Read all about the latest gym openings, healthy events, and fitness trends in our twice weekly Wellness newsletter. – Hydrafacial machine image provided The billion dollar beauty industry keeps coming up with new, innovative facial treatments that promise to banish fine lines, smooth out wrinkles, and even out skin tone. From stem cell face creams to prescription strength retinoids, the possibilities are endless.
That’s why we found it funny last month when numerous publications were writing about the “baby foreskin facial.” New York, Refinery 29, and the Huffington Post are just three publications that wrote about the procedure in the past month. But “baby foreskin” being used in beauty products is nothing new.
In fact, the active ingredient in an Oprah-touted skin cream from SkinMedica uses ” foreskin fibroblasts ” that are used to grow and cultivate new cells. Just one foreskin is said to be able to grow these cells for decades. But it’s not just skin creams that use the ingredient.
- Foreskin fibroblasts are also used to help treat burn victims, help cover diabetic ulcers, and more.
- Now, you can get those same properties in a facial.
- The HydraFacial, which has been around for some time and offered at nearly every spa up and down Newbury Street, has changed up its serums to incorporate the fibroblasts in its procedure.
First, the five step facial system uses high-pressure water to cleanse, exfoliate, extract impurities, and hydrate. Then, the same machine is used to push “antioxidants” deep into the skin. LED lights are then used to enhance the treatment by fighting acne-causing bacteria and to stimulate collagen production.
- The light helps with skin resurfacing to diminish the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles, enlarged pores, and dark spots, but without using a harsh laser.
- But what exactly is in the “antioxidants?” And where does the foreskin come in? “It’s growth hormone,” says Jane Aransky owner and aesthetician at La Residencia Spa in Newton, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.
“We put it in an ampule. It’s an extra $75 add on to the basic Hydrafacial.” The HydraFacial machine blasts the growth hormone into the skin, she says. Dr. Gail Naughton, an expert in regenerative science told New York : growth factors captured from the donated foreskin of a baby (just one can generate over a million treatments) are at their peak ability in promoting rapid cell turnover.
Do they use foreskin for skin grafts?
Abstract – A boy who had simple syndactyly involving the third web space of the left hand presented for elective syndactyly repair. Circumcision had been delayed because of neonatal medical problems. Elective syndactyly repair and circumcision were performed in one operation at age 9 months.
Penile foreskin was used as a full-thickness skin graft for the syndactyly repair. The foreskin provided a functional syndactyly repair with good aesthetic characteristics. This obviated the need for two separate operations and for an additional skin graft donor site. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which foreskin was used for the repair of syndactyly.
In boys with syndactyly, the authors advocate that parents be informed of this reconstructive option. Should the parents consider it to be suitable, then elective circumcision should be delayed until the time of syndactyly repair so that foreskin may be used for the syndactyly repair.
Is foreskin used in Microneedling?
Foreskin facial: What you need to know F rom Vampire to snail slime sheet masks, the list of strange things we are prepared to put on our faces in the search of a youthful glow seems to get weirder and weirder. And this week revealed her that her glowing skin is thanks to perhaps the weirdest treatment of all; a ‘foreskin facial.’
- The 45-year-old actress has revealed she tried a £465 ($650) facial for the first time which uses serum containing the “liquefied foreskins” of South Korean baby boys to maintain her youthful looks.
- No, really.
- Taking to, the star posted a fresh-faced snap with the caption: “After a long flight I do like to lie down and be covered in a mask of liquified cloned foreskins – frankly who doesn’t?”
- She then thanked British-born beautician Georgia Louise, who has a salon in New York, for the “amazing facial”, adding: “I especially liked you reassuring me it would be ‘light on penis’ as it was my first time.”
- So what is it?
- Professionally known as an EGF (epidermal growth factor), the £465 ‘penis facial’ uses a serum containing epidermal growth factor proteins, which are taken from the dermal fibroblasts – skin cells responsible for generating connective tissue – of circumcised baby boys.
- These stem cells, which produce collagen and other fibres, work to encourage skin cells to turn over rapidly and regenerate, so they’re often used for brightening, exfoliating, and healing the skin – similarly to enzyme facials.
- And how does it work?
- Once the stem cells are harvested from foreskins, they’re infused into the skin using a microneedling technique to stimulate regeneration and collagen production.
‘The facial includes a cleanse, followed by an intensive TCA peel, micro-needling machine and an electrifying mask to calm the skin, followed by her ‘secret box’ of EGF serum (Epidermal Growth Factor),’ Georgia Louise explains on her treatment menu. ‘EGF is derived from the progenitor cells of the human fibroblast taken from Korean newborn baby foreskin – which helps to generate collagen and elastin.
‘FDA approved stem cells and peptides are penetrated deep into the skin using a special electric micro-needling wand. ‘This process allows the active ingredients to be transported deep in the skin by creating temporary micro-channel.’ Getty Images Which celebs have got it? The treatment first came onto our radar earlier this year when Cate Blanchett revealed to Vogue Australia that she and Sandra Bullock had also been to visit Georgia Louise to get the facial done while filming Ocean’s 8.
” saw this facialist in New York, Georgia Louise, and she gives what we call the penis facial,” Blanchett admitted. “It’s something — I don’t know what it is, or whether it’s just cause it smells a bit like sperm — there’s some enzyme in it so Sandy refers to it as the penis facial.” Georgia Louise’s website also has glowing testimonials from Emma Stone and Katy Perry.
What is the foreskin from Korean baby used in cosmetics?
Cate Blanchett’s Favorite $650 Facial Uses Korean Newborn Baby Foreskins 30K There is a new facial craze taking Hollywood by storm and at its core is one very strange, very intimate ingredient: Korean newborn baby foreskin. Oh, yes. You read that right.
- Orean. Newborn. Baby. Foreskin.
- Apparently Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock are obsessed with it.
- Blanchett told Australian Vogue “Sandy Bullock and I saw this facialist in New York, Georgia Louise, and she gives what we call the penis facial and it’s something – I don’t know what it is, or whether it’s just cause it smells a bit like sperm – there’s some enzyme in it so Sandy refers to it as the penis facial.” “It started last year when Sandra Bullock was filming in NYC and came to see me for a deep cleansing and long-lasting facial glow,” said Louise in a statement.
