Exosomes vs growth factors in skincare

ZO Skin Health Growth Factor Eye Serum and Intense Eye Cream — .

The stability problem is fundamental, not incidental

Pure exosomes are biological structures. And biological structures are fragile.

To maintain their integrity, pure exosomes must be kept frozen and are only viable at 4 degrees Celsius (39.2 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately one week.

ZO Skin Health applies a clear standard to every product: stability across a defined range of upper and lower temperature limits, including real-world shipping and storage conditions. A formula that cannot survive transit from a warehouse to a clinic cannot be consistently effective for the consumer who ultimately uses it.

"Exosomes in their purest form must be frozen to maintain integrity and can only be viable at 4 degrees Celsius for about a week. Our formulas are tested to upper and lower temperature limits and must maintain stability across a range of temperatures and shipping conditions. Exosomes would not survive."

Raffi Balian (SVP Global R&D/PD/Regulatory & QA at ZO Skin Health, Inc.)

This is not a regulatory technicality or a formulation limitation that better engineering might resolve. It is a physical constraint of the ingredient itself in its pure form.

Engineered exosomes raise a different set of questions

One response to the stability problem is engineering: modifying exosomes to survive ambient conditions. That is a reasonable scientific direction, but an exosome that has been structurally modified to withstand temperature variation is no longer a pure exosome.

It is a derivative, with its own questions about what changed in the modification, how stable that modification is across production batches, and whether the altered structure carries the same biological payload as the original.

"Anything that has been engineered would be a modification of that human-derived exosome." Those questions have not been clearly answered at commercial scale by the brands currently marketing engineered exosome products.

Exosomes are the container, not the signal

There is a more fundamental point here that often gets lost in the commercial conversation around exosomes: They are delivery vehicles, not active signals themselves.

"Exosomes represent a delivery capsule, and the contents of that capsule are the carriers of the signals. We felt the best possible option in this moment is to deliver ingredients that have been tested and found to be stable in our formula and not give in to the hype but trust data and science that is reproducible."

Raffi Balian (SVP Global R&D/PD/Regulatory & QA at ZO Skin Health, Inc.)

If the goal is delivering specific biological signals to the skin, a more direct approach is to formulate with those signals in a stable, verified form.

That is exactly what ZO’s human-comparable growth factor technology does.

IGF-1, EGF, acidic FGF, basic FGF, and VEGF are delivered directly, at specified concentrations, in a formula system that has been tested for stability and validated in a clinical setting.

The data standard ZO applies to every ingredient decision

Raffi Balian is direct about the principle at work: "Being a scientist, I don’t get swept up in hype but rather base my thoughts on data."

Applied to exosomes, that standard produces a specific conclusion: the science supporting topical exosome use in consumer skincare products has not been presented in a way that aligns with the stability and reproducibility requirements ZO Skin Health sets for all its formulations. There is a meaningful difference between a promising research direction and a commercially viable, clinically validated skincare ingredient.

The Growth Factor Serum meets that standard. The five growth factors it contains are confirmed stable in the formula system and were validated in an independent third-party clinical study of 46 subjects over 12 weeks. The outcomes are documented: 100% of subjects agreed skin appeared more lifted and supported; 98% agreed skin felt thicker and more structurally intact; a 16% improvement in the appearance of skin elasticity was recorded at 12 weeks.

Exosome-based approaches vs. ZO’s human-comparable growth factors

Pure and engineered exosomes	Human-comparable growth factors
Viable only at 4°C; stable for approx. one week	Tested and stable across shipping and storage temperature ranges
Engineered variants: modification with unclear payload	Synthesized to be bio-identical; defined composition
Concentration of active signals not controllable by formulator	Precise concentration of each GF defined and reproducible
Commercial clinical validation at scale: limited	Independent 12-week clinical study; 46 subjects; outcomes documented
Delivery vehicle: active signals depend on capsule viability	Active signals delivered directly; no fragile intermediary
Sustainable sourcing: depends on human-derived exosome base	Zero donor dependency; fully sustainable synthesis

Not a dismissal, but a standard

Exosomes may become a rigorously validated option for topical skincare. The biology is compelling and research in this space continues. What the current evidence does not yet support is the level of commercial confidence with which exosome products are being marketed.

ZO’s position is not that exosomes are without merit. It is that the formulation team will not release a product that has not cleared the same bar every ZO product is required to clear:

Active delivery to the target site
Confirmed stability in the formula system
Clinical outcomes that are measurable and reproducible

For consumers considering a category of products full of claims, that standard is worth knowing. To understand which ZO products are right for your skin and how they fit into a complete protocol, speak with a ZO Skin Health provider.