A Toronto teenager badly burned in a London house fire has become the first burn patient in the world to receive exosome therapy instead of skin grafting, according to Hamilton Health Sciences.

Hamilton Health Sciences said the Ontario surgical team used the treatment on Kaitlin Jeffrey, 18, a Western University student from Toronto, after she suffered deep burns to her face, neck and back in a fire at a Western University frat house near Richmond and Cheapside streets on Dec. 2, 2025.

In a video released by the hospital, Jeffrey said the fire broke out after rubbing alcohol was thrown onto a lit torch.

The treatment used exosomes, tiny particles released by cells that carry signals from one cell to another to help co-ordinate rapid healing and tissue repair and reduce inflammation. The particles are collected, typically from lab-grown cells, and injected into injured areas to accelerate healing.

Hamilton Health Sciences said the treatment is superior to skin grafting, the current standard of care, which can leave scarring and a patch-like appearance.

Dr. Marc Jeschke, vice-president of research and innovation at Hamilton Health Sciences, a burn surgeon and researcher, said the team wanted to avoid grafting Jeffrey’s face and neck.

“We do know that we can do great skin grafts,” Jeschke said in a video clip. “But a skin graft will always have long-term effects, like scarring. So when I looked at that and I tried to, at any cost, avoid a skin graft to her face and to her neck.”

After getting approval from Jeffrey and her parents, Jeschke sent an urgent application to Health Canada to perform exosome therapy on compassionate grounds. Hamilton Health Sciences said Health Canada raised no objection, allowing Jeschke and his team to carry out what the hospital called a world-first treatment for a burn patient.

Jeffrey underwent two treatments several days apart using one trillion exosomes sourced from the United States.

Hamilton Health Sciences said she healed faster and with better results than another young student injured in the same fire. The hospital said the second student suffered serious burns but did not need skin grafting.

Jeffrey said the injuries have had a deep impact on her mental health, but her recovery in appearance is helping her move forward.

“It’s honestly a miracle,” she said in a release.

Jeffrey said she wants exosome therapy to become a standard treatment option for burn patients as an alternative to skin grafting.

“Like Dr. Jeschke, my family and I would love to see exosome therapy become the standard of care for patients like myself in Canada, so that when horrific things happen, it doesn’t change people’s lives forever,” Jeffrey added.

Hamilton Health Sciences said exosomes have been studied for years in burn research, but the technique had not been used in a human treatment until recently. The hospital said human clinical trials have used exosomes for other kinds of wound healing, with promising results.

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