The Second (and Often Forgotten) Microbiome: Your Skin
When talking about the microbiome, most minds automatically jump to the gut. The human digestive system is known for relying on a diverse microbiota to function properly and anyone who is a patient at PIM can attest to its centrality at the core of integrative medicine treatment. Yet, many people seem to have put the skin microbiota on the back burner, which is not surprising as for a long time, little was known about the skin microbiota until more recently. This week, we are going get that pot cooking by diving into what we now know about the microbiome of the skin and how the microorganisms that inhabit it may affect your health.
Like the gut, the skin contains a vast array of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and mites. Also like the gut, they can have a positive, neutral, or negative effect on our health depending on their quantity and location on our skin. You may recognize the effects of your skin microbiota if you have ever gotten a pimple. A pimple is a great example of your skin microbiome at work (although usually to our disdain) because a pimple happens when bacteria on your skin feed grow on an over-accumulation of oil and dead skin cells in a pore. This causes the inflammatory reaction we know as a pimple.
The constitution of organisms varies at different locations on your skin based on numerous factors. It makes a lot of sense that the microorganisms on your face differ from those in your armpits as your face is exposed to light and air, thus creating different needs and constitution than an area of skin that is receives less light and open air. It also gives us a clue to why armpits occasionally develop an unpleasant odor and your face does not. The constitutional diversity of microbiota on the skin is also dependent on an individual’s age, sex, lifestyle, health, genetic composition, climate, and immune system.
Another parallel to the gut lies in the fact that if the diversity of your skin microbiome is thrown out of balance for some reason, you will likely experience physiological symptoms, albeit, different to those experienced in the gut. On the skin, it is usually manifested as a rash, disorder or infection. New research is looking into the effects of how our modern day clean hygiene and the amount of chemicals we use on our skin affect the microbiome diversity.
While there is still a large body of research needed to make evidence based clinical recommendations about boosting of the skin microbiome, these new discoveries are certainly worthy of pondering. One thing that has been demonstrated is that a greater diversity of skin microbiota is correlated to better health. Ways to do this include getting outside in nature and keeping your gut microbiome healthy.
PIM wants to hear from you! What have you heard about the skin microbiome? Do you find this article helpful? Share your thoughts in the comments below or on our Facebook and Instagram!
Join Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C and the whole PIM team for our next FREE group class webinar, A Healthy Gut Supports A Healthy Life: Healing SIBO, on 9/23/20 at 7:30 PM. Register here.
If you or your loved one needs help, perhaps you are suffering from the effects of ongoing stress, mood or hormone imbalance, including thyroid imbalance, or you or they are already working with a doctor to address a condition but want a more comprehensive, empowering approach schedule your a 20 minute free consultation or an appointment with Zoie Phillips, MSPA, PA-C or Lynda Sherland, CRNP, FNP-C today! Not quite ready to schedule and have questions, quickly get in touch with us today!
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3535073/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5568566/
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-23996/your-skin-microbiome-why-its-essential-for-a-healthy-glow.html
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/2020/08/21/hidden-in-plain-sight-the-skin-microbiome-and-gut-brain-skin-axis/?mc_cid=9bfadca67f&mc_eid=%5bUNIQID%5d&mc_cid=192a676c40&mc_eid=830f16c8e9