Abstract

HOW A COMBINED USE OF STEM CELLS AND LASER TECHNOLOGIES FOR FACE AND NECK REJUVENATION CAN REDUCE PATIENTS’REQUEST FOR SURGICAL CORRECTION Background The use of regenerative medicine based approaches for non surgical facial rejuvenation is an emergent trend and many autologous treatments have been proposed with different degrees of invasiveness and results 1,2 Recently this author presented the first clinical report of a new concept for face and neck rejuvenation a combined use of stem cells and two laser technologies, the wavelength 1450 nm for micro coagulation and the wavelength 980 for stimulation the production of neocollagen and elastin  3 Objective Objective of this new report was to verify if the results obtained with this technique can modify patients’ requests for additional surgical corrections. Methods We treated 450 patients with mild to high overall cutaneous photodamage and in particular with mild to severe degrees of upper eyelid dermatochalasis and of periorbital rhytides and with mild to severe skin laxity and horizontal skin wrinkles of the neck. Patients received 4 successive laser treatments and stem cells applications at 3 weeks intervals. Clinical improvement of treatment areas was determined by comparative analysis of photographs at baseline and 1, 6, 12 and 24 months post treatment. At each time a specific skin software allows to evaluate wrinkles density, skin dark and light, spot density etc. Skin elasticity measurements were obtained with a cutometer and general patient satisfaction surveys were also obtained at each follow up visit Further specific surveys were carried out at each time to monitor the patients’ request for additional surgical correction. Results A greater than 85% clinical improvement in photodamage at different months follow ups was achieved in nearly 95% patients, confirming previous data. Patients also reported a statistically significant reduction of periocular wrinkles 85% and dermatochalasis 80%, a statistically significant reduction of the horizontal neck wrinkles 90% and an improvement of the skin laxity 80% with stable results over time and a very high patient satisfaction rate. The percentage of patients considering additional surgical correction dropped from 40 % pre treatment to 4 % post treatment. No down time and no side effects were reported. Conclusions This study confirmed the great effectiveness of this new regenerative medicine technique for the rejuvenation of face and the neck with a great patient satisfaction rate and a significant reduction in the patients’ request for additional surgical correction. 1 Jo H. Brito S., Kwak B.M., Park S., Lee M.G., Bin B.H. Applications of mesenchymal stem cells in skin regeneration and rejuvenation. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 222410. doi 10.3390  ijms22052410. 2  Meruane M.A., Rojas M. Marcelain K. The use of adipose tissue mderived stem cells within a dermal substitute improves skin regeneration by increasing neoangiogenesis and collagen synthesis. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2012 130:53 63. doi  10.1097 PRS.0b013e3182547e04. 3 Giardini E. Combined use of stem cells and two laser technologies: a new minimally invasive frontier in non surgical rejuvenation of face and neck and the key role of stem cells. Aesthetic Plast Surg. 2023  47 S260-S261 doi.org10.1007 s00266-023 03449