“I wanted to give her something that would transform her skin without the need to undergo lasers, so I loaded up her bespoke facial with something that would give her long lasting results. Within weeks her make-up artist, Whitney, and cast mates wanted to know what was the cause of her amazing, long-lasting glowing skin and from that moment onwards the Hollywood EGF Facial was born! I have text threads which would blow your mind from celebs, asking for the ‘penis treatment’ all the time now!” (Shutterstock) For the Hollywood EGF Facial treatment, Louise uses her TCA peels, micro-needling machine, and an electrifying mask to calm the skin, followed by her “secret box” of EGF (Epidermal Growth Factor) serum. EGF is derived from the progenitor cells of the human fibroblast taken from Korean newborn baby foreskin, which Louise says helps to generate collagen and elastin.
The foreskin is collected during circumcision and the stem cells are then harvested and extracted through a centrifuge. During the facial treatment, the electric micro-needling wand is used to help the stem cells and peptides absorb deeper into the skin, where the active ingredients help stimulate the production of collagen.
“I am always very mindful to explain radical serums and potions that I carry in my back bar,” said Louise. “I remember the time when I used placenta from a pig on a client that was vegan, and that didn’t end so well. So I always explain that EGF is derived from newborn baby foreskin, BUT cells were taken and from that, new cells are cloned from a laboratory.” The Hollywood EGF Facial (aka “penis facial”) starts at $650 and is available at the on New York’s Upper East Side.
Do they reuse foreskin?
Circumcision ranks among the world’s most common surgeries (and one of the oldest ). After its removal, most foreskin is tossed as biological waste — but when they’re kept around, the leftover cells have proven a vital asset to medical research. Foreskin-owners or not, most people may not know that the cells have been used since the 1970s to heal stubborn wounds.
What is leftover foreskin used for?
Foreskins removed during hospital circumcisions are sometimes sold to biotech labs, since young skin is ideal for researching skin for burn vitamins, insulin manufacture, and also making skin creams for ladies. One infant foreskin can be grown into literally thousands of square feet of new tissue.
What do they use cut off foreskin for?
Medical reasons for circumcision – Recent research suggests that circumcision may bring medical benefits such as:
a 10 times lower risk of a baby getting a urinary tract infection (UTI) in his first year of life (remembering that only one per cent of babies are at risk of a UTI, so 1,000 circumcisions are needed to prevent one UTI) no risk of infants and children getting infections under the foreskin easier genital hygiene much lower risk of getting cancer of the penis (although this is a very rare condition and good genital hygiene also seems to reduce the risk. More than 10,000 circumcisions are needed to prevent one case of penile cancer) a possibly lower risk of men getting sexually transmissible infections (STIs) than men who are not circumcised (although these studies have not been scientifically confirmed and safe sex practices are far more effective in preventing these infections).
For more information see,
Do Italians keep foreskin?
This is because the great majority of Italian males are not circumcised. While the existence of male circumcision is known, its consequences and complications are underestimated by the healthcare system that is required to furnish adequate information on the topic.
What skincare has foreskin in it?
When I read that New York City-based celebrity facialist Georgia Louise gave Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett a “penis facial”—and that it costs $650 per treatment—I did not flinch. I didn’t even flinch when I read further that the serum used for the treatment is made from stem cells derived from the removed foreskins of newborn babies in South Korea.
It might seem extreme. But you can actually find the same protein Louise uses in her penis facial— epidermal growth factor (EGF)—in a variety of skincare products, including the ones on your bathroom counter right now. I use them. Even Oprah endorsed a cream with foreskin-related compounds in them. If baby foreskins make you nervous, take note: the science here is a bit more complicated.
Rita Levi-Montalcini and Stanley Cohen’s discovery of EGF earned them Nobel Prize in 1986. EGF has been shown to promote wound healing in clinical studies. And this is where the foreskins come in. EGF is derived from human tissues, including skin, kidneys, and male genitalia (in some cases, foreskins).
It can stimulate cell proliferation, and a 2016 clinical study found that twice-daily applications of EGF serum for three months can significantly improve “brown spotting, skin texture, pore size, red spotting, and wrinkles versus baseline.” (Although that study was funded by the manufacturer of the product tested.) You can find EGF in a variety of skincare products: DHC EGF Cream, Mizon Bee Venom Calming Fresh Cream, DNARenewal Regeneration Serum, Bioeffect EGF Serum, and Peter Thomas Roth FIRMx Growth Factor Extreme Neuropeptide Serum,
EGFs are just one of several beauty products rooted in foreskins. The SkinMedica cream beloved by Oprah, for example, contains “human fibroblast conditioned media,” which are essentially stem cells that have been grown in a lab, but which the company says were cultivated originally from the stem cells of a single baby foreskin 20 years ago.
- Foreskin-derived lotions and potions—which certainly different—actually have some serious competition for the most unusual beauty products on the market.
- Urine, in the form of urea, is a common ingredient.
- Former orthopedic surgeon Barbara Sturm makes a custom cream reportedly derived from your blood after it’s been stimulated to mimic its healing process after injury.
(She is also a pioneer of the vampire facial, which similarly uses cell platelets to stimulate cell turnover.) Perfume, meanwhile, has traditionally contained ambergris, made in the digestive system of blue whales, and musk, secretions from the anal glands of animals like the musk deer and muskrat.
Cochineal beetles have long been crushed up for their red pigment for lipsticks. Fish scales are used for their iridescent quality for shimmer-based cosmetics. Snail secretion is ubiquitous in k-beauty products. Or you might not care about the specific ingredients in your products, though, as long as they work.
“I am always very mindful to explain radical serums and potions that I carry in my back bar so I always explain that EGF is derived from newborn baby foreskin, from which cells were taken and then cloned in a laboratory,” Louise told People, “I remember the time when I used placenta from a pig on a client that was vegan and that didn’t end so well.”
Is foreskin healthier than no foreskin?
What’s the difference between being circumcised and being uncircumcised? By | Oct.14, 2010, 11:05 a.m. Category: Im not circumcised and I wanted to know what the difference was between being circumcised and not being circumcised. Which is better? Either way is normal and healthy — there is no “better” or “worse” option.
- The foreskin is the retractable tube of skin that covers and protects the head (glans) of the penis.
- All healthy boys are born with a foreskin.
- A guy who has a penis with a foreskin will need to pull it back and wash underneath it in order to prevent secretions from building up and attracting infection.
