Woman Freezing Body Fat to Use Years Later

Women who undergo liposuction surgery at a London hospital have the chance to freeze some of their leftover fat if they want to use it decades later to counteract age-related sagging.

Young female patients at The Private Clinic can put some of their own fat on ice in a "bank" and then have surgeons use it when they're older to give them a lift, according to the Daily Mail.

The cost? Nearly $2,000 for the first year, with an annual storage fee of more than $300, the paper said.

"In your 20s, 30s and 40s, you can extract a substantial amount of healthy stem cells from this fat," Dr. Mike Comins, medical director of The Private Clinic, told the Mail. "As you get older, the stem cells start to diminish."

But a U.S. cosmetic surgeon said there's no evidence that younger, frozen fat is any better than older, fresh fat when it comes to firming up droopy skin.

"Fat in itself does not age," Dr. David W. Stepnick, the division chief of facial plastic surgery at University Hospitals in Cleveland, told AOL Health. "I would very much doubt that the fat frozen for years and years is any better than fresh fat extracted at age 50 or 60. I wouldn't do it on my patients."

The procedure, called fat grafting, which involves transferring fat from one area of the body to another, has become increasingly common -- particularly in breast augmentation and other cosmetic surgeries.

"Fat injection is a very, very hot topic," said Stepnick. "We're going to see a lot more research in the next 10 years."

He said more patients are likely to have their own fat injected six to 12 months later -- not 30 years into the future, as the women at the clinic say they plan to do.

Virginia Crowley is one such patient. The 28-year-old was among the first to store her fat in the clinic's bank, according to the Mail. Rift Gold She said she considers it an "insurance policy."

"It's early days for this type of storage, but there is no reason to suggest that the tissue wouldn't be just as effective years later," a clinic spokeswoman told the paper. RIFT Platinum "There should be no degeneration of the fat cells, as it is a robust tissue and it is properly treated and frozen at a regulated facility."

Stepnick disagrees, RIFT Platinum saying there is little to suggest that the fat stem cells of a younger woman are superior to those of an older woman.

"While it's possible that when you're older, there are fewer stem cells in fat, rift gold I have yet to read any studies comparing the stem cells of a 50-year-old and the stem cells of a 20-year-old," he told AOL Health