At first glance, the fixation on anti-aging feels like a modern invention: The stuff of Botox parties, tabloid headlines, and social media “anti-wrinkle hacks.” But in truth, the quest to slow time has been with us for millennia. Ancient Egyptians used rituals to preserve youth, 19th-century surgeons attempted facelifts, and collagen injections came into vogue in the 1970s. Each era reflects both the tools of its time and the cultural meaning of aging.

Today, that perspective is shifting yet again. Beauty is no longer skin deep—it’s cell deep. As we herald in new breakthroughs in regenerative science, it’s less about disguising decline and more about reprogramming it altogether; teaching our biology to behave younger. And we’re changing the game for medical therapies and aesthetics alike.

But to see how far we’ve come, it’s worth taking a look back at how our approach to anti-aging has evolved over time. 

Antiquity to 19th Century: Ancient Rituals and Early Experiments

Ancient Civilizations: Rituals rooted in nature

Egyptian and Roman texts describe the use of botanical extracts, animal fats, and mineral compounds to preserve skin elasticity and delay visible signs of aging. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbs like ginseng, goji, and reishi were (and still are) prescribed for longevity and vitality. And while it’s popular to this day, the Chinese therapy of gua sha was first documented in medical texts of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368 CE), though some archaeological evidence actually dates similar scraping techniques back to the Paleolithic era.

Middle Ages: The humors

In Europe, medical theory was dominated by Galen’s humoral system, which framed aging as the gradual drying and cooling of the body. “Rejuvenation” therapies were aimed at rebalancing humors: bloodletting, herbal tonics, mineral baths, and dietetics. These interventions represented an attempt to medicalize aging, interpreting it as a physiological process rather than just a natural inevitability.

The Renaissance and Enlightenment: Laying the groundwork

With advances in anatomy and chemistry, scholars began to challenge Galenic theory. Physicians such as Paracelsus argued that chemistry could be harnessed for medicine, leading to experiments with distillations, tinctures, and early pharmacology. Cosmetic potions gave way to early medical skin treatments, and people began talking about aging as a biological process instead of a mystery. This intellectual shift laid the conceptual groundwork for dermatology and modern medical aesthetics. 

That’s not to say that beauty fads didn’t have their moment: In Elizabethan England, for example, elite women placed slices of raw meat on their faces as an overnight wrinkle treatment.

19th Century Medicine: The birth of the consumer market

By the late 1800s, surgeons were quietly experimenting with some of the earliest wrinkle excisions. Results were inconsistent, but these procedures represented a major turning point as doctors attempted to physically intervene in the aging process—a step closer to the modern idea of aesthetic medicine. 

Meanwhile, anti-aging started to make its way to the consumer market. In 1889, Ohio housewife Margaret Kroesen created Frownies: adhesive patches designed to soften fine lines.

The 20th Century: From Facelifts to Fillers

1900s to 1930s: Early facelifts

In 1901, German surgeon Eugen Holländer documented one of the first facelifts, and similar “wrinkle excisions” spread across Europe.

These procedures were basic skin lifts with limited results, but they established surgery as a legitimate avenue for age intervention. The 1920s also saw the rise of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), such as estrogen injections and hormone creams.

1940s to 1950s: Dermatology on the rise

At the start of the mid-century, dermatology started to emerge more prominently as a recognized specialty, broadening from medical to aesthetic care. Dermabrasion, the predecessor of microdermabrasion, became a treatment du jour, utilizing a motorized wire brush to treat scars and sun damage. (As you might imagine, the recovery was… challenging.)

1960s to 1980s: Collagen injections and “volume restoration”

Some of the earliest injectable fillers consisted of substances like paraffin wax, which carried a high risk of migration and other nasty side effects. But in the 1970s, scientists successfully developed and tested the first animal collagen filler. Approved by the FDA in 1981, Zyderm was a bovine collagen used to correct wrinkles, facial lines, and scars.

The 1980s also gave way to a new category of in-office aesthetic treatments: lasers. CO2 lasers allowed dermatologists to carefully remove superficial layers of skin to stimulate collagen production and repair. 

Meanwhile, a San Francisco ophthalmologist named Alan Scott began researching the use of botulinum toxin to treat eye spasms. One side effect he started to notice in his patients? The softening of wrinkles around their eyes. That’s right: The birth of Botox was a happy accident.

1990s: Anti-aging goes mainstream

The 1990s accelerated the democratization of aesthetic treatments. Retinoids exploded as a consumer category, allowing consumers to gently resurface their skin at home. And the buzz around Botox reached a fever pitch, culminating in its FDA approval for wrinkle treatment in 2002.

The 21st Century: From Botox to Biobanking

2000s: Botox changes everything

Quick, repeatable, and relatively affordable, Botox fueled the cultural conversation and made anti-aging part of a holistic, preventative routine rather than a hidden luxury. All the while, the injectable menu was expanding quickly: With the approval of Restylane in 2003, hyaluronic acid fillers began to emerge as a safer replacement for bovine collagen.

