Home-Use Hyaluronic Acid Jet Injectors: Unreliable and Unsafe

BACKGROUND Needle-free hyaluronic acid (HA) jet injectors are gaining popularity for rejuvenation treatment. The devices are widely available online and are used for self-injection or in beauty salons by nonphysicians. However, little is known about their performance and safety. OBJECTIVE To explore the injection efficiency and cutaneous biodistribution patterns administered with home-use compared with medical jet injectors and to assess safety aspects. MATERIALS AND METHODS The authors injected HA into ex vivo human skin with 4 home-use and 2 medical injectors. The intracutaneous dose of HA was calculated, and the cutaneous biodistribution of HA was assessed using a 3-dimensional Fluorescent Imaging Cryomicrotome System (3D-FICS). Safety aspects were evaluated based on the presence of a manual, CE (conformité européenne) mark, and sterility. RESULTS The intracutaneous dose delivered by the home-use injectors was markedly lower compared with the medical injectors. 3D imaging for home-use injectors showed superficial epidermal distribution with low distribution volumes. For medical injectors, volumes were substantially larger and mainly middermal. All evaluated safety aspects were lacking. CONCLUSION Results of this study suggest that the specific combinations of home-use injectors and HA used in this study are unreliable and unsafe, which casts doubts on the performance of these treatments in general.