maarof,
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2095 0458
010 3683521
