By Catherine Townsend

PUBLISHED: 17:14 EST, 4 April 2013 | UPDATED: 17:25 EST, 4 April 2013

First it was the liquid facelift; then the vampire facelift. In recent years, nonsurgical options to turn back the clock have multiplied as quickly as the catchy nicknames.

Now, as women pay up to $20,000 for stem cell facelifts, the treatment is being hailed as the new Botox.

But according to The New York Times, the technology may not be that cutting-edge.

Miracle treatment? Stem cell facelifts have been hailed as the new Botox, but some experts question whether they are worth the five-figure price tag (posed by model)

While embryonic skin cells can transform into any type of cell, adult stem cells can only regenerate the types of the organ from which they originate.

So in a stem cell facelift - not to be confused with the stem cell facial that uses sheep placenta - doctors take stem cell-enriched tissue from fatty areas like the stomach or inner thigh and inject it back into the face. They may also use a centrifuge to separate the cells and add them back into the fat before grafting.

Practitioners claim that this process produces better results. Since there are already stem cells present in fatty tissue, however, some experts claim that this is just another name for fat grafting - a technique that has been around for years.

View post:
They are expensive, unregulated and potentially dangerous . . . Are stem cell facials REALLY worth the $20,000 price ...