TL;DR
Faces hollow with age partly because the fat under the cheeks and eyes stops renewing itself, which is why people turn to fillers and fat transplants. A team led from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet tried a different route: a cream made with black ginger root extract and safflower oil that, in human fat-cell cultures, kept the cells that grow into fat dividing while shrinking oversized fat cells. In 35 people who used it for six months, 3D face scans showed volume returning to hollow spots and puffy spots slimming down, with the oldest users gaining the most. For anyone who has watched their cheeks deflate in the mirror, the hope is a face that refills its own hollows, no needle required. This was an open pilot with no comparison group; our odds that a fat-regrowing treatment passes a placebo-controlled trial are 75%, likely by 2031. For the full odds and the timeline of breakthroughs that leads there, subscribe.
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