Jun 5, 2026
The internet has long been a wellspring of travel trends. In the last few years alone, TikTok popularized fads ranging from “travel dupes,” or visiting the more affordable equivalent of a famous destination, to “raw-dogging” travel, or going on long flights with no entertainment.
One of the latest online trends is more extreme. It’s called “stem cell tourism.” It involves people traveling abroad to clinics for stem cell treatments, for either medical or aesthetic reasons.
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TikToker Alisha, known by her handle @hippiegirl.modernworld, shared her 12-week journey receiving and recovering from stem cell treatment in Tijuana, Mexico, with her followers. She went to help with injuries to her neck and rotator cuff, and she combined stem cells with strategies such as red light therapy and taking peptides.
“I’m happy to say I have full mobility … I don’t have that deep achiness that I used to have,” she said in a 6-week update reel. “And I used to have all of this clicking at the top of my shoulder that I don’t have any longer either.”
Are these types of results too good to be true? There are definitely costs — both financial and personal — to consider.
How stem cell tourism became trendy
Stem cell tourism involves traveling to a different country to receive treatments. Blank cells are taken from fat, bone marrow, skin or blood cells, then transformed into new cells to repair injured tissues or joints.
Many people use stem cell tourism to fix pain from injuries. However, it’s also gaining popularity for cosmetic purposes. Kristiana Capati-Choquet, a travel agent specializing in planning medical-therapy trips for wealthy clients, told The Financial Times that she has a client in her 60s who travels the globe to find the best cosmetic procedures. She said this woman’s latest venture is searching for the best place in the world for stem cell-based rejuvenation therapy.
Stem cell therapy exists in the United States, but the U.S. has stricter regulations than many other countries. In America, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) must approve regenerative medical products through clinical trials. So far, a bone marrow transplant is the sole stem cell treatment not considered “experimental” by the FDA.
Capati-Choquet’s client refused to travel to the Maldives for cosmetic stem cell treatment. “They only had bone marrow cells, and she wants umbilical cord,” Capati-Choquet told The Financial Times.
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Even if people do want bone marrow treatment that is legal in the United States, costs are much lower in other countries. The estimated cost of one stem cell treatment in the U.S. is $10,000 to $60,000. The amount covered by insurance depends on the individual’s plan and circumstances.
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The costs of stem cell procedures and travel
In TikToker Alisha’s case, she paid $7,000 total for the stem cell injections in her rotator cuff and neck in Tijuana.
The cost of stem cell therapy depends on your medical condition, the type of stem cells (e.g., bone marrow versus umbilical cord), and the location. Along with the United States, the main countries involved in stem cell tourism are China, India, Mexico and Thailand.
In Bangkok, stem cell therapy generally ranges from $4,800 to $14,500. In Mexico, you’re looking at around $1,600 to $9,500.
It’s also possible you’ll need a follow-up appointment. Alisha says she’ll likely need a booster later because she is a hairdresser still using the injured muscles.
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And those are just the costs of the medical treatments, there’s also travel to consider. This might not be a big deal if you live in Southern California and are going just over the border to Tijuana. But depending on various factors, you might have to pay for round-trip flights, hotels and a rental car.
You should also consider any money lost due to taking time off work. If you’re using paid time off, that might not be an issue. But if you’re taking unpaid time away from your job, you’re losing those wages during travel and recovery time.
The risks associated with stem cell tourism
It’s impossible to put a dollar amount on the risk of stem cell tourism. There is little scientific evidence that most of these therapies even work.
In contrast, FDA-approved treatments have undergone years of clinical trials, so the procedures are as effective and safe as possible. And the FDA has only approved a blood stem cell transplant process for patients with blood cancers.
For cosmetic procedures, people mostly rely on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which are permitted outside clinical trials in only a few countries. One way to use MSCs is to infuse them into your body via an IV — which might not have the beauty effect clients want, since the cells circulate throughout the entire body.
“If someone wants it for a beauty purpose, you cannot programme it to function that way — there’s no way we have control over where it’s going to go,” Dr. Anita Rajoo, a UAE-based doctor specializing in integrative aesthetic and regenerative medicine, told The Financial Times. If you’re using other cosmetic strategies, such as Botox, combining it with MSCs can have adverse effects.
It’s ultimately up to each person to decide how much risk they are comfortable with. However, it’s crucial to research the side effects and costs associated with this travel trend.
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Laura Grace Tarpley is a contributing reporter for Moneywise who has been covering personal finance and working in digital media for 10 years. Her expertise spans banking, investing, retirement, loans, mortgages, and taxes.
