As a New York City plastic surgeon who specializes in cosmetic breast surgery, I just about hear it all when it comes to fast and “easy” ways to get bigger and perkier breasts. But I can tell you that the so-called “Vampire” Breast Lift, getting so much hype in the media today, is not worth your time or money.
What is the “Vampire” Lift? The “Vampire” lift is a treatment in which platelets from your own blood are injected into areas of your body where you want to boost collagen and plump up the area. It’s being used in the face in the “Vampire” Face Lift—and now in the breasts in what’s being called the “Vampire” Breast Lift.
Kim Kardashian Tried the Vampire Lift—On Her Face
Kim Kardashian and the Vampire Face Lift The hype started when Kim Kardashian famously tried the so-called “Vampire” Face Lift—where the doctor injects something called PRP, or Platelet-Rich Plasma, from the patient’s own blood into the face to grow new tissue, including skin-firming collagen, fatty tissue, and blood vessels.
Could the Vampire Lift Cause Cancer? It’s known that platelets play an important role in wound healing. So treatment with platelets for patients who have healing issues can be helpful and is used, for example, in orthopaedics. However, one of the ways that platelets work is by releasing growth factors.
“The concern with the “Vampire” procedure is that the growth factors that are released could have a stimulatory effect on the breast and possibly affect cells that may become cancerous.”
In other words, before injecting stimulatory growth factors into the breast, we need to know from scientific studies that this treatment does not cause breast cancer. This is same reason I don’t support fat transfer to the breast: growth factors may be transferred and could possibly trigger the growth of breast cancer. You have to be extremely careful when injecting anything into the breasts for this reason.
PRP: Cleared by the FDA for Wound Healing
What is PRP? Platelet-Rich Plasma, or PRP, has been cleared by the FDA for the healing of skin ulcers and wounds. Essentially, you take some of the patient’s own blood and spin it in a centrifuge (a machine that rotates at extremely high speeds to separate out substances of different densities) to separate Platelet-Rich Plasma from the other components of the blood. (Plasma is the pale yellow liquid component of blood that holds the blood cells.)
“Platelets contain growth factors that essentially tell the body how to heal itself by increasing production of collagen and stimulating blood flow.”
But we do not know yet if these growth factors could also trigger the growth of cancer cells.
Tiger Woods and PRP PRP is nothing new in the sports world. It’s been used by high-profile athletes like Tiger Woods, who received the PRP treatments following knee surgery. Injecting PRP into the wounded areas helps cartilage to become more firm and resilient—and along with the other healing effects of PRP—Platelet-Rich Plasma helps to repair injured tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and muscles.
“PRP is truly amazing when it comes to healing wounds, but it is untested in areas like the breasts, where there are no ‘wounds’ to be healed.”
Bottom Line on the Vampire Face Lift and Breast Lifts Any procedure that isn’t thoroughly tested should be looked at very cautiously. If procedures are not evaluated through rigorous scientific studies, then save your money.