stem cell therapy

Dr. Joon Lee, Medical Director of See Beyond Medicine in Scarsdale, NY, has devoted much of her practice to regenerative medicine and improving the quality of life for her patients. Groundbreaking stem cell therapy is an opportunity to heal and avoid invasive medical procedures or surgery!

What is regenerative medicine?
It is a cellular level therapy that aims to improve the function of damaged or diseased tissue or organs by introducing cells to replace and replenish those compromised cells. Stem cell therapy works by stimulating healthy cell and tissue growth, drawing on your body’s ability to heal itself.

Dr. Lee, an experienced stem cell doctor, uses regenerative medicine to treat medical conditions across a range of specialties and conditions including rheumatology, cardiology, neurology, and immunology. As one of the most promising medical advancements available today, stem cell therapy is also used to tackle orthopedic issues such as osteoarthritis, as well as bone, joint, and connective tissue injuries.

What conditions respond well to stem cell therapy?
If you have any degenerative disease, such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis; or neurodegenerative conditions like dementia, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis; or an autoimmune disease such as lupus, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, stem cell therapy can provide symptom relief and regeneration of damaged tissue. Patients can also be treated with stem cell therapy for anti-aging purposes including skin and hair rejuvenation, reversing the clock.

How does it work?
The stem cells are injected into the bloodstream, just like getting IV hydration. They move to the affected area following your body’s paracrine signaling (a form of cell to cell communication).

Stem cells repair tissue damage by regenerating tissue. They can turn into any cells, like cartilage, bone, nerve, muscle, cardiac, etc. Stem cells reduce inflammation by reducing TNF-alpha and TNF-gamma, which are signal cells – enabling chronic and autoimmune diseases to reverse. If the problem is with an injured or diseased joint, stem cells are injected into the joint, just like a steroid joint injection. Steroids do reduce inflammation and pain but they do not regenerate and repair tissue. Stem cells do repair and regenerate injured and diseased tissue, allowing patients to avoid unnecessary surgery.

What can I expect?
Stem cell therapy is pain-free and convenient, without negative side effects. And, there is no downtime. The anticipated outcomes and benefits for joints may include pain relief or reduction, improved circulation, increased exercise tolerance, and better range of motion and joint function within 90 to 180 days.

If stem cells are infused to treat a chronic degenerative condition, our hope is that the stem cells will repair damaged organ tissues and regenerate new cells over 90 to 180 days. Infusion of the stem cell is a monthly treatment until your condition improves.

What are the risks?
Before undergoing any procedure, understanding the potential risk is essential, as no procedure is risk-free. We have seen some mild inflammatory reactions such as fever, chills and dizziness with the infusion. We hardly see any side effects with the joint injection other than normal joint injection risks.

Where do the stem cells come from?
Since stem cells are naturally found throughout our body, we do have the option to use your own stem cells, derived from your own blood, fat cells or bone marrow. However, the more effective and convenient treatment is using stem cells recovered postnatally from the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is cut upon delivery and donated for scientific stem cell research. Stem cell labs provide us with sterile, minimally manipulated allograft stem cells. While stem cell therapy is not yet FDA approved, the stem cell lab is registered with the FDA and certified to perform all screening testing under CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments).

Stem cell therapy is an ethically sound procedure, non-invasive, safe with minimal side effects, and plays a key role in regenerative medicine.

Dr. Joon Lee offers consults for stem cell therapy to discuss options which are best for you and to answer all of your questions. There is also a monthly seminar at her Scarsdale office for a thorough explanation of the procedure as well as an opportunity to learn about statistics, evidence-based research and address any concerns. Patients who’ve had the procedure are often there as a support to answer any questions. If you think Westchester stem cell therapy will help you, give them a call. 914-722-9440.

 

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