Exosomes in skincare: what is real and what is marketing

A few years ago, exosomes were a topic for cell biology conferences. Now they are on beauty store shelves. As a co-founder of Nanomère, which develops probiotic yeast exosomes for skincare, I think about this gap a lot.

I am obviously not a neutral observer. I have a stake in this field, and I want it to succeed. That is exactly why I care about the difference between what the science supports and what the labels claim. If the category fills up with products that cannot back up their promises, it hurts everyone working in it, including the companies doing it properly.

What exosomes are

Exosomes are a type of extracellular vesicle: tiny particles that cells release to carry proteins, lipids and RNA to other cells. They are part of how cells communicate.

They are very small, far below what you can see with an ordinary light microscope, and they are wrapped in a lipid membrane similar to the cell’s own. That membrane protects what is inside and helps the vesicle interact with other cells. Researchers are interested in them for two reasons: they naturally carry biological signals, and they can potentially be used to deliver other molecules.

In practice, the word “exosome” is often used loosely. Many products contain a mix of vesicles of different sizes and origins, and the broader term extracellular vesicles is usually more accurate. That is not a problem in itself, but it is a sign of how quickly marketing language has moved ahead of careful definitions.

What to ask

Where do they come from? Human cells, plants, bacteria and yeast all make vesicles, and the source matters for safety and regulation. Vesicles derived from human cells raise different questions from those made by plants or microbes, both for consumers and for regulators.

Good products will be the ones that can show their data.

How were they characterized? Size, purity and content should be measured, not assumed. A credible product should be able to say how its vesicles were isolated, what size range they fall in, and what else is in the preparation.

What is the claim? “Contains exosomes” is not the same as “exosomes do something for your skin.” The first is an ingredient list. The second needs evidence, ideally from controlled testing, and it should be specific about what effect was measured.

Stability is another fair question. Vesicles are biological structures. How they hold up in a formulation, on a shelf and on the skin is something a serious company should have looked at.

Why yeast

Yeast is a well-understood, food-safe organism that can be grown consistently at scale. Those are exactly the properties you want when quality and reproducibility matter.

It also has a long history in food and fermentation, and decades of research behind it as a model organism. Growing it under controlled conditions makes it easier to produce vesicles batch after batch with the same properties, which is one of the hardest problems in this field.

My perspective

The science of vesicles is real and exciting. The marketing sometimes runs ahead of it. My advice to consumers is to be curious and a little skeptical, and to look for companies that explain what they measured rather than just what they included.

Good products will be the ones that can show their data.