The Micro-Ecological Balance On The Skin
Microorganisms On The Skin
Our skin can be considered an ecosystem. The stratum corneum is the land, the sebaceous glands are the lakes, the hair is the forest, there are underground rivers under the skin and mountains on the skin. This ecosystem also has the Gobi Desert, wetland oasis, and rich oil fields. This ecosystem is often exposed to various external invasions such as ultraviolet rays and pollution.
Many microorganisms live in this ecosystem. The number of microorganisms on the surface of our skin is about 100 billion, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. These microorganisms belong to more than 1,000 populations, and a delicate balance is maintained between different populations.
These microorganisms are divided into resident microorganisms and temporary microorganisms. Resident microorganisms are an important part of maintaining the normal operation of the ecosystem.
Resident microorganisms take the dander and oil produced by the skin as food and convert them into amino acids, fatty acids, and moisturizing factors that are beneficial to the skin to maintain normal functioning of the skin. If the number of resident microbial communities is unbalanced, it can cause serious skin diseases.
Temporary microorganisms are obtained through external contacts, such as touching your face with your hands. Temporary microorganisms are the main pathogenic bacteria that cause skin diseases, so it is important to wash your hands and face frequently.
The Importance Of The Micro-Ecological Balance On The Skin
The diversity of microbial communities can provide real-time feedback on the state of our skin and even have a profound impact on skin care.
The balance of the flora varies from person to person. Like genes and fingerprints, there are no two people with the same colony distribution in the world. This kind of balance is constantly changing under the influence of environment, climate, age, and living habits, and faithfully records our life experience.
As a balance, the micro-ecology on the surface of our skin is constantly facing various challenges. The micro-ecology of the skin is easily affected by environmental pollution and aging.
Environmental pollution may introduce foreign microorganisms, making the skin micro-ecology more and more complicated, thus losing balance.
Aging leads to a decrease in sebum secretion, especially after menopause, the proportion of microorganisms that feed on sebum will decrease, and the proportion of equilibrium will be changed.
The most common consequences of skin microecological imbalance are acne, skin allergies, dryness, and peeling, etc.
These skin problems are usually difficult to solve until the cause of the disease is found. For example, acne is caused by too much Propionibacterium acnes. If you use topical antibiotics every time you have acne, you will get acne repeatedly in the same area over time.
This is the phenomenon of repeated destruction of the skin microbiome because every time antibiotics are used to kill the microbes on the face, it is difficult for the skin microbiome to reach a benign balance, so acne will continue to recur. In this case, it is necessary to use skin care products that maintain a stable skin condition to prevent acne from recurring.
How To Maintain The Microecological Balance On The Skin Through Skin Care
To this end, many skin care companies have introduced a lot of skin care products that maintain the skin’s micro-ecological balance. For this, you need to understand three concepts.
Probiotics: Probiotics are microorganisms that live on the surface of the skin. They use the sebum and dander metabolized by the skin as food to produce amino acids, vitamins, and anti-inflammatory factors that are beneficial to the skin. Probiotics are not harmful to the skin. If the probiotic flora on the skin surface is out of balance, it is easy to cause serious skin diseases.
Although probiotics are beneficial to the skin, directly adding probiotics to skin care products cannot pass FDA certification. All skin care products have strict microbiological testing standards, and products with more microorganisms than the standard are not allowed to be sold on the market at all. What’s more, for the micro-ecological balance, the introduction of a large number of specific microorganisms is not necessarily a good thing.
Prebiotics: Prebiotics are food for probiotics, and are also nutrients for the growth of probiotics. They can promote the balance of the flora, develop in the direction of beneficial bacteria, and regulate the health of the flora. Prebiotics can not only promote the growth of probiotics, but the products metabolized by probiotics are also beneficial to the skin.
Postbiotics: The metabolized products of probiotics have a good protective effect on the skin. Some skin care companies add probiotics metabolized products to skin care products, which can directly have a positive effect on the skin. It is also the most common micro-ecological technology in skin care products today.
The skin micro-ecological skin care products launched by most brands mainly follow the following two methods:
- Supplement nutrients to the skin’s probiotics and maintain the balance of the flora on the skin’s surface. The method used is to add prebiotics to the skin care products. When we apply the skin care products to the face, we can add nutrients to the skin’s probiotics.
- Replenish the skin with the metabolized substances of probiotics. The method is to add postbiotics to skin care products. When we apply skin care products to the face, we can directly replenish the skin with nutrients secreted by probiotics.
Conclusion
The relationship between humans and microbes is mutually beneficial and symbiotic.
The microbial community on the skin is an indispensable part of our body.
Only with their silent efforts can we have healthy and shiny skin.
Only by coexisting peacefully with them, our skin care will get twice the result with half the effort.