What Is Your Skin Barrier, And Why Should You Care?

Dr. Andrea Suarez, dermatologist, talks us through taking care of our largest organ:

Keeping things out (and in)

The skin barrier (stratum corneum) functions like a brick wall, with skin cells as bricks and lipids as mortar, keeping moisture in and irritants, allergens, and microbes out. Thus, a healthy barrier keeps skin soft, smooth, hydrated, and resilient, while a weakened barrier increases vulnerability to irritation, inflammation, and infection.

How’s yours looking?

Signs of skin barrier damage include: dryness, flaking, redness, burning or stinging when applying products, heightened sensitivity, itchiness, and breakouts that resist treatment. To make matters worse, impaired barrier function increases exposure to allergens, bacteria, and environmental triggers, sending the skin into a reactive, inflamed state, leading in turn to such woes as atopic dermatitis, rosacea, acne, and contact dermatitis.

How the barrier gets damaged: common culprits include overcleansing, especially with harsh soaps, and also external factors such as pollution and UV exposure (radiation directly disrupts barrier lipids and weakens local immune function, increasing susceptibility to irritation), as well as circumstantial issues such as poor sleep, stress, inadequate nutrition, plus simply the natural decline of lipids with age.

About that overcleansing problem: this is often a case of overuse of acids, scrubs, chemical exfoliants, frequent shaving, rubbing with towels or washcloths, and long hot showers collectively eroding barrier integrity. It’s also worth noting that prolonged water contact, frequent handwashing, trapped sweat, and friction can all hasten skin barrier breakdown—seen in diaper rash / intertrigo.

So instead, Dr. Suarez recommends to use a gentle cleanser and consider skipping the morning wash if your skin is sensitive, irritated, or easily flushed. Simple (fragrance-free) moisturizers can help, and sunscreen is important as ever (as well as being a two-for-one if the sunscreen is of a kind that also functions as a moisturizer)!

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

How To Quickly Repair A Broken Skin Barrier

Take care!