Rejuran, Exosomes and Skin Boosters what they actually do

What “regenerative” actually means

Most weeks, someone sits down in my Newstead clinic and says a version of the same sentence. My skin looks tired. I don’t want to look different, I just want it to look better.

That’s a good brief. It’s also the point where the word regenerative tends to appear, on a treatment menu, in a reel, or in something a friend forwarded. It sounds impressive. It’s almost never explained.

So here’s the explanation.

Deep in your skin sits a cell called a fibroblast. Think of it as a small factory. It makes collagen, elastin, and the gel that holds everything together. At twenty the factory runs flat out. Sun and time slow it down, and the slowdown is gradual enough that you notice the result long before you notice the cause.

A regenerative treatment is one that tries to get that factory working again.

That’s a different job from filling a hollow or softening a line, and it feels different too. Nothing dramatic happens on the day. The change, when it comes, turns up over four to six weeks: better texture, a bit more bounce, skin that holds water the way it used to.

One honest note before we go on. Regenerative describes what a treatment is trying to do. It doesn’t describe what’s been proven. The three below share the label, and they don’t share the same quality of evidence.

Exosomes: tiny messengers

Your cells talk to each other constantly. One of the ways they do it is by releasing tiny bubbles packed with instructions, made of proteins, fats and small pieces of genetic code. The smallest of these are called exosomes, and they’re roughly a thousand times thinner than a human hair.

When skin is healing, exosomes are part of how the repair gets organised. Which leads to a fairly simple idea: if skin is already repairing after a treatment, give it more of the instructions.

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They can’t cross intact skin on their own, so they go on straight after microneedling while the tiny channels are still open. On top, not in. That isn’t a preference, it’s a rule: exosome products aren’t approved to go into skin.

Here’s the part that usually gets glossed over. Exosome products aren’t all the same thing. Some come from plants, some from cell cultures. Different source, different processing, different bottle. So if someone shows you a study, it’s worth asking whether it was done on the product sitting in front of you.

Rejuran: salmon DNA, and why that’s less strange than it sounds

Rejuran is made from salmon DNA.

I say that early, because it’s the part people react to, and the reaction is usually alarm. So, to deal with it properly: DNA is DNA, wherever it came from. The long strands are broken into short fragments, cleaned until nothing is left that your immune system would object to, then suspended in a clear gel. It doesn’t interact with your own DNA. It doesn’t change anything about you. It’s closer to handing your skin a box of raw materials.

The gel goes into the skin in many small amounts across an area, rather than into one spot. It adds almost no volume, so it won’t change your face shape. And because you’re asking skin to behave differently rather than filling something in, it’s normally done as a short course a few weeks apart, then reviewed.

Does it work? A close relative of this molecule has been used in wound and ulcer medicine for decades, where it appears to switch fibroblasts on, encourage blood supply and settle inflammation down. That’s a good reason to expect something useful in skin. It isn’t the same as having proved it for cosmetic use, and I’d rather tell you that than not.

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Skin boosters: water, held where you want it

Your body already makes a sugar whose main job is holding water. It can hold around a thousand times its own weight in it, and it’s a large part of why young skin looks plump rather than papery.

A skin booster puts that water-binding molecule back into the skin, spread in small amounts across an area rather than placed in one spot to build shape. Skin that holds water properly looks smoother, and springs back faster when you press it.

Most of these aren’t a single ingredient. They’re blends built around that molecule, with other ingredients added to support hydration and skin condition. Some are more stabilised than others, which changes how long they last.

There’s a second claim attached to them: that the slight stretch on fibroblasts from the added material nudges them into making a little more collagen. The evidence for that part is thin. One of the studies quoted most often in support of it looked at fifteen people.

At the clinic we work with a combination of ingredients rather than pushing one named product, and it can go in with microneedling or another way. Which blend suits your skin, and how it’s delivered, is something we work out together at your consultation. Individual results vary.

How they fit together

Rejuran and skin boosters both go into the skin. Exosomes sit on top and travel in through microneedling channels.

Rejuran is about switching cells on. Skin boosters are about water. Exosomes are about signalling.

They get sold as a set, and plenty of people are offered all three in a single visit. You don’t need all three.

What recovery actually looks like

• Day one. Small bumps where the product went in, some redness, sometimes swelling. The bumps usually settle within a day, and they hang about a little longer under the eyes. It isn’t painless, so we numb you first.
• The first week. Bruising can come up and take a week or so to fade. Most people are back at work the next day. Skip makeup for 24 hours, and the gym, sauna and alcohol for about the same.
• Weeks two to six. This is when you find out. Texture, hydration and bounce shift gradually, or they don’t.

If you’re having an exosome product applied, the recovery you feel belongs to the microneedling rather than the serum. It differs from person to person, and some people need more than one treatment.

Risks, and what can go wrong

Normal and expected: small bumps at each entry point, redness, swelling, tenderness, bruising and some itch. That’s your skin responding. It isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong.

Less common: a lump that hangs around and needs checking, infection at a treatment point, a cold sore flaring up, or an allergic reaction. That last one matters if you’re allergic to fish, since Rejuran comes from salmon. Rarely, product placed into skin can block a small blood vessel. That’s serious, and it can damage skin or, in rare cases, vision.

With exosome products there’s also the plain fact that they aren’t approved to go into skin, and their long-term safety in cosmetic use isn’t established.

We go through all of this properly before anything is booked. Our Risks & Complications page sets it out in full.

When the answer is no

• You’re allergic to fish or salmon, which rules out polynucleotide products.
• You have an infection, active inflammatory acne, or a flaring skin condition in the area.
• You’re pregnant or breastfeeding. None of this has been studied in pregnancy.
• You have a bleeding disorder or take blood thinners, which raises bruising risk and needs a conversation first.
• You want your face to look fuller or a different shape. These treatments don’t do that.
• You’re expecting a visible change after one session.

Keloid scarring, autoimmune conditions, a suppressed immune system, or lumps after a previous treatment all need discussing before we plan anything. Sometimes a different treatment suits you better. Sometimes no treatment is the right call.

What the evidence really shows

How we decide together

Before anything else, I want to know what’s actually causing the thing you don’t like. Skin that looks tired because it’s dry and sun-damaged is a completely different problem from skin that looks tired because the structure underneath has shifted. These treatments are good at the first and poor at the second. Getting that right is what stops you spending money in the wrong place.

Your history matters too: sun exposure, skin type, what you take, how much downtime you can live with, what you want to spend.

And sometimes the honest answer is none of the above. Daily sunscreen, a topical routine you actually stick to, and treating anything active going on with your skin will do more for a lot of people than any of these three. Adding a regenerative treatment on top of unprotected skin just gives it work to undo.

Suitability, settings and the number of treatments are decided at your consultation, not online. Individual results vary. No outcome guaranteed.