Depending on the guy, the size of his foreskin, and his personal preference, he may want to also retract his foreskin when he puts on a condom. The foreskin retracts during erection in most guys. Other guys prefer to keep their foreskins from retracting during sex because the glans underneath may be too sensitive.
- A guy who is circumcised has had his foreskin removed.
- In the United States, if a boy is going to be circumcised, it’s usually done at birth.
- Parents usually decide whether or not to circumcise their sons based on family traditions, religious beliefs, and cosmetic preferences, among other reasons.
- The most common reason is for a son to match his dad in that department.
In the United States today, about 60 percent of baby boys are circumcised, which means about 40 percent have intact foreskins. However, in most African, Asian, European, and South American countries, it’s much more common to be uncircumcised. Tags:,, : What’s the difference between being circumcised and being uncircumcised?
How much does foreskin sell for?
Fibroblast your wrinkles? What is the value of human parts? I am at the Body Worlds 3 exhibit with my six-year-old, and what I thought was going to be an interesting medical lesson for my daughter is turning into a strange art show and commentary on our varying degrees of values around human flesh.
- We are standing in front of a body called “Skin Man.” Once a living, breathing human, he now stands with a thoughtful expression on his face, holding one skinned arm outstretched with his entire human dermis aloft, like a coat to be hung.
- I’m trying to think of some interesting ethical discussions around the value of human bodies with my child, but all I can think of is how much money his skin is worth.
In an article for The Tyee, Dr. Paul Tinari estimated that a single male foreskin can be worth upwards of $100,000. He argued that men who are circumcised have a right to the revenue made off the resale of their foreskins (just as someone who sells their hair for wigs would, for example).
- But that’s not the only issue in the debate over how people use and profit from foreskins.
- Many people are challenging the ethics and medical necessity of male circumcision, which means that any use of the foreskins after that is also in question.
- Then there’s the fact that foreskins aren’t just being sold for the medical flesh trade; rather, they’re joining a few other body parts being sold in the service of vanity.
And if the ethics of using human body parts, skin and stem cells for medical research and treatments are contentious, the ethics of using them for vanity’s sake is a whole other conundrum. Shopping carts for skin The flesh trade isn’t as elusive as people might think.
- Like porn, human body parts are easily available online, for the right price.
- The Coriell Institute is only one of dozens of websites that offer foreskin fibroblast for sale.
- On their website, I put a foreskin fibroblast in a shopping cart and called their office, where a perky customer representative informs me that I can buy the flakes for a cost of $85.00 US – plus shipping and handling.
“We send them up to Canada all the time,” she chirps. In the end, I didn’t buy, but it surprised me to find out how easily I could have. That’s because foreskin fibroblasts are big business. A fibroblast is a piece of human skin that is used as a culture to grow other skin or cells – like human yogurt kits.
Human foreskin fibroblast is used in all kinds of medical procedures from growing skin for burn victims and for eyelid replacement, to growing skin for those with diabetic ulcers (who need replacement skin to cover ulcers that won’t heal), to making creams and collagens in the cosmetics industry (yes, the product that is injected into puffy movie-starlet lips).
Foreskin-derived skin, sourced from circumcisions (now considered by many experts to be painful and also unnecessary) is still often considered the “cruelty free” alternative to testing cosmetic products on animals. One foreskin can be used for decades to produce miles of skin, much of which helps people in genuine medical need.
- And that’s the reason one foreskin can generate as much as $100,000: that’s not the fee from a one-time sale, but the fees from the fibroblasts that are created from those original skin cells.
- But not all uses of foreskin fibroblast are “medical” in nature.
- One of the most publicized examples of the foreskin-for-sale trend involves a skin cream that has been promoted by none other than Oprah Winfrey.
SkinMedica’s a face cream, which costs over $100 US for a 0.63 oz bottle, is used by many high-profile celebrities (such as Winfrey and Barbara Walters) as an alternative to cosmetic surgery. Winfrey has promoted the SkinMedica product several times on her show, and her website, which raves, there’s “a new product that boosts collagen production and can rejuvenate skin called TNS Recovery Complex.
TNS is comprised from six natural human growth factors found in normal healthy skin.the factors are engineered from human foreskin!” During the show, the doctor promoting SkinMedica cream warned that some people may have ethical questions regarding using a product that is made from the derivative of foreskins (to which Winfrey made no response).
Why ethical questions? The foreskins come from circumcisions, and male circumcision is now a controversial topic, In a discussion on Mothering.com, one querent asked, “If the cream was made from the bi-product of baby afro-American clitoral skin, would Oprah still be promoting it?” There’s no answer to that question on Mothering or Winfrey’s site, and Winfrey declined The Tyee’s request for an interview.
- Beauty engineering Using foreskin fibroblast for medically necessary procedures generates less controversy than using it for optional “beauty” treatments.
- So how does Dr.
- Fitzpatrick, who invented SkinMedica, defend his company? To start with, he argues that using foreskin fibroblast to make cream is ethical, because the company does not put any actual human tissue in their products – only the growth hormone left over from growing artificial skin (not actual tissue or skin cells).
And he adds that the original company that supplied SkinMedica with the hormone grew cultures from a single foreskin donated 15 years earlier. That company made artificial skin for wound healing. But that company went bankrupt. And Dr. Fitzpatrick, whose invention of this cream earned him the dubious honour of being named Allure magazine’s “physician who has most influenced beauty,” now works with a supplier that uses foreskin fibroblast to make injectable collagen.
- So the foreskins used to make the cream have only ever been used for “vanity” purposes.
- Further in his defence, Fitzpatrick says that using foreskins in the first place was simply a matter of convenience.
- Fitzpatrick told The Tyee, “It doesn’t matter if you get a fibroblast from the eyelid, the cheek, the foot or the foreskin.
That cell is still a fibroblast; it does the same thing. Foreskins were used because that is a common surgery and the skin is thrown away, so why not use it for benefits? Twelve years ago when this was done there would have been no objection to using foreskin tissue.” But Fitzpatrick acknowledges that using foreskins now is about more than convenience.
Circumcision rates in Canada have dropped below 10 per cent and they are dropping in the U.S. as well, which means that it will be more difficult to source them. And foreskin samples do eventually run out and need to be replaced. But Fitzpatrick says that although you can use technology to make the cell cultures from scratch, without foreskins, the process is “much more expensive.” Sourcing foreskins Things have changed from the time when using foreskins was an objection-free endeavour.
