Stem cells have been in the news recently and it looks like the first FDA approved applications may be in plastic surgery. Aderan Research Institute is doing Phase 2 clinical trials on hair restoration using stem cells. The normal hair life cycle which is much more complicated than it would appear.
The hair normally grows for 1000 days, stops growing but stays in place for 100 days and then falls out for 10 days and then the cycle starts all over again which requires a new hair stem cell to go to the root tip and start growing a new hair. Standard alopecia is caused by the lack of stem cells and the new treatment involves growing the patients own hair stem cells in a cell culture and then injecting them into the bald parts of the scalp. The results have been promising and they are transitioning from clinical phase 2 to phase 3 trials and the treatments may be clinically available in a few years. http://www.aderansresearch.com/ari_science.html
Another technology that is further out is removing stem cells from liposuctioned fat tissue. Nationally liposuction is the most frequently performed plastic surgery procedure and stem cells make up 1% of fat tissue but only .00025% of bone marrow so itis by far the easiest way to get autologous stem cells. The liposuctioned tissue is enzymatically treated and then centrifuged and the derived stem cells can be used to augment a small breast or repair a breast following a partial mastectomy. Human trials have been done in Europe and Japan with good results compared to fat injections alone. The next step is for the company to start FDA mandated trials in the U.S. and go through the formal approval process. Here is a lay press article on the company and process: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/10/ff_futureofbreasts/all/1
