Do OTC Microbiome Enhancing Products Offer Preventative Care for Skin Health?

Abstract

There has been recent surge of pro and prebiotic based skincare products being available OTC. For example, there have been a lot of “yogurt masks” or even skin specific probiotic supplements that have flooded retail stores with the promise of improving what they claim to be their understanding of “the skin microbiome”. At first glance, there is psychological appeal towards believing in their use due to the increasing awareness around pathologies related to the skin (e.g. acne, rosacea, and hypersensitivity reactions). However, with all the research out there now about the gut microbiome, skin microbiome, and any part of the human microbiome basically, we figured these claims warranted a deeper dive.