In fact, many websites are now dedicated to the preservation of baby foreskins, and long streams of discussion on mothering websites argue against the use of baby skin for cosmetics purposes. Vancouver is home to the Association for Genital Integrity whose mandate is to end male circumcision.
- I asked Dr.
- Fitzpatrick about using foreskins from older men instead who want to earn the purported $100,000 windfall.
- Apparently, it’s a no-go.
- Fibroblasts that are made from young skin are more active than fibroblast from a 60- or 70-year-old.
- The skin reproduces better in young tissue; you are using that cell as a factory.eventually the tissue samples need to be refreshed.a young cell produces more and lasts longer.” Newborn tissue is particularly valuable, not only because of its vitality, but also because it is usually guaranteed to be healthy.
Tissue for medical use obviously needs to be free from disease. Ethical pain Fitzpatrick adds that foreskin tissue has been the easiest tissue to access – ethically – up till now “because you are not having to use stem cells or fetal tissue in order to still get young tissue.” Neocutis is another face cream – but this one uses cells grown from a terminated fetus to make their product, something they document on their website.
Neocutis declined The Tyee’s request for an interview. Dr. Nikhil Mehta, the director of product development for SkinMedica, talked to The Tyee about his opinion of Neocutis, their competitor. “They are actually taking cells, literally chopping up the cells, and putting them in cream.” Another page on the Neocutis website describes how they harvested the tissue of a terminated two-month-old fetus, “in the period of scarless wound healing.” It is out of this tissue that they developed the cell culture used in creating their special “bio restorative skin cream” with their patented secret ingredient.
Myth of scarlessness Dr. Fitzpatrick explains why they would want to use fetal tissue: there is a period during neo-natal development where wounds will heal without scarring. He says no one really understands why the cells are scar-free at that time, but that even so, there are no scar reduction benefits to be gained by using them – those properties aren’t transferable: “To take cells at that age, and imply that you can have that happen to an adult is incorrect.
No one has shown that to be correct; if there was some reason to believe that could occur it would be a very hot topic.” The Tyee asked Dr. Mehta how much tissue Neocutis would need to “harvest” from a two-month-old fetus in order to develop a cell culture, since this kind of skin can grow for years.
“You don’t need very much. Think of how small a baby foreskin is. Maybe the amount of skin that is on the tip of a finger.” This doesn’t sound so bad, until I am standing in front of the plastinated fetuses at Science World. They are the only dead humans at the exhibit with skin, and their tiny features are drawn into expressions one might imagine on a puppy having a bad dream.
Is Circumcision Child Abuse? The New Lobotomy Private Surgery, Runaway Costs
Why are most Korean men circumcised?
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- circumcision
- foreskin
- phimosis
- hygiene
Although circumcision remains controversial, it is still a common procedure. The percentage of circumcised males varies by geographic location, by religious affiliation, and to some extent, by socioeconomic classification.1 Currently, about one quarter of men in the world are circumcised, largely concentrated in the United States, Canada, countries in the Middle East and Asia with Muslim populations, and large portions of Africa.2 South Korea has possibly the largest absolute number of teenage or adult circumcisions anywhere in the world.3 Because circumcision started through contact with the American military during the Korean War, South Korea has an unusual history of circumcision and circumcision has traditionally been practised.
Are boys in Korea circumcised?
Although circumcision in South Korea has been strongly influenced by American culture, it has never been predominantly neonatal. The age at circumcision has continued to decrease and boys are now circumcised at approximately 12 years old.
Why do people buy foreskin?
Beauty Industry Part of Foreskin Flesh Trade, Anti-Circumcision Activists Warn Are baby foreskins our way to drink from the fountain of youth? Shutterstock Well, Thank u is a new column interrogating the myths and misinformation around health and wellness trends.
From snail mucus to bee venom, the cosmetic industry is known for using off-kilter ingredients on its never-ending quest to bottle an infantile glow. The latest unexpected ingredient to tip into public consciousness is neonatal foreskin fibroblasts. That is, foreskins acquired from freshly-circumcised babies.
A few weeks ago, Cate Blanchett told Vogue about a treatment she received at Georgia Louise, an upmarket New York salon which is so expensive that it refers to itself as an atelier. “She gives what we call the ‘penis facial’ and there’s some enzyme in it, so Sandy refers to it as the ‘penis facial,'” Blanchett,
- The quote was discreetly removed from Vogue’s website, but not before spurring a series of “penis facial” headlines.
- Blanchett was referring to Georgia Louise’s “Hollywood EGF Facial”, which according to Louise’s website involves a serum “derived from the progenitor cells of the human fibroblast taken from Korean newborn baby foreskin”.
Her prices aren’t advertised online, but Business Insider reports that the treatment costs $650USD and has a two-year wait list. Meantime, a UK company called Vavelta is hoping to rival the billion-dollar Botox industry through neonatal foreskin fibroblast injections, while Hydrafacial is another company lauding the auspicious anti-aging ingredient.
- And as far back as 2013, Oprah inspired headlines after promoting a product from the brand SkinMedica developed with these cells.
- Putting a baby’s foreskin on your face might sound more suited to a satanic ritual, but here’s how it works.
- Ind of like the human-flesh version of yogurt, a fibroblast is a piece of skin that is used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.
Baby foreskins are the golden standard. Firstly, they’re young, meaning they’re unadulterated and untouched by free radicals and environmental toxins. Plus they’re impressionable: because their identifying proteins haven’t fully developed, they have many applications.
In a medical setting, they’re used for growing skin for burn victims and diabetics with ulcers, as well as in eyelid replacement and skin graft surgeries. Baby foreskins have been of interest to doctors since the 19th century; Dr. Peter Charles Remondino wrote in 1891 text The History of Circumcision, “For skin-transplanting there is nothing superior to the plants offered by the prepuce of a boy.” Stem cells are pretty common in the cosmetic industry, but they’re usually derived from plants, not penises.
The idea behind the more contemporary use of foreskin fibroblasts in skincare is that they’re thought to secrete large amounts of human growth factor proteins, which stimulate cell regeneration and collagen production, making the skin appear younger.
