Possibly in the future. Stem cells are an exciting medical advancement. Presently they used to treat various medical conditions such as arthritic joints and burns, but they’ve also made their way into breast enlargement, which is at this moment controversial among medical professionals. Parents, upon delivery of a new baby, are offered the opportunity to save the cord blood from the baby’s umbilical cord in the event future health problems emerge, but now there are opportunities for non-newborns to store their stem cells for future use. The London Telegraph recently published a story about a cosmetic surgery clinic offering their liposuction patients the ability to store stem cells extracted from their own adipose tissue. While the use of such cells are limited now, patients are hopeful that medical science will advance sufficiently to make the cells extracted through liposuction a potentially lifesaving source of DNA. The stem cells can be stored for up to 25 years for a cost of about £1695, which does not include the price of liposuction surgery. According to the Telegraph, there are about 40 clinical trials underway involving stem cells from cosmetic surgery procedures such as liposuction. Researchers have already found that the type of stem cells found in body fat can develop into cartilage and bone, and the concentration of stem cells in adipose tissue is much higher than in bone marrow – about 500 times so. There are also clinical trials in the US and abroad investigating the use of stem cells to help breast cancer survivors to recreate breast volume. Stay tuned, as these are exciting times in which we live.