Meanwhile, fractional lasers became more commonplace in aesthetic offices in the mid-2000s, offering significantly less downtime and more precise regenerative results than their predecessors.

2010s: Regenerative aesthetics start to take hold

While injectables were certainly effective, they were also inherently limited—doing little to actually address the root causes of aging. The next wave of aesthetics began to look under the hood, borrowing from regenerative medicine to help the body act—and by extension, look—younger.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) was an early pioneer. First described in the 1970s and used in orthopedics and dentistry to speed healing, PRP was repurposed into aesthetics when physicians noticed its ability to stimulate collagen production and improve tissue quality. By drawing patient’s blood, spinning it down to concentrate platelets, and reinjecting the growth-factor–rich plasma into the skin, doctors created a treatment that actually encouraged cellular repair. Popularized as the “vampire facial,” PRP made regenerative biology accessible to a consumer audience.

Stem cell research followed closely behind. Scientists had long known that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), found in fat tissue and bone marrow, had remarkable regenerative potential. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, experimental aesthetic procedures began using autologous stem cells (often harvested from liposuction material) to rejuvenate skin and soft tissue. Though stymied by mixed results and regulatory hurdles, the concept was groundbreaking: using one’s own stem cells to reverse the visible effects of aging.

2020s: The Longevity Era

Now, the conversation around anti-aging is increasingly converging with longevity medicine. Our focus is no longer just looking younger, but living younger, and research is steadily providing a more detailed blueprint for doctors and consumers alike.

In this new world, our age is quite literally just a number—instead, our “biological age” provides a more accurate read on how young our body acts. Epigenetic clocks and other biomarkers make it possible to track aging at the molecular level, and to see the measurable effects of interventions like diet, exercise, or medical treatments on healthspan.

At the same time, biobanking has emerged as a powerful tool for future-proofing. Patients can now store youthful stem cells or plasma, preserving their regenerative potential for therapies still in development. And perhaps most excitingly, research is showing that it’s not always the cells themselves that matter most, but the signals they release. Tiny messengers called exosomes, and the broader secretome they belong to, play a critical role in how cells communicate repair instructions. Early studies suggest these molecules can stimulate collagen production, reduce inflammation, and restore youthful cellular function.

And as we look forward, companies like Acorn are bringing these advances out of the lab, into the practitioner’s office… and directly into consumers’ hands. Acorn YOU^TM is a secretome product captured directly from a patient’s own stem cells, harvested painlessly from hair follicles, unlike some of the more invasive stem cell banking methods of the past. The resulting product is paired with treatments like microneedling, lasers, or for hair regrowth—harnessing our body’s most resilient cells to speed healing, regeneration, and essentially encouraging our cells to act younger at the source.

Advancements like Acorn YOU^TM demonstrate how regenerative aesthetics are becoming more personalized and more accessible than ever—ultimately, offering a glimpse into how the next few years might unfold.

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The history of anti-aging is really the history of medicine moving inward. We began with rituals and remedies, graduated to surgery and injectables, and are now working directly with the body’s own cellular programs. In just over a century, we’ve gone from wrinkle patches to molecular therapies; from chasing youth to engineering longevity.

FAQs

Q: What’s driving the shift from traditional anti-aging to regenerative medicine?
A: Historically, we focused on masking aging through creams, lifts, and injectables. Regenerative medicine takes a deeper approach, helping the body restore itself by reactivating at the cellular level.

Q: What exactly is “regenerative aesthetics?”
A: It’s the integration of regenerative medicine into aesthetic care: using your body’s own cells to promote repair, collagen production, and renewal. Examples include PRP, stem cell-derived treatments, and secretome therapy.

Q: What is secretome, and why is it so important?
A: The secretome is the collection of growth factors, peptides, and exosomes that your cells naturally release to communicate. It’s like your body’s internal “language” for regeneration, and it’s the foundation of Acorn YOU.

Q: How is Acorn YOU different from traditional stem cell treatments?
A: Unlike donor-derived or more invasive procedures, Acorn Secretome uses your own stem cells, painlessly harvested from hair follicles. Those cells are processed into a personalized secretome product, which is then paired with in-clinic treatments like microneedling or laser to amplify results.

Q: What kinds of results can regenerative treatments achieve?
A: Clinical studies show measurable improvements in skin texture, tone, and elasticity within 30 days, along with faster healing and reduced inflammation. For hair, secretome treatments can improve density and quality within 90 days.

Q: What’s next for the field of anti-aging?
A: The future lies in personalization: banking your cells while they’re at their biological best, and using them in future therapies.

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This article has been medically reviewed by:

Nazish Ahmed, PhD | Senior Director, Lab Operations