PASCAL YVON
President & Founder – BioSciences Expansion, LLC, Newtown, PA, USA

The human skin is inhabited by large and diverse microbial communities (bacteria, fungi, viruses). Advanced analytical study approaches such as metagenomics and recent research projects have increased our understanding of their composition and dynamics.

The human skin microbiome and microbiota have been in recent years the subject of a lot of interest as key components of a healthy skin. Sometimes presented as the “second barrier”, the skin microbiome is an exciting area for the cosmetic industry as it leads to a new generation of products and marketing opportunities.

Translating our better understanding, formulations of cosmetic products with pro-, pre-, and post-biotics ingredients are meant to protect, optimize, and restore skin microbial balance for skin health. After defining the microbiome, microbiota, and these ingredients, the article provides key considerations about them.

The article also reviews the challenges associated with formulating and marketing this new branch of cosmetics.

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