- Neonatal fibroblasts are thought to facilitate skin cell turnover.
- Shutterstock Is there any proof that foreskin fibroblasts leave your skin looking as fresh as a baby’s bottom? “I am highly skeptical.
- I have not seen any evidence in a peer-reviewed medical publication supportive of this claim,” dermatologist and University of Sydney lecturer Dr Deshan Sebaratnam tells VICE.
Despite this, some say the hype has contributed to an increased market demand for foreskins, their commodification, and in turn a whole host of ethical transgressions. Anti-circumcision advocates—some of whom, it’s worth noting, have come under fire for, their, and —are particularly charged about the issue of foreskin use in products, arguing that neonatal circumcision is a violation of a child’s rights, as they are too young to consent to the procedure.
In their eyes, profiting from this is doubly reprehensible. “Once amputated, the foreskin can never be regrown. Circumcision leaves a profound scar that is anything but superficial,” says Dr. Chris Coughhran, an anti-circumcision advocate, tells VICE. Another anti-circumcision activist, paediatrician Paul M.
Fleiss, writes in What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About: Circumcision that a single baby foreskin contains enough genetic material to grow over 23,000 square metres of skin—or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fibroblasts. InVitro Technologies, a company based in Australia, sell neonatal foreskin fibroblasts online, via a supplier called ATCC.
will set you back USD$427. While “skin aging” is listed as one of its applications, an InVitro spokesperson declined to answer questions about the sourcing of their product, telling VICE, “All the ATCC products distributed through us are used for research purposes only. At this stage, that is all we are able to comment on.” Babble.com, a parenting magazine and blog network, that instead of being discarded with the rest of the medical waste after birth, some hospital sell foreskins on to third parties, and that “companies will pay thousands of dollars for a single foreskin.” However, this information isn’t available to the public.
Dr. Mary Walker, a Research Fellow in Philosophy at Monash University who has an interest in bioethics and health policy, hasn’t heard of any hospitals in Australia selling foreskins. She says that in Australia it’s illegal to trade in human tissue, although it is legal to sell products derived from human tissue.
- Some have argued that tissue may be donated, though not sold, and this is consistent with thinking that the donor could retain some rights over what the tissue is used for post-donation,” she says.
- Either way, Dr.
- Walker says, having profits returned to the parent, circumcised child, or the doctor who removed the foreskin would contravene the Human Tissue Act.
The National Health and Medical Research Council is currently reviewing and updating its guidelines surrounding the sale of organs and tissues, she tells VICE. Circumcision rates have in the western world (even in America, where compared to countries like the UK and Australia).
Current Australian suggests that despite its overall safety, there is no medical reason for circumcision in newborns (religious and cultural reasons are now key drivers) and it’s estimated 32 percent of Australian men under 30 are circumcised. Parallel to this downwards trend is an increasing bio-technological interest in foreskins, which according to anti-circumcision activists is keeping the practice alive.
“The use of newborn baby foreskin cells in biotechnology—for various purposes, not all of them cosmetic—has been a driver of male circumcision since the early ‘90s,” Dr. Coughhran, the anti-circumcision advocate, tells VICE. Dr. Coughhran believes this western demand could even be encouraging circumcision policies in developing countries (although the World Health Organisation that circumcision reduces the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men by approximately 60 percent).
This may be of relevance, for example, in deciphering the Kenyan government’s recent proposal to shift its anti-HIV strategy from ‘voluntary’ to ‘infant’ male circumcision,” he says. Anti-circumcision activists from the group Intaction in New York. Photo: Eric Euse for VICE A 2011 published on South African news site TIMESLive echoed concerns that African baby foreskins could potentially be sold to the global cosmetics industry, instead of being incinerated, as per the country’s legal requirement.
“Africa may be viewed as the new source of discarded virgin foreskins to sustain a multi-million-dollar industry. Discarded human foreskins are used in the cosmetics industry, in the manufacture of insulin and artificial skin,” the Medical Rights Advocacy Network wrote in a letter at the time to the department of health.
- If private companies are profiting from baby foreskins, who receives the proceeds? George C.
- Denniston, an American physician and anti-circumcision advocate who founded Doctors Opposing Circumcision, says profits aren’t seen by parents or their sons.
- Certainly, none of the boys whose foreskins are being harvested for commercial exploitation receive any share in the profits generated by their unwitting contribution.
We have yet to ask whether our most basic birthright should become a source of corporate income,” he writes in Male and Female Circumcisions: Medical, Legal, and Ethical Considerations in Private Practice, The use of foreskin fibroblasts is part of a more complex debate than the lightweight headlines about “penis facials” let on.
- For the likes of Dr.
- Coughran, “The commercialisation of male circumcision is a much larger story than ‘skincare product X’—it involves billions of dollars of public and private investment, on a transnational, intergovernmental scale.” But while the ‘intactivist’ movement undoubtedly purports an agenda—to end circumcision entirely, let alone any industry around it—legal and ethical ambiguities around harvesting for cosmetic use exist either way.
: Beauty Industry Part of Foreskin Flesh Trade, Anti-Circumcision Activists Warn
Is it necessary to have a foreskin?
Vital or vestigial? The foreskin has its fans and foes When a product slips in status from “must have” to “don’t need,” it is generally tossed on the scrapheap of consumer history. Just ask the people who invented the floppy disk. According to some health experts, the foreskin is the floppy disk of the male anatomy, a once-important flap of skin that no longer serves much purpose.
- But the foreskin also has many fans, who claim it still serves important protective, sensory and sexual functions.
- Every mammal has a foreskin,” says Dr.
- George Denniston, founder of Doctors Opposing Circumcision, an organization based in Seattle, Washington, with members across the United States and in other countries, including Canada.
Many people “don’t understand the value of the foreskin,” adds Denniston. Medical professionals have been debating the value of the foreskin for many years. In 1949, British physician Dr. Douglas Gairdner explored the “fate of the foreskin” in an oft-cited paper in which he noted that some of the health problems prompting adult men to seek circumcision, including phimosis (trouble retracting foreskin) and balanitis (inflammation of the glans), do not apply to infants ( BMJ 1949;2:1433–7).
He also weighed the existing evidence supporting claims that circumcision prevented other medical conditions, coming to the conclusion that, at the time, a reduction in cases of penile cancer was the only medical reason “commonly advanced for the universal circumcision of infants capable of withstanding critical scrutiny.” Furthermore, Gairdner noted, the foreskin plays an important protective role in newborns.
