When bone grows in your eye socket

There is a brutal story in Scientific American about a US woman who could not open her right eye as bone grew in her eye socket following a stem cell cosmetic treatment. In this case the doctors extracted mesenchymal stem cells—which can turn into bone, cartilage or fat, among other tissues—and injected those cells back into her face, especially around her eyes. During the face-lift her clinicians had also injected some dermal filler, which plastic surgeons have safely used for more than 20 years to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. The principal component of such fillers is calcium hydroxylapatite, a mineral with which cell biologists encourage mesenchymal stem cells to turn into bone—a fact that escaped the woman’s clinicians. He successfully removed the pieces of bone from her eyelid in 2009 and says she is doing well today, but some living stem cells may linger in her face. These cells could turn into bone or other out-of-place tissues once again.
Source: ScienceRoll - Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Authors: Tags: Health Medicine Source Type: blogs