Pixie Dust gives hope for tissue regeneration
10:36 p.m. Friday, June 20, 2008
Sgt Shilo Harris admits his story sounds like science fiction.
Every three days, Brooke Army Center doctors put some "Pixie Dust" where Shilo's left index finger used to be.
"The first couple of times they did it I said, 'That's it?' They said, "That's it.' I said, 'Whoo, no needles!" Sgt. Harris said.
Pixie Dust to regenerate a limb is uncharted territory. Shilo Harris is the first.
"Using Pixie Dust, we're gonna use this product and see what happens," Dr. Steven Wolf said.
"It's real easy, it's almost too simple," Harris said.
Army video shows Dr. Wolf putting Pixie dust on the Shilo's finger for the first time. That was one month ago.
"After about a week, this little knot started coming up right here."
Everybody is curious about his Pixie Dust finger.
"It's growing, yeah," Harris said.
How long did they say it'll take?
They don't know the answer to most questions, not even how it will look.
"I think he's probably going to end up with more length and maybe half a finger," Dr. Wolf said.
"Even if it would grow out half, it would make a big difference because I'm so limited with these two fingers," Harris said.
What is Pixie Dust? Think of it as cell food.
"What it does is attracts stem cells, circulating cells all of us have running around our bodies," Dr. Wolf said.
The cells stop to munch on the protein, fat and carb molecules in the Pixie Dust, then they see the missing finger...and say:
"I'm right here by a bone, therefore I need to be bone," Dr. Wolf said.
The bag of Pixie Dust, actually called cellular matrix, is a bargain. It costs about $100, but for injured soldiers and, someday the rest of us:
"It has endless possibilities," Harris said. "How would you like to go the doctor, man, you have a bad heart. The doctor says, 'Hey, you do, but well I'll grow you another one, no big deal."
Pixie dust, which comes from pig bladders, is already FDA approved for other uses.
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