Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Facial Rejuvenation: Mechanisms, Applications, and Challenges

Facial aging, caused by extrinsic and intrinsic factors, have led to increasing demand for facial rejuvenation therapies. Recently, adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSC) have shown great regenerative potentials through paracrine signaling, extracellular matrix remodeling, and anti-inflammatory effects. Thus, this review will focus on explaining the basic mechanism of ADMSC and showcasing their clinical application in facial rejuvenation, such as nanofat techniques, cell-free therapies and injectable stem cell suspensions. Data for this review were collected from various clinical studies and systemic reviews from biomedical journals. The results of various studies show that ADMSCs can effectively provide anti-aging therapies by enhancing collagen production, suppressing oxidative stress and improving skin pigmentation. However, the lack of long-term follow up and limited sample size in current studies highlights the need for more large-scale trials and standardized protocols to ensure safety and efficacy. This review aims to provide a basic understanding of the potential role of ADMSCs in regenerative medicine and to offer guidance for future clinical innovations.