The Stem Company The search for the miracle anti-aging ingredient is never-ending. But stem cell skincare could be exactly what everyone is looking for. Stem cells have paved a path in medical research to treat everything from cancer to Alzheimer’s and now they’re making a splash in skincare for their ability to prevent fine lines and wrinkles, boost skin cell turnover and fight other signs of aging. To answer all your questions about stem cells in skincare, we turned to global pioneer in stem cell science Nathan Newman, MD, board-certified dermatologist, cosmetic surgeon, the founder of The Stem Company and author of The Natural Intelligence of Stem Cells: The Story of a Breakthrough Discovery.What stem cells are and how they work“Stem cells are basically specialized cells that are there to repair, regenerate and renew tissues,” Dr. Newman says. “They are found in every body part, every tissue in our body, from your brain to your fat to your bone. If we were able to replace every cell that is damaged or gets older and breaks down with a new cell using our stem cells, we would never age, but because there’s more cells that break down than we're able to replace, that’s why we age. There are a lot of names for different types of stem cells because stem cell is a generic term.”Dr. Newman explains that in order to truly qualify as stem cells, they have to be able to make themselves replicate indefinitely, so they can make more of themselves. They need to become other tissues so that they can become, for example, fat or skin or bone, or whatever the tissue needs to be.The Stem Company Reglow PrimerThe Stem Company Why stem cells work in skincare productsStem cells naturally contain amino acids and peptides, which are essential to skin rejuvenation and can help prevent lines and wrinkles, improve skin tone and texture, and slow signs of aging. “When I opened the lab and we started researching the stem cells, we figured out that stem cells, just like in the body, when you put them into different environments they release different language, a different set of signals,” Dr. Newman says. “So, we started playing around with that and did a wound healing product using human cells, and we got really good results; it was great for burns and wounds.” They next researched how stem cells work with collagen and elastin and that successfully triggered a response for both. Most of the global market doesn’t allow human stem cell-based products to be sold, so Dr. Newman developed a plant-based stem cell alternative that took about eight years to create. “I didn’t think plant stem cells spoke the same language as human cells—I thought human cells were going to be the best thing—but we looked at plants and lo and behold, all cells speak the same language,” he says. “They have different dialects, but they use the same chemicals to communicate, so by understanding that we were able to open up a whole world of a library of different plants. We started developing plant stem cell products and were getting amazing results, but none of this existed, so we had to devise the whole process from the cell to growing the cells, which cells were going to grow, how we're going to grow them, what environment we're going to put them in—everything was novel, and we had to create all this in the lab. By doing that, we were able to get a patent on this process.”Their patent is on consortia factors, which are a unique collection of cell signals that tell your body specific acts to do, such as hair growth, improving collagen or reducing inflammation. “All of these are different sets of language, and they are doing different things when you apply it on the skin,” Dr. Newman says. “You can inject them as well. Those consortium factors contain exosomes, natural peptides, cytokines, growth factors, all the beneficial signals that are done in a very holistic way. It's in a very balanced way so when your cells are exposed to these signals, they understand it, and there's a dialogue between the product and your body. It’s working with your body and it's adaptive. Your body knows what it needs to do, it takes what it needs and then does it.”The Stem Company Regenerative SerumThe Stem Company The fact that stem cells are adaptive is another factor that makes them a standout ingredient in skincare. Dr. Newman explains that our bodies are constantly shifting due to hormones, our environment and even the time of day, due to our circadian rhythm. “The skin is being challenged with a lot of changes,” he says. “What worked for me in California yesterday may not be the right thing for me today in Texas, and anti-aging products don’t have the ability to adapt to that. That does not happen with regenerative consortium factors. The way we're doing it, your body understands that if it's dry, it needs to get more moisturized. The whole idea is to bring balance back to the skin, and that balance brings health to the tissues, and the health gives you that natural glow and beautiful, smooth skin that is tight and not inflamed, and is not breaking out.”This is why stem cells are a new paradigm in medicine, which in turn is informing regenerative skincare. By using plant-based stem cells instead of human ones, there is no risk of transmission of diseases. “Now I have a whole library of hundreds of different plants that I can choose, and not just one kind of stem cell,” Dr. Newman says. “It is all grown in the lab without any risks. Everything I do is from the cell to the bottle, so I know exactly what goes into your product.”The Stem Company Reluxe Body SerumThe Stem Company How can stem cells be used beyond skincare?Dr. Newman created the Stem Cell Lift, a non-invasive regenerative procedure that’s an alternative to a traditional face life and uses your own stem cells to improve skin quality and restore facial structure that actually works with how you age. The stem cells are taken from fat and injected into the skin for cosmetic purposes or wound healing. He also treats autoimmune disease with it.“A traditional facelift is what I call a degenerative process because it creates a two-dimensional change by cutting the skin and moving the muscles or tissues in ways that they’re not found naturally, so you're changing the vectors, you're changing the way the face will move and function,” Dr. Newman says. “By cutting and pulling, we're doing other things: we're creating scar tissue, taking away blood vessels, thinning the skin and actually accelerating the aging process. We look better initially, but when you look at people a few years down the line they actually look older; they are more skeletonized, their skin is crepey, they don't look as youthful anymore and it doesn't restore natural proportions to the face. The Stem Cell Lift is a regenerative process where the fat can give you the volume that's been lost over time, so you can restore the youthful proportions that are the face, and by doing so you're doing a lift in three dimensions and not a two-dimensional lift. You're not only filling the area and lifting it up, you're also pulling it away from the bony structures, so it gives you that softened look, that more youthful look to the face, and we're able to sculpt the face in its entirety.”Dr. Nathan NewmanThe Stem Company Since the Stem Cell Lift is non-invasive, the recovery period is drastically less than a traditional facelift. There is only a little bit of soreness and swelling. “It’s all done in one day, in four hours, from your forehead to your neck, and also I can do your hands so everything is matching,” Dr. Newman says. “You can get up and walk home. People have gone to dinner after the procedure. It's a game changer. We're no longer talking about traditional big surgeries, where you're under the knife and anesthesia for a long time, and having a lot of medications given to you because of that, with the long recovery time that's associated with it.Another major bonus is the Stem Cell Lift causes you to age slower because there is a greater balance of stem cells in the skin. “You’re going to be able to retain your youth much longer by using those stem cells from your own body, so it's a very holistic approach where you don't have a risk from rejection or having other people's cells being put into you, and you're getting all the benefits of the regeneration without any of the risk of the facelift,” Dr. Newman says. This is why stem stems are the future of anti-aging skincare. “We're going through regenerative medicine,” Dr. Newman says. “Everybody's talking about precision medicine. There's no more precision than stem cells.”