Skin Barrier and Causes of A Damaged Skin Barrier

When the skin barrier is broken and disrupted, the skin's health is compromised.

Damaged moisture barrier symptoms can be identified using a quiz that dermatologists use to identify the Baumann Skin Type.

The definition of skin barrier is a protective layer of lipids that surround skin cells in the epidermis.

The function of the skin barrier is to keep water in the skin and prevent entry of germs, allergens and irritating substances into the skin.

Other names for the skin barrier are:

• the moisture barrier
• lipid barrier
• skin protective barrier
• skin water barrier
• multilamellar layer
• lipid bilayer

An intact skin barrier prevents water from evaporating off of the skin’s surface.

A compromised skin barrier causes holes in the skin barrier.

The broken moisturize barrier allows:

water to leave the skin’s surface

unwanted substances to enter the skin

A damaged skin barrier makes your skin susceptible to dehydration, rashes, infection, and inflammation.

A broken moisture barrier has tiny holes in between skin cells that allow damaging substances into the skin.

Compromised skin that has a disrupted skin barrier is more susceptible to:

Allergy

Chemical burn

Dehydration

Infection

Inflammation

Irritation

Stinging

You can tell if your skin barrier is damaged if your skin is:

Dull

Dry

Itchy

Rough

Uncomfortable 20 minutes after washing when no moisturizer is applied

Feels tight and stiff without moisturizer

Happiest when you use a heavy moisturizer

Soothed when oils are applied

There are devices that can measure if the skin barrier is compromised such as a TEWAmeter® and a Corneometer®.

Dermatologists use our quiz to detect a damaged skin barrier.

The skin barrier is damaged by:

Chlorine in water such as swimming pools

Cholesterol lowering drugs like statins

Friction

Hard water with calcium and magnesium

Harsh detergents or surfactants

Lack of fat or cholesterol in diet

Over exfoliation

Poor diet

Prolonged water immersion

Soap

Detergents and soaps in foaming cleansers destroy the skin barrier by removing lipids from the skin.

Examples of lipids in the skin are cholesterol, ceramides and fatty acids.

Detergents weaken the skin barrier by removing these lipids. They surround the lipids and strip them away from the upper layers of the skin.

Friction and minerals in water can also break the skin's moisture barrier by stripping it of lipids.

Water has a big effects on the skin barrier.

These attributes of water can compromise the skin barrier:

Exposure time

Calcium

Chlorine

Magnesium

Salt (sodium chloride)

Temperature

A damaged moisture barrier leads to dehydration, inflammation and impaired desquamation.

Damaged skin barrier symptoms are:

Ashy skin

Bumpy skin

Dry dehydrated skin

Dull skin

Eczema.

Inflammation

Itching

Poor skin texture

Rough skin

Stinging

Uneven skin texture

Signs of a compromised skin barrier are:

Frequent rashes

Poor light reflection

Rough texture

Sensitive skin

The skin barrier is in the upper layer of the epidermis called the stratum corneum.

The skin barrier is in the outermost layer of the epidermis, called the stratum corneