Rejuvenation of facial skin and improvement in the dermal architecture by transplantation of autologous stromal vascular fraction: a clinical study

Introduction: The rejuvenation characteristics of fat tissue grafting has been established for many years. Recently it has been shown that stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of fat tissue contributes to its rejuvenation properties. As the SVF is a minimal processed cell population (based on FDA guidance), therefore it is a suitable cell therapy for skin rejuvenation. This clinical trial was aimed to evaluate the ultrastructural improvement of aging skin in the facial nasolabial region after transplantation of autologous SVF. Methods: Our study was conducted in 16 patients aged between 38 and 56 years old that were interested in face lifting at first. All of the cases underwent the lipoaspiration procedure from the abdomen for sampling of fat tissue. Quickly, the SVF was harvested from 100 mL of harvested fat tissue and then transplanted at dose of 2.0×107 nucleated cells in each nasolabial fold. The changes in the skin were evaluated using Visioface scanner, skin-scanner DUB, Visioline, and Cutometer with multi probe adopter. Results: By administration of autologous SVF, the elasticity and density of skin were improved significantly. There were no changes in the epidermis density in scanner results, but we noticed a significant increase in the dermis density and also its thickness with enrichment in the vascular bed of the hypodermis. The score of Visioface scanner showed slight changes in wrinkle scores. The endothelial cells and mesenchymal progenitors from the SVF were found to chang the architecture of the skin slightly, but there was not obvious phenotypic changes in the nasolabial grooves. Conclusion: The current clinical trial showed the modification of dermis region and its microvascular bed, but no changes in the density of the epidermis. Our data represent the rejuvenation process of facial skin by improving the dermal architecture.