By Kirsty Doolan
Experts say that creating topical skin care products that respect and work with the body’s entire microbiome is “becoming a scientific necessity.” Here’s why …
As the body’s largest organ, the skin is often described by dermatologists as a ‘mirror’ of internal health. This means that many troublesome yet common skin conditions, such as acne, eczema, psoriasis and rosacea can be related to health issues inside the body. Furthermore, in recent years, an ever-growing amount of clinical evidence has proven a link between gut microbiome dysbiosis and the development of these kinds of skin disorders. However, new research on this gut-skin axis has also shown that this relationship is bidirectional, which means that the condition of the skin is not just affected by the state of the gut microbiome, but that products applied directly to the skin can also have an impact on gut health.
To find out more about this emerging discovery, Cosmetics Design-Europe spoke to microbiome testing company Sequential, which
participated in a recent study on the bidirectional gut-skin axis that was published in the Journal of Cosmetic Science in December 2024.
“The most interesting thing we’ve discovered is that the gut and skin work together in two ways,” said Petronille Houdart, PharmD, Skincare Director at Sequential.
