Written by Dr. Joel Cherdack, Founder, Houston Regenerative Medicine
Last Updated: October 14, 2026
In this article
- Why “how long does it last” has no fixed answer
- What actually influences how long a change holds
- How to judge a result honestly
- What to ask instead of “how long will it last”
- A note on the number you may have seen elsewhere
- Talk to someone about what is realistic
Any clinic that gives you a confident number here is telling you something it cannot know.
That is not evasion. It follows from what these treatments are, which is an attempt to change conditions in a tissue over time. There is no dose that wears off on a schedule, so there is no expiry date to quote. What there is instead is a set of factors that genuinely influence how long any change holds, and most of them are knowable before you start.
This is general information, not medical advice.
Why “how long does it last” has no fixed answer
Think about what the question assumes. It assumes a treatment that does something, then stops doing it, on a timetable. That describes a medication with a half-life. It does not describe an approach aimed at influencing how a tissue behaves.
If a tissue’s condition changes, nothing is wearing off. If it does not change, there was nothing to wear off. And if the process that caused the problem is still running, whatever changed is under pressure from the same force that caused the original problem.
That last point is the one people underestimate, and it is the honest core of the answer. A joint being overloaded by body weight, alignment or occupation is still being overloaded afterwards. Skin exposed to the Houston sun for hours a day is still being exposed. Hormone symptoms driven by an underlying condition are still being driven by it. If hormones are part of your picture, our article on whether you can just ask your doctor for HRT covers that conversation.
What actually influences how long a change holds
Six factors shape how long a change holds: how advanced the problem was at the start, whether the cause is still active, your general health, what you do afterwards, whether maintenance is planned, and which tissue was treated. Most of these can be discussed before treatment begins, and the starting point is usually the biggest single factor.
How advanced the starting point was. Earlier change and severe change do not behave the same way, and this is usually the single biggest factor.
Whether the driver is still active. The one above. It matters more than the treatment.
Your general health. Diabetes, smoking, inflammatory conditions, sleep and nutrition all affect how tissue behaves and how it holds a change.
What you do afterwards. Following the protocol in the early phase, then load, activity, weight and sun exposure over the longer term.
Whether maintenance is part of the plan. Many of these approaches are discussed as a course with maintenance, not as a single event. If maintenance is expected, that should be in the price you were quoted, and if it was not, ask why.
Which tissue was treated. A joint, a nerve, skin and a scalp are different biological questions and should not be given a single shared answer. Nerve questions, for example, are covered separately in can neuropathy be reversed with stem cells.
How to judge a result honestly
Judge a result against a baseline recorded before treatment, at an assessment point agreed in advance, using the same measure each time. People go wrong in both directions: judging too early and calling it a failure, or relying on memory and overrating a change. A baseline and a fixed date give you something firmer to compare against.
Record a baseline. Before anything starts, capture where you are: a pain score, a function measure, standardized photographs, whatever fits what is being treated. Memory is unreliable for gradual change, and without a baseline you are comparing today against an impression.
Agree the assessment point in advance. Ask when the result should be judged and stick to it. Judging too early is the most common mistake, because change from these approaches tends to develop over weeks and months, not days.
Use the same measure each time. Photographs under different lighting are not a comparison, and neither is a pain score you rate differently depending on the week.
If a clinic has not offered you a baseline and an assessment point, ask for both. A clinic that tracks outcomes will have a process. One that does not will tell you to see how you feel. Our guide on how to evaluate a stem cell clinic covers more questions worth asking before you commit.
What to ask instead of “how long will it last”
A better approach is to ask questions a clinic can actually answer before you commit: what the treatment is aiming to change, how the result will be measured and when, what is realistic from your starting point, and what maintenance would involve and cost. The six questions below cover those points.
- What specifically are we trying to change?
- What will you record at the start, and when will we compare it?
- What is realistic in my case, given where I am starting from?
- Is maintenance expected, how often, and what does it cost?
- What can I do to make a change hold longer?
- If it fades, what are the options, and what would they cost?
The fifth one is worth real attention. Where a durable result is achievable, the part you control is usually the part that decides it.
A note on the number you may have seen elsewhere
Duration figures for regenerative treatments circulate widely and are rarely attached to anything. If you have been given one, ask what it is based on: a published study, in which case ask which one and in whom, or the clinic’s own outcome data, in which case ask how it is collected.
Both are legitimate answers. A number with neither behind it is a marketing figure, and now you know which you are looking at. Success rates have the same problem, which we cover in what is the success rate of stem cell therapy.
Talk to someone about what is realistic
A general article cannot tell you what to expect in your own situation. An evaluation can, because it starts from your history and what is actually being treated, and because it can tell you what would be recorded to judge the result and over what period.
It can also tell you that this is not the right treatment for you, which is an answer worth having.
See our REJUVENATE page for more on the protocol itself, or our article on stem cell therapy in Houston for what is legally available in Texas today.
Houston Regenerative Medicine, 100 Glenborough Dr, Suite 0403j, Houston, TX 77067. Call (346) 581-1547 or send us a message to ask what an evaluation involves.
This content is provided for general informational purposes only and is not medical advice. It does not create a doctor-patient relationship and it is not a substitute for evaluation by a licensed clinician. Individual results vary and no outcome or duration is promised. Therapies using a patient’s own cells are regulated under FDA 21 CFR Part 1271 and are not FDA-approved drug products.
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