What are germs and how do they affect your skin?
Your skin is the biggest part of your body and it has many tiny living things on it, called germs. Some germs are good for your skin and some are bad. The good germs help your skin stay strong, clean, moist, and safe from the bad germs. The bad germs can make your skin red, itchy, dry, or sick.
Sometimes, the good germs and the bad germs on your skin are not balanced. This can happen because of things like stress, getting older, eating junk food, washing too much or too little, using makeup, taking medicine, or having a skin problem.
What are Probiotics and Prebiotics?
One way to make the good germs and the bad germs on your skin more balanced is to use good germs and food for your skin. Good germs for your skin are called probiotics. They are living things that can help your skin when you eat them or put them on your skin. Food for your skin is called prebiotics. They are things that you cannot digest but the good germs on your skin can eat them.
Probiotics and prebiotics can help your skin by making more good germs, stopping the bad germs, making things that can heal your skin, changing how your body reacts to the bad germs, and changing how your skin works.
How probiotics and prebiotics can help with different skin problems
Some studies have shown that probiotics and prebiotics can help with different skin problems, such as:
- Atopic dermatitis: This is when your skin is very dry, itchy, red, and sore. This happens because the bad germs on your skin are too many and the good germs are too few. Probiotics and prebiotics can make more good germs on your skin and stop the bad germs. They can also make your skin less red, itchy, and sore [1].
- Acne vulgaris: This is when you have pimples on your face or other parts of your body. This happens because you make too much oil on your skin, your hormones change, your skin is inflamed, or you have a bad germ called P. acnes. Probiotics and prebiotics can make less oil on your skin, stop P. acnes from growing, make your skin less inflamed, and help your pimples heal faster [2].
- Psoriasis: This is when you have red, scaly, and itchy patches on your skin. This happens because your body attacks your own skin cells by mistake. Probiotics and prebiotics can make your body stop attacking your skin cells, make your skin less red, scaly, and itchy, and help your skin heal better [3].
How to use probiotics or prebiotics for your skin health
If you want to use probiotics or prebiotics for your skin health, you should talk to your doctor or a grown-up before you start. You should also look for products that have good quality and safety for your skin problem.
Products that we recommend for probiotics and prebiotics for your skin health
- Physician’s Choice Probiotics for Women – This product has probiotics that are good for women’s health and prebiotics from cranberry that can help the good germs in your gut and on your skin [4].
- Jarrow Formulas On-The-Go Immune Booster – This product has a probiotic that can help boost your immune system and fight off bad germs on your skin and a prebiotic blend that can help feed the good germs in your gut and on your skin [5].
- Culturelle Pro Strength Daily Probiotics – This product has a probiotic that can help balance the good and bad germs on your skin and in your gut and a prebiotic called inulin that can help feed the good germs in your gut and on your skin [6].
