MD Podiatrist Discusses The Use of Placental Stem Cells to Aid Wound Healing

When a foot is cut, it heals with a scab and eventually new skin forms. This happens because there are stem cells in our bodies that work to repair the damage. One of the most powerful cells are called “Mesenchymal Stem Cells, or MSCs”. There is a complex series of events that take place in order to repair the injury and the end result with a cut would be new skin formation. When a bone breaks, the same thing happens; stem cells from your body create new bone cells and the fracture heals. If a tendon tears, eventually the fibroblasts in the body form collagen and the tendon heals.
 
When we are children, the tissues in the body are able to heal themselves almost perfectly so here is the issue as Dan Michaels, DPM explains: “As we get older or if diseases such as diabetes or autoimmune diseases affect our health, the body becomes less efficient at healing. The body’s response to the injury weakens over time, and especially with age. Our own stem cells become less active and less plentiful which leads to poor healing and prolonged injury and pain.” With that being said, the use of placental stem cells to aid in the healing process makes sense!