Ladies, you may not have to depend upon painful Botox injections and expensive cosmetic surgery for long to look young.

A British firm is trialling a new ‘natural’ method which involves injecting the patient’s own stem cells to restore skin’s youthful elasticity.

Researchers believe they will spur the growth of new skin cells, called fibroblasts, which make the elastic ingredient collagen which is produced in large quantities when we are young, but declines as we age, the Daily Mail reported.

The company Pharmacells, based in Glasgow, plans to begin clinical trials in 12 months, using stem cells harvested from a blood sample from the patients.

They believe the procedure could be commercially available in just three years, potentially revolutionising the market for anti-ageing treatments.

By using the body’s own cells, it is billed as a more ’natural’ approach to reducing the signs of ageing than Botox, a chemical which freezes the facial muscles to smooth wrinkles.

The company has licensed the technology to harvest a new type of stem cell – called a blastomere-like stem cell (CORR) – which is found circulating in the blood.

Like other types of stem cells, it is unspecialised and can develop into many other types of cell in the human body such as a liver, brain or skin cell.

The advantage of this particular one it is available in very large doses from one blood sample.

They hope to inject 500 million of the cells in the skin in one jab.

“The skin has a natural elastic property which comes from cells known as fibroblasts. The ability of the body to produce this elastic material slows down with age because the number of these fibroblasts decreases,” Athol Haas, the company’s chief executive said.

“By introducing large numbers of stem cells into the right place, we are increasing the ability of the body to produce this natural material. It will be long lasting, we think at least five years if not longer,” Athol Haas added.

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