Exosomes in the Real World of Medical Aesthetics: A Review

Exosomes are cell-derived nanovesicles that transport proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids and play a significant role in almost every physiological process in the human body. They have generated great interest, especially in the field of tissue regeneration. Studies in the last decade support their great regenerating and rejuvenating potential. However, the lack of standardized procedures, limited knowledge regarding their action mechanism, and little clinical evidence impair their implementation and approval in the medical setting. This review aimed to identify published studies and clinical trials using exosomes in human patients for clinical treatments in aesthetic medicine.

A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed database using the search term "exosomes" and 25 terms related to aesthetic medicine treatments in human patients. Additionally, a search was conducted in the ClinicalTrials.gov database for interventional clinical trials using exosomes for aesthetic treatments in adults 18 to ≥ 65 years of age.

Nine articles were selected after debugging the initial list of published articles in which exosomes were related to Aesthetic Medicine (633 articles). Nine studies were identified from the initial search on ClinicalTrial.gov (104 trials with exosomes).

There is no doubt about the scientific basis of exosome regenerative potential and the growing interest in exosomes in Aesthetic Medicine. However, companies must spend more on research to develop standardized and reliable procedures to obtain exosomes for their approval and application in clinical practice.

This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 . This review highlights the large amount of published research on exosomes related to aesthetic medicine and, at the same time, the lack of products approved by regulatory agencies. Several issues have been suggested to elucidate a response, such as the need for standardized protocols and more knowledge to ensure safe treatments. It also highlights the few clinical trials conducted to evaluate exosome properties in aesthetic medicine treatments.