I get a lot of e-mails from interested women around the world with questions on the subject of breast augmentation with stem cells. This method has since become established as a pillar of New Cosmetic Surgery and spares many patients from silicone and plastic surgery. Today I received a letter from an interested English lady, in which she wrote that she had a consultation in a clinic that offered CAL (Cell-Assisted Lipotransfer) for breast augmentation. The doctors at that clinic told her that although they recently started offering CAL (= the stem cell method), they would not recommend it because they weren’t that satisfied with the results.
In most cases such statements come from plastic surgeons who prefer silicone implants and do not like to admit that they are not familiar with breast augmentation with stem cell-enriched autologous fat. Again and again patients are referred to me by foreign clinics, where they also use the stem cell method, but still do not have as much experience with it as we do here in Vienna. Because doctors know that I have operated on more patients in Europe with this method than anyone else, they are always advising patients to fly to Vienna to see me.
Many details are critical to success with this method – including, for example, obtaining fat the right way: standard liposuction with regular cannulas only works with patients who are well-endowed with fat pads. For more slender patients, it is necessary to resort to narrower diameter microcannulas for obtaining fat, as it is not possible to obtain enough fat using regular cannulas without leaving unsightly dents. Liposuction with microcannulas is the only way to obtain enough fat in a minimally invasive manner, also in regions that would be prohibitive for liposuction with regular cannulas.
A critical factor for success with the stem cell method is the doctor having sufficient interdisciplinary training in order to truly understand the process and ramifications of stem cell isolation and stem cell implantation. Purely surgical training focuses on manual reconstructive-operating skills with the scalpel. There is no place for training in the area of liposuction, autologous fat transplantation, or even stem cell technology and tissue engineering.
Only the training as a general practitioner (specializing in cosmetic surgery, anti-aging, and stem cell medicine) guarantees you that your doctor is up-to-date technologically and will not automatically resort to the scalpel and silicone, in spite of the fact that better, more modern, and less invasive methods have been around for some time!
DDr. Heinrich, MD