“It is often stated that the prepuce is a vestigial structure devoid of function,” he wrote. “However, it seems to be no accident that during the years when the child is incontinent the glans is completely clothed by the prepuce, for, deprived of this protection, the glans becomes susceptible to injury from contact with sodden clothes or napkin.” That was hardly the final word on the foreskin in medical research.
- Fast-forward several decades, to the 1980s, and you’ll find influential research that suggested neonatal circumcision could reduce urinary tract infections in male infants by a whopping 90% ( Pediatrics 1985;75:901–3 and Pediatrics 1986;78:96–9).
- This data prompted other researchers to ponder if the prepuce was a mistake of nature ( Lancet 1989;1:598–9).
Is the foreskin a redundant piece of skin useful only to viruses, or does it still serve important protective, sensory and sexual functions? Image courtesy of © 2011 Thinkstock The pro-prepuce crowd, however, says these and other health problems are better addressed through such activities as education on proper hygiene.
And there is much to lose, they claim, when the penis ditches its hood, not the least of which is sexual satisfaction. Though research in this area has yielded inconsistent results, Denniston, for one, has no doubt that the foreskin contains tissue with erogenous properties. In particular, an area called the “ridged band,” the wrinkly skin at the end of the foreskin, is loaded with nerve endings that are stimulated by motion during intercourse or masturbation.
If a man is circumcised as an infant, says Denniston, he has been robbed of sensitivity without his consent. “The ridged band is important for sexual joy. No one has a right to take that away from someone.” The foreskin also protects a man’s female sexual partners, says Denniston.
First, an intact penis glides in the foreskin during intercourse, reducing friction. Second, the exposed glans of a circumcised penis becomes coarser over time, a process known as keratinization, and is more abrasive to the internal mucous membrane of the vagina. “You take the foreskin away and let the glans callus and you end up irritating the hell out of the vaginal mucosa,” says Denniston.
“Everyone in the US uses lubricants because the basic function of sexual intercourse has been disrupted.” Some medical researchers, however, claim circumcised men enjoy sex just fine and that, in view of recent research on HIV transmission, the foreskin causes more trouble than it’s worth.
Data from a series of high-profile clinical trials in Africa suggest that men cut their chances of contracting HIV by more than half if they are circumcised ( PLoS Med 2 : e298. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0020298 and Lancet 2007;369:643–56 and Lancet 2007;369:657–66). There is still no consensus, however, on exactly how the foreskin promotes the transmission of HIV.
One hypothesis is that the foreskin simply provides more surface area and therefore more cells that are susceptible to infection, as Dr. Minh Dinh, assistant professor in medicine–infectious diseases at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, posited in a recent review of prevailing theories ( Am J Reprod Immunol 2010;65:279–83).
The virus needs to find a cell to infect,” says Dinh. “It has to find target cells.” Another theory is that viruses much prefer the damp area under the foreskin to the dryer surface of an exposed glans. “You have this layer of skin that retracts,” says Dinh. “That creates an environment that is dynamic.
It is also a warm, moist environment that may allow viral particles to linger longer on the penis, which give the cells there more time to take in the particles.” The foreskin may also have certain structural characteristic relating to its barrier function and permeability that make it more susceptible to viral infection.
Editor’s note: Second of a six-part series: Part I: Circumcision indecision: The ongoing saga of the world’s most popular surgery ().
: Vital or vestigial? The foreskin has its fans and foes
Is it better to pull back foreskin?
Our son is not circumcised. When will his foreskin retract? – In the first several years your son’s foreskin will separate from the tip of the penis. Some foreskins separate soon after birth or even before birth, but this is rare. When it happens is different for every child.
- It may take a few weeks, months, or years.
- Once this happens, the foreskin can be pulled back away from the tip of the penis.
- This is called foreskin retraction.
- Most boys will be able to retract their foreskins by the time they are 5 years old, yet others will not be able to until the teen years.
- As a boy becomes more aware of his body, he will most likely discover how to retract his own foreskin.
But foreskin retraction should never be forced. Until the foreskin fully separates, do not try to pull it back. Forcing the foreskin to retract before it is ready can cause severe pain, bleeding, and tears in the skin.
Does circumcision reduce size?
– Uncircumcised (Uncut): A foreskin can make your penis look slightly bulkier when it’s flaccid, During an erection, the foreskin retracts and almost disappears, so it won’t affect how big your penis looks when it’s erect. Circumcised (Cut): Your penis size is based mainly on your genes.
Does circumcision hurt at 16?
Is teen circumcision painful? A teen circumcision performed at Gentle Circumcision should be virtually painless, as Dr. Pittman makes every patientʼs comfort a priority at every stage.
Can foreskin grow back after circumcision?
What To Know About Foreskin Restoration Medically Reviewed by on April 30, 2021 Foreskin restoration is something that you can do if you were as a child. It is a method or practice to regrow your foreskin. There are a few different options for foreskin restoration including surgery and skin stretching tools.
- You may want to restore your foreskin for several reasons.
- Each person’s reason is different.
- Improvement of sex life.
- Some men believe that the foreskin makes the head of the, also called the glans, more sensitive.
- So, they restore their foreskin in the hopes that it will make sex more pleasurable.
- Emotional satisfaction.
Some people with penises feel that circumcision, a procedure that many get as a baby, was done without their consent. They wish to get their foreskin back because they never had the chance to decide for themselves if they wanted it or not. Throughout history, the practice of foreskin restoration was primarily used to avoid persecution.
Circumcision is an important religious practice for many people of the Jewish faith. Therefore, in some places and times, if someone could see that you were circumcised, they would know you were Jewish. Circumcised people of those eras sought out foreskin restoration so they could participate in public life.
In ancient times, people often played sports nude and public communal bathing was popular. So, foreskin restoration allowed circumcised people to take part in these activities without fear of persecution. One report mentions a similar trend during the time that the Nazi party was in power in Europe.
During this time, circumcised people would sometimes do foreskin restoration whether or not they were Jewish. That way, no one would suspect them of being Jewish. The first mention of surgery for foreskin restoration is from around the year 50 AD. Today this is still an option, but some people prefer skin stretching instead due to the possible outcomes from surgery.
Surgery. Foreskin restoration surgery usually involves several procedures to stretch and then move the skin from a different area of your body to create a new foreskin. However, the results are sometimes less than satisfactory. The color may be different from the rest of the penis and the skin graft may require electrolysis for hair removal.
Your handsTapeA combination of specially designed weights and tapeCommercially available devices
Foreskin restoration is not a widely studied procedure. Some people try homemade devices that can damage the penis. For example, some people use rubber O-rings to help stretch the foreskin. However, if you get the wrong size, it can get stuck behind the head of your penis and restrict blood flow.
Allergic reaction to Excess Infections
According to some medical experts, there are many benefits to removing the foreskin. Scientific evidence shows circumcised people get fewer sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and pass on fewer STIs to their partners. They also get fewer urinary tract infections and have fewer skin problems on the penis.
Some people who have been circumcised report that their glans are less sensitive and get less sensitive over time, but scientific research does not support this claim. Some doctors believe that the increased sensitivity from foreskin stretching is actually caused by the new foreskin rubbing against the glans.
Many doctors still support the idea of circumcision when your child is a baby. They say it is the best time because healing is quicker than with older children and adults, and the procedure requires only local anesthesia. © 2020 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved. : What To Know About Foreskin Restoration
Do Muslims circumcise?
Introduction – Modern bioethics developed in the 1970s and was mainly based on the principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and distributive justice. However, contemporary developments in bioethics in the USA and Europe have led to other concepts and principles including dignity, respect for life, solidarity, and bodily integrity.
Because modern bioethics developed in the West, Christianity was quite influential. Principles such as bodily integrity sprang from Western philosophies, such as the thoughts of Thomas Aquinas and Kant, who derived most of their ideas from Christian concepts and teachings. Many peoples and religions, particularly the three Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam consider these principles as key elements in their religious or cultural value system.
In this paper we will explore how the concept of bodily integrity is deeply rooted in Islamic Shariah and Muslims’ life. The Islamic point of view must be examined in both Arabic/Islamic and English literature. Both sources are important for our kind of study.
- The Arabic/Islamic texts can provide a succinct overview of the Islamic perspective.
- However, these texts are inaccessible to most Western bioethicists because they are written in the Arabic language.
- The English references chosen for this study are necessary to explore additional ethical concepts and principles.
If we want to translate the term “bodily integrity” to Arabic, we find that the best word to use is ḧurmat aljasad (i.e., “body sacredness” or “forbidding transgression against the body”). Although it is not a literal translation, the term accords the intended sense.
Ḧurma linguistically means “the thing which is unlawful to violate.” We have chosen the word ḥurma because it was previously used by the various Islamic law schools for expressing the precise meaning for the intended meaning of “bodily integrity.” We will attempt to understand these ethical concepts from an Islamic point of view and explore how these concepts might play a role in modern global bioethics.
This might contribute to bridging the gap between Western and Islamic bioethics. In this paper we focus on male circumcision. The custom of circumcision is a worldwide phenomenon, although it occurs at different rates, depending on prevailing religions and traditions.
It is not restricted to Jews and Muslims. Many more nations and peoples practice it at lower rates. Uncircumcised Muslims are rare. The rate of circumcision in Muslim nations is between 90 and 100 percent. This includes the Christians who form a significant part of some Arab states.1 Studies indicate that the rate of circumcision in the USA is between 58 and 70 percent.2 Around the world, statistics show that 13.3 million boys are circumcised annually.3 There are several reasons why circumcision is so widespread.
It is practiced for medical-therapeutic, medical-preventive, or religious reasons. Some researchers say it is also performed as a social custom.4 For Muslims, male circumcision is performed for religious reasons, mainly to follow the sunnah (practice) of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Moreover, there are attempts to label it as a contributor to cleanliness / personal hygiene. These are done largely to grant the practice scientific legitimacy and a moral foundation. Because drops of urine and smegma gather under that piece of foreskin and may cause impurity to clothes and the body, many Islamic jurists understand the purpose of legislating circumcision as a way to purify the body from urine and smegma.
First, we provide a short overview of the Islamic regulations of male circumcision. Subsequently, we will highlight some central Islamic aspects of bodily integrity and explore relevant applications and guidelines. Finally we make a comparison between Islamic and Western views of the concept of bodily integrity, thereby distinguishing between three dimensions of ‘bodily integrity’: biological wholeness, subjective wholeness, and normative wholeness.
How much skin graft can you get from a foreskin?
Lab-created skin helps wounds heal The idea behind a collagen graft is to create a sort of scaffolding upon which a patient’s cells can attach and grow. STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Companies are manufacturing collagen grafts – or patches – to help with wound healingSometimes wound is too big, too deep, too infected to heal on its ownPatch goes into wound, spurs growth and creates scaffold for cells to grow onTechnology could help wounded soldiers, burn victims, diabetics, elderly
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) – Adell Tomas, who lives outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, admits she has a weight problem: Ten years ago, she tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds. Because of her obesity, she developed high blood pressure, arthritis and type 2 diabetes.
She says she just didn’t take care of herself. And then one day, she noticed a huge sore on the bottom of her foot. Like many diabetics, she has little feeling in her feet, so she had no idea what had caused the sore or even how long it had been there. “It was huge and looked terribly infected,” she recalled.
“Dark red, almost black.”
A few weeks later, Tomas’ foot was amputated; the wound was so large, her doctors couldn’t repair it. “Doctors said at that time there was nothing they could do,” the 51-year-old said.That was then.
Now, doctors who specialize in wound management are growing skin to help people like Tomas save their limbs and extremities. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are extracting collagen – a protein that makes up 75 percent of skin – from donated skin and creating grafts, or patches, that can induce a patient’s own skin to grow. Video: Healing wounds In some cases, we can get four football fields of skin out of one baby foreskin. -Dr. James McGuire RELATED TOPICS “In some cases, we can get four football fields of skin out of one baby foreskin,” said Dr. James McGuire, head of wound management at the Foot and Ankle Institute at the School of Podiatric Medicine at, in Philadelphia. “If taken care of, skin can grow and grow.” In most cases, a scrape or cut mends itself or can be helped along with a Band-Aid and some antibiotic cream.
These injuries heal because our is designed to repair itself. Yet in the case of large or deep wounds, like Tomas’, the skin doesn’t heal because it has become so infected, it turns gangrenous and can’t grow new cells. The idea behind these collagen grafts is to create a sort of scaffolding into the wound, upon which a patient’s cells can attach and grow.
“Once you take all the cells out of there and strip it down to the collagen level, the body says, ‘This is great; this is what we make our bodies out of,’ ” McGuire said. “And tissues will grow around it.” Although these collagen patches can be used to treat the wounds of soldiers and burn patients, they are more commonly prescribed for people who suffer from peripheral artery disease, pressure ulcers and,
The patient can’t feel anything, so when they step on a tack or get a blister or a penetrating wound to the skin, it just gets infected and keeps festering. And a lot of elderly who are bedridden in nursing homes develop these horrible bed sores,” McGuire said. “These patches can help them.” The patches come from different sources and can contain additional ingredients.
Some patches are created from animal organs, such as cow intestines, and even from the skin of some reptiles. A New Zealand company has developed a patch that contains honey, which is a natural antiseptic. Other patches contain elements such as silver, which has been shown in studies to be an excellent antibacterial agent.
Whether a patient needs a patch from a bovine or a boa is determined by the injury. Depending on its origin, a graft can differ in size, thickness and how fast it generates tissue. “Although all of these patches can help mend wounds, it really depends on the wound itself as to which patch you should use,” McGuire said.
“How much is it infected, how long it’s been infected, what the infection is, that sort of thing.” For Tomas, it’s too late. She is managing the loss of her foot and has dropped almost 70 pounds since she first noticed the wound. “It’s great they can do all these things with fixing injuries,” she said.
What skin is used for skin grafting?
Where do providers get healthy skin for a skin graft? – Most often, providers use healthy skin from a person’s own body. They call this skin graft procedure an autograft. Sometimes, there isn’t enough healthy skin on a person’s body to use for the procedure.
What layers of the skin are used in skin grafts?
Description – This surgery is usually done while you are under general anesthesia, That means you will be asleep and pain-free. Healthy skin is taken from a place on your body called the donor site. Most people who are having a skin graft have a split-thickness skin graft.
This takes the two top layers of skin from the donor site (the epidermis) and the layer under the epidermis (the dermis). The donor site can be any area of the body. Most times, it is an area that is hidden by clothes, such as the buttock or inner thigh. The graft is carefully spread on the bare area where it is being transplanted.
It is held in place either by gentle pressure from a well-padded dressing that covers it, or by staples or a few small stitches. The donor-site area is covered with a sterile dressing for 3 to 5 days. People with deeper tissue loss may need a full-thickness skin graft.
Do they use foreskin for stem cells?
DISCUSSION – Circumcision is a ritual that has been performed for centuries for medical, cultural, or religious reasons. The foreskin removed after surgery is usually discarded. It has been thought that the foreskin tissue might have the potential to be used as a source of stem cells, especially if the procedure is performed in early infancy and the tissue is collected from newborns.4 The foreskin is usually more easily accessible than other tissues used for stem cell generation.
In addition, as the tissue is usually discarded straight after the procedure, subjection to ethical issues might be negligible in terms of stem cell collection. If the collected foreskin tissue is from newborns, the differentiation rate and capacity are higher than in adults and nearly as high as in bone marrow.4 Most studies’ results suggested that hnFSSCs therapy is more beneficial than adult and embryonic stem cell therapies.
The fact that positive markers were shown for hemopoietic and neural stem cells is also an indication that foreskin stem cells might be used in treatments for blood cancers, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.1 A very similar study found that hnFSSCs can also differentiate in myogenic cells.3 In parallel to these studies, our results also revealed that hnFSSCs expressed MSC markers.
- In the current study, hnFSSCs positively expressed CD45 and CD34, which are known to be MSC surface markers.
- However, CD90 expression was negative.
- This might have been due to the hnFSSCs collected having originated from mucosal cells.
- Our results suggested that hnFSSCs are capable of differentiating into MSCs and have potential to be used in tissue renewal and repair.
MSCs play an important role in repairing damaged tissue through their anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies showed that 3D spheroids of MSCs have high differentiation ability and cell survival when compared with 2D culture. Moreover, 3D MSCs’ spheroid structure increases the anti-inflammatory proteins from immune cells.15 MSC spheroids are widely used in oncology research as they synthesize more extracellular matrix than 2D culture.3D culture also increases the therapeutic effects of intervention when compared with 2D formation.12 MSC spheroids are solid aggregates due to upregulated cadherin expression.16 In our study, hnFSSC spheroids were formed using the hanging drop technique.
Our results showed that spheroids collected from hnFSSCs were not as compact as MSC spheroids. We obtained more loose and floating spheroids from hnFSSCs. However, even though the spheroid structure was loose, the cells were intact and interacted with each other. In the current study, the apoptotic and proliferative effects of the plant C.
olitorius on spheroids were studied. Caspase-3 is known as an executioner caspase and its trigger induces apoptosis, programmed cell death.17 On the other hand, expression of Ki-67 is an indication of cell proliferation.18 Caspase-3 immunostaining was observed in both cell groups, but this was expected in spheroid structures as the center is more compact and the nutrients are harder to diffuse to the center.
However, caspase-3 staining intensity was less in extract-treated cells, which shows the plant might prevent stem cell apoptosis. In contrast to these results, Ki-67 immunostaining was higher in extract-treated cells than in the control group in both incubation periods, which indicates that C. olitorius might have the capacity to increase stem cell proliferation.
The LC-MS/MS results indicated that C. olitorius contains polyphenolic compounds including quercetin and caffeoylquinic acid and their derivatives. Other studies also showed similar results, showing that the plant is rich in flavonols and hydroxycinnamic acids.9, 10 A 50 µg/mL dose was regarded as the treatment and optimal dose for further immunofluorescence analysis.
In addition, other studies also stated that the plant has apoptotic effects in cancer cell lines via caspase-3 activation.19 On the other hand, quercetin glucuronide has been shown to increase neural stem cell proliferation and promote migration.20 Another study showed that quercetin enhanced bone marrow MSC proliferation and osteogenic differentiation.21 This indicates that C.
olitorius has the potential to increase stem cell proliferation by its rich polyphenolic content, which might be supportive for stem cell differentiation and better for mimicking in vivo structures and further tissue repair.