British doctors are being alerted to a new type of breast enlargement surgery which uses stem cells from fat in the body in order to increase the size of the breast. They are concerned that the treatment may not be safe or mature enough to offer to paying patients.
Privately offering the procedures, known as ‘stem cell breast augmentations’, has been condemned by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. The surgery is currently being trialled in five NHS centres around the UK.
However, stem cell breast surgery is being offered by private doctors in the UK already, despite the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons advising caution. It is thought that two Harley Street clinics have already treated more than 200 women between them.
Adam Searle, the former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said that vital medical research was being “hijacked” for commercial gain.
A stem cell breast implant involves taking fat from the thighs or stomach and processing it to increase the stem cell content. When the fat is re-implanted into the breast, the processing of the fat is thought to help it integrate more easily with the existing breast tissue.
It is thought that stem cell enhancements to ‘fat graft’ surgery could help women with breast cancer when tissue from the breast has to be removed. Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit in Glasgow has recently run a one year trial into the procedure, although the experts involved said that the treatment would need up to a decade of trials before it were offered to patients.