Exosomes: Is cosmetics' biggest trend a health risk?

Inside Health

BBC

Health & Fitness, Science

4.4 • 575 Ratings

🗓️ 5 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Exosomes are tiny balls of fat that allow cells to communicate with each other in our bodies. They're being actively researched as an experimental new type of medicine, and they're also being used in the cosmetics industry in serums, as well as being injected into people's skin. Researchers have raised concerns about the safety of this hot new trend in beauty.

Presenter James Gallagher meets Dr James Edgar from the University of Cambridge who studies exosomes in his lab, he's also joined by consultant Kamal Kaur who advises the cosmetics industry on regulation around products containing exosomes, and we head to one of the UK's hot spots for beauty clinics and dermatology - the Marlyebone area of London - to meet consultant dermatologist in the NHS and One Wellbeck, Dr Ellie Rashid.

Also in the programme, a new physio app is being trialled by the NHS. It's been rolled out to patients in Lothian in Scotland and we meet the people who have been using it, the real-life physio behind it and hear whether apps could be the way many people access physio in the future.

Producer: Tom Bonnett with Debbie Kilbride Assistant Producer: Minnie Harrop Editor: Ilan Goodman

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, and I'm Ed Gamble, host of another BBC podcast,
0:05.4	The Traitors Uncloaked. But my show is available only on BBC Sounds, just like Ellis and John's
0:10.6	Saturday bonus episodes, the Pop Top Ten podcast with Scott Mills and Ryland, and comedy specials
0:16.2	from the likes of Harriet Kemsley, Susie Ruffel and Rommas Shranger Nathan. However, and maybe I'm biased, it's really all about the traitors uncloked.
0:24.3	So for a whole bunch of exclusive scoops and podcasts, listen only on BBC Sounds.
0:29.7	Hello there and welcome to the Inside Health podcast. I'm James Gallagher.
0:33.6	Later, we'll be finding out if an app could be the future of physiotherapy.
0:38.4	We bring together a team of clinical specialists and technology to create digital treatment
0:43.4	sessions entirely personalised to you.
0:45.9	We'll meet the patients trying it to find out what they think, but first, I'm on the streets
0:50.2	of Marlebone in London to find out about the hottest craze in the cosmetics industry.
0:55.0	The next great front here in skincare.
0:59.0	Highest thing in anti-aging, guys. This is aesthetic medicine at this peak.
1:02.0	Exosomes.
1:04.0	That's just a taste of how exosomes are being talked up on social media for the supposed wonders they can work on your skin. You can have
1:11.6	them injected or applied as a serum, but researchers have raised concerns about the safety
1:17.6	of the beauty industry's latest trend. So that's what we're going to take on today. These
1:22.6	exosomes are tiny balls of fat that our body cells use to communicate with each other.
1:28.2	And I'm going to meet Dr. Eli Rashid, who's a dermatologist,
1:31.4	who's also researched exosomes for their medical rather than their cosmetic properties.
1:37.6	Ellie, we're on like the back streets of Marlabo.
1:39.5	There's lots of pharmacies, lots of beauty clinics, all kinds of practices in and around here. Where would
	...

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