First Things First... Are lab-grown diamonds "real" diamonds? Yes, 100%. Lab-grown diamonds (sometimes referred to as lab-created diamonds, man-made diamonds, cultivated diamonds or cultured diamonds) were officially decreed the same as earth-mined in a recent notice from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In August 2018, the FTC formally eliminated the word "natural" from the definition of a diamond "because lab-created products that have the same optical, physical and chemical properties as mined diamonds are also diamonds." Unlike diamond alternatives like cubic zirconia or Moissanite (which are precious gems but not diamonds), lab-grown diamonds are 100% identical to mined diamonds down to the atom. They are...