Posted December 01, 2008 in Blog, Plastic Surgery in the News, Uncategorized
An old joke about circumsion is that after the procedure the doctor tells everyone, “It won’t be long now”.
The December 1, 2008 e-issue of Plastic Surgery Practice reports that a new use has been found for baby foreskin following circumsion. A radical new antiaging procedure from British biomedical firm Intercytex uses cells derived from circumcised newborn babies.
The procedure makes use of Vavelta, a clear liquid in which tiny skin cells, called fibroblasts, are cultured from babies’ foreskins donated from hospitals after circumcision. It can apparently rejuvenate and restructure aging and damaged skin by repopulating the lower layers of the skin with millions of healthy young skin cells.
These foreskins are treated with enzymes to release the fibroblasts, which are grown in sterile labs. It involves the injection of the liquid into the patient’s face with a fine needle. The expensive procedure takes around 5 minutes and might be useful for hollows and fine lines under the eyes and lines around the mouth.
Trials conducted so far have shown that it is safe and the effects are permanent, and that patients with sun-damaged skin, caesarean section scars, burns, or scars seem to respond best.
As with all new “permanent” fillers, I will likely wait a few years for all of the “kinks” to be “straigtened out”. This puts a whole new take on circumsion jokes of the future….it won’t be long now.
