Dr. Sam Lam Plastic Surgery Forum

Question: after fat grafting, how long do the grafted stem cells stay active in possible repair and healing? Thanks.

The idea of stem cell is something that no one really knows about. I see nice textural changes after about a year or two following fat grafting (in many but not all) but things stabilize and then you have further aging (usually just slight). I think it is impossible for any honest clinician to comment on stem cell changes because we simply do not know nor do we even know that the effect that we are seeing is truly a "stem cell" change.
best,
sml