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‘Pixie Dust’ May Regrow Fingers

tinker bell.bmp
Interesting medical item running over at Military​.com:

(UPI) Doctors at Brook Army Medical Center are testing a regeneration powder that could help injured soldiers regrow fingers and other body parts lost in battle.

The powder, nicknamed ‘Pixie Dust’ after the fairy dust that enabled children to fly in Disney’s Peter Pan, is made from tissue extracted from pigs. It attracts stem cells and convinces them to grow into the tissue that used to be there, CNN reported May 27. Doctors at BAMC used the powder last week on a wounded Soldier to encourage the regeneration of a finger in lost in Iraq.

“If it is next to the skin, it will start making skin. If it’s next to a tendon, it will start making a tendon, and so that’s the hope, at least in this particular project, that we can grow a finger,” Dr. Steven Wolf told CNN.

Doctors said they are watching patients for unexpected side effects, such as cancer.

(Tinker Bell image courtesy of the Walt Disney Company.)

Ward

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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }

David Hambling May 28, 2008 at 8:30 am

Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science column debunked this one a few weeks back:
http://www.badscience.net/?p=664
“Allow me to explain why I have good grounds to believe that this is nonsense, and that the journalists concerned have failed in the most basic regard….”

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whtetiger May 28, 2008 at 8:14 pm

…if it can be made from pigs then it should be able to be made from human tissue…

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stephen russell May 28, 2008 at 10:00 pm

Radical use anyplace: workplace, police, fire dept etc.
Im impressed, now to invest.
Toss powder over wound it Heals.
Unique.
Must expand on this.

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navyem May 29, 2008 at 7:23 am

I hope it does work, it sounds far fetched but I am hopeful. I need some on my right middle finger. I want it to grow back. Will someone send me some? :)

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David Hambling May 29, 2008 at 11:12 am

There’s no evidence it works – will be interesting to see if the military really are testing it, but somehow I doubt it.
“Whether it works or not, I’m glad to see Doctors are at least evaluating it. ”
Wouldn’t you rather they tried something with some evidence behind it?

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Pittsburgher May 29, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Pixie Dust is real, guys! Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine are truly teaming with the military to do research into regrowing limbs. (The powder has literally regrown an amputated finger in four weeks.) A clinical trial will be opening sometime this year in South America to regrow the esophagus in patients who have theirs surgically removed due to cancer. For once this is something that sounds like science fiction but is really the health care of the future.

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David Hambling May 30, 2008 at 5:49 am

Pittsburgher – “Pixie Dust is real”
Care to point us to some evidence? The ‘regrown finger’ story has been disproven – see link to Ben Goldacre’s story below.

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Larry Ortel May 31, 2008 at 12:44 am

The Military is interested so it’s not a hoax. It appears you can buy the powder from ACell (for veternary use only). Cut something up and try it out yourself!
http://www.acell.com/vet.php
Check out the animal case studies.

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M. Herring May 31, 2008 at 8:16 pm

Pixie dust is not a myth – stop the illegal farming of these creatures before it’s too late!

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Jim DeFrancesco March 18, 2009 at 9:47 pm

Maybe the World would finally like to know the company that makes the “pixie dust” that everyone has been talking about. The company is ACell Inc. and the “Pixie Dust Powder” (UBM) is called Matristem Powder, a naturally occurring Extracellular Matrix that is now being made available to Medical doctors for repair of wounds such as finger amputations. The first patient, Lee Spievack has been on CNN and Fox News several times and will be appearing on Oprah March 24th with Dr OZ. ACell has completed many additional finger injury cases like Lee Spievack’s with similar results. Product and ordering information will be available on ACell’s Website beginning on March 24th.

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dj March 28, 2009 at 11:32 am

This appeared on oprah recently my grandmother told me about it, it is true, a man that was missing one of his fingers up to the nuckle used this powder to regrow it. they can no also take animal organs, suck the dna out of them and spay them with a mixutre of your dna, place them in a incubator and then transplant them to the patient without rejection meds.

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CHris April 25, 2009 at 12:50 am

But finger tips already have the ability to regenerate. This powder is just promoting that ability further. To my knowledge though, ONLY the finger tips have this ability, which is why they have not been able to use it to make limbs regrow.

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David January 3, 2010 at 8:13 am

Funny article, wish this was true…seems another credible source says it's not:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/03/med…

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Caroldsd May 18, 2011 at 3:25 pm

It's true but still in the early stages of development. Dr. Wolf was interviewed on CNN and other programs. http://surgery.uthscsa.edu/faculty/wolf.asp

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fatima March 31, 2010 at 5:55 pm

how much is this and were could you buy it !

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Isaiah August 30, 2010 at 11:13 pm

Actually I just saw a new documentary from 2010 where they should pixie dust and showed an iraq soldier who had his hand almost blown off, they showed his finger growing back. Anything disputing it is only about how it doesn't have enough scientific coverage. After seeing the nub growing I think there's really something to it.

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willard September 14, 2010 at 3:16 pm

These cases are popping up left and right. For those skeptics.. Get a clinical clew. The research is all over the place.. The technology is called UBM.. Urinary Bladder Matrix. The only groups that are questioning the validity of this technology are those who are invested in inferior technologies who claim to regenerate tissue but can only produce scars..

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premier September 21, 2010 at 5:04 pm

I really want to buy this. Anyone has any idea where to get it from?

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specialk October 18, 2010 at 1:02 am

You can get it from me. I'm a distributor.

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IwantAcellproducts March 10, 2011 at 4:01 pm

Hey, SpecialK, are you still distributing Acell the powder and sheets? If so can you contact me at itsnevernotpersonal@gmail.com?

I am very interested. Thank you.

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Caroldsd May 18, 2011 at 3:20 pm

It is still in the research stage, it can't be sold yet.

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keith July 9, 2011 at 12:20 pm

specialK are you still distributing acell powder? If so contact me at kkeith1212@gmail.com I'd like to purchase…thanks

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regina August 20, 2011 at 8:10 pm

If his pixie dust work why most of the doctors in america dont know about ot or believe in it. Regina

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Regina August 20, 2011 at 8:19 pm

One doctor in Miami made me fly all the way from( Brazil south America) thinking he could have help me regrow in inch and a half of my index that was cut of as a child, instead he wanted to cut off more.lol He dont seam to know about the pixie dust and he's not the only doctor another at the hospital for special surgery in manhatten.

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@psqr September 22, 2011 at 3:14 pm

My finger grew back to its full length using Acell. I had severed it

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@psqr September 22, 2011 at 3:15 pm

about half way down the nail. It worked for me.

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Steve February 17, 2012 at 6:27 am

Will pixie dust work on a big toe?

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jadyga May 21, 2012 at 10:45 am

how much gonna cost ?

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