Any injury to the skin, sets the body in motion of a series of automatic events, referred to as “cascade of healing,” for skin repair to occur. When the wound does not advance through the normal stages of healing, or a wound is present beyond three months in duration, it is referred to as a chronic wound.

Stages of wound healing

• Phase 1 - Haemostasis phase : Main objective in this phase is to arrest the bleeding. The clotting system (platelets) forms a dam to block the drainage of the blood from inside body to the external environment.
• Phase 2 – Defensive / Inflammatory phase: Body focuses on destroying bacteria at wound site, along with removal of any debris present there. White blood cells in your body carry out these activities, typically this phase lasts 4-6 days. Often associated with edema, erythema (reddening of skin), heat and pain while this healing occurs.
• • Phase 3 – Proliferative phase: This phase may last anywhere from 4-24 days, and the objective during this phase is to fill and cover the wound with normal healthy cells. Phase consists of three distinct steps, 1) filling the wound; 2) contraction of the wound margins; 3) covering the wound (epithelialization).
• Phase 4 – Maturation phase: New formed tissues slowly gains strength and flexibility; how? Collagen fibers reorganize, tissue remodels and matures, resulting in overall increase in tensile strength of the skin close to pre-injury.

In chronic wounds, frequently the cells stall in phase 2 of healing cascade, inflammation stage of healing. Wounds can become chronic as a result of various conditions, such as:

• Poor blood flow (ischaemia)
• Degenerative conditions, lupus or diabetes (diabetic ulcers)
• Autoimmune dysfunction
• Malnutrition
• Radiation burns

How can stem cell therapy benefit chronic wounds?

Most important aspect for wound healing is a healthy blood supply to the site of the wound. As the blood supplies the oxygen, vital nutrients and growth factors required to restore health to the wound.

Luckily, stem cells are ideally suited for this as they have an excellent capability to stimulate growth of new blood vessels. Along with that, stem cells are able to secrete vital growth factors which aid in wound healing. The combination of secretion of growth factors along with new blood vessel formation, produces markedly visible improvements to chronic wounds, such as:

• Decreased inflammation
• Decreased pain
• Reduction in diameter and depth of the wound
• Most cases, complete wound closure
• Improved cosmetic appearance, less visible scarring

The Procedure

Stem cell treatments at TheSwissClinic are minimally invasive, most often an outpatient procedure so patient may go home the same day. Recovery times vary patient to patient, we strive to keep our patients downtime to the minimum. What happens at our clinic on the day of your procedure:

• Physician makes a tiny puncture through your skin either in abdomen or thighs, to harvest a small amount of fat.
• The fat is then processed in a Lipogems device using sterile saline solution. During this gentle process of micro-fragmentation, fat is washed, rinsed and resized into smaller clusters all while maintaining its natural healing phenomenon. This closed-loop system removes blood, fatty oils and inflammatory cells, leaving behind the concentrated fat (pericytes) which is therapeutic.
• Prior to stem cell therapy infusion, mannitol, a type of intravenous fliud, is administered. This is to facilitate the stem cells in crossing the blood brain barrier, for a more effective stem cells delivery.
• Physician injects the resultant cells into the blood stream intravenously. The amount administered is altered according to ones individualized treatment plan.