Pollutant-Induced Human Skin Barrier Damage

Background Air pollution spreads harmful gases, other chemicals, and particles which can cause acute and chronic illness and skin barrier damage (Fadadu et al.., 2021). Purpose To understand the negative effects of pollutants on skin water barrier function. Environmental damage to skin integrity may lead to transepidermal water loss changes and solutions to protecting skin against such damage are explored. Methods Utilize scientific search engines for publications that help understand the environmental damage to the skin. Twelve recent (n=12) articles were reviewed. Results Kim et al. show increased TEWL and skin pH in the control and experimental groups, but atopic dermatitis (AD) group had a higher baseline. (Kim et al., 2015). Pollution yielded an unexpected reduction in stratum corneum trypsin-like enzyme activity, catalase activity, and total antioxidant capacity (Huang et al., 2019). Visscher et al. concluded that their oil massage was beneficial to the smallest infants due to resulting lower skin irritation and high heat index which can be protective (Visscher et al., 2021). The results suggested an increase in skin hydration due to the 19% decrease in TEWL levels, 7% significant improvement of dark spots, and squalene peroxidase levels decreased by 16% (Milani et al., 2019). An attenuated decrease in skin moisture for the astaxanthin oral medication group was observed after 7 days (Ito et al., 2018). Conclusion Pollutants such as gases and oxidants, UV -induced damage, and overall change in environment can cause skin barrier function to change, but recent studies found oral and topical treatments like oils and serums may help minimize the negative effects. Protection of the stratum corneum may allow for healthier skin and protection from dermatological damage.