VIRGINIA BEACH - What if you were the main ingredient in your next cosmetic procedure? With FDA approval of LaViv last summer, that technology is now a reality. It's a treatment that uses your own collagen-producing cells, also called fibroblasts, to improve the look of your smile.
"So, it is -- it's a historic biological approval," says Dr. David McDaniel of the McDaniel Laser & Cosmetic Center.
Dr. McDaniel likens the new procedure to planting seeds in your flower garden.
"You go out in your garden, you plant seeds, they take a while to sprout and grow and mature," explains McDaniel.
LaViv is the first and only FDA-approved personalized aesthetic cell therapy.
Here's how it works. First, small skin samples are taken from behind your ear. Those samples are sent off to the Fibrocell Science manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania where, using a patented process, your fibroblasts are separated and multiplied into hundreds of millions of new fibroblast cells. They are then cryopreserved and stored for future use. The expanding of the cells takes about 90 days.
"I don't expect to look 25," explains Sharon Cummings, who is trying LaViv.
Sharon is 59 and got the first of three rounds of injections of her own cells in early January. She wants to reduce her smile and marionette lines. For her, going the route of a cosmetic procedure instead of plastic surgery came down to recovery time and cost.
"Oh yeah, you see people on TV all the time that are bandaged up and look like mummies. I went the other route, I bought a Corvette," she says.
In January, she received two vials of her expanded fibroblast cells, each containing more than 18-million cells, and they were injected. This month, two more vials arrived from Fibrocell and the doctor went to work, again.
"It's like transplanting flowers or bushes or trees, if you don't put them at the right dept, they don't do well, explains Dr. McDaniel, pointing out that LaViv is not like other fillers.
LaViv injections are placed very close to the surface of the skin, where the collagen cells originally functioned and came from. Visible results are not immediate like clients who use fillers like Restalyne and Juvederm.
Dr. McDaniel says after three rounds of injections, three to six weeks apart, you should start seeing improvement in your wrinkles.
Sharon says she saw slight improvements after just one round of injections.
"On your photograph, there actually is some softening of one of these lines. The deep lines are sort of shortening and filling in from the shallow end, and from the bottom up," Dr. McDaniel showed her.
So far, Sharon is pleased with the results and hopes for more improvements come April, after her treatments are complete. Her only problems so far have been a little pain during the procedure and some minor bruising. Both, Dr. McDaniel admits, are possible side effects of LaViv.
Sharon's last procedure is in early March.
"It's so logical, it's almost amazing that someone didn't think of it before the Juvederm and the Restalyne. You know, why put a foreign gel in your face when you can put your own cells back in," Sharon said.
LaViv's cost varies, depending on how many vials of cells you order. Dr. McDaniel says the initial processing fee ranges between $1,500 to $2,000.
