Stem Cell Fat Grafting
Also known as: stem cell-enriched fat grafting
A consumer and marketing term used for fat grafting that is enriched with cells isolated from adipose tissue. It is not a standardised academic term and does not denote culture-expanded stem cell therapy.
What is stem cell fat grafting?
"Stem cell fat grafting" usually means cell-assisted lipotransfer: fat harvested by liposuction is enriched with stromal vascular fraction (SVF) from part of the same fat before it is injected. The added cells are intended to support blood vessel growth and graft survival. Despite the name, the graft is enriched with a mixed cell fraction, not with a purified or cultured stem cell product.
Overview
Clinics commonly use this phrase for procedures that are described in the literature as SVF-assisted fat grafting or cell-assisted lipotransfer. The cells added are the stromal vascular fraction, a heterogeneous population that contains adipose-derived stem cells alongside endothelial, blood and other cell types — it is not a purified or culture-expanded stem cell product. This distinction matters for regulation: in South Korea and in many other jurisdictions, same-day minimally manipulated SVF and culture-expanded cell therapy are handled under different rules. Readers comparing clinics should check which procedure and which cell processing step is actually being described.