Future advances in the field may benefit from adult stem cells. Dr. Rubin and his associates at the University of Pittsburgh's Adipocyte Biology Laboratory are studying stem cells from fat-tissue samples of body-contour patients that “have the potential to be transformed in culture into many different other cell types,” he said. “We are looking at the potential of these cells to aid in the healing process in a variety of disease states and, specifically, how we can use these cells to regenerate new tissue for reconstructive surgery.” Clinical trials are expected to launch in the next 3-5 years.
In the meantime, Dr. Rubin and other experts interviewed for this article expect body contouring to continue maturing as a subspecialty. “We close today considerably faster than we did back in 1998 and 1999, cutting our time by half,” Dr. Aly observed. “Some of that is efficiency, but some of that is also technology. These surgeries will be better from the standpoint of safety, because we will be able to get more efficient in the OR.”
These procedures produce an immeasurable impact on patient self-perception, Dr. Aly stated, recalling that a patient with massive weight loss once told him, “[Bariatric surgery] gave me back my life. It's part of a life transformation. Plastic surgery allows me to enjoy it.”
Body contouring, Dr. Aly said, “is part of a life transformation, and we as surgeons are part of that.”
Source Elsevier Global Medical News
Before and after results of an upper body lift in a male bariatric surgery patient: Experts in the field expect body contouring to mature into a subspecialty.
Source Courtesy Dr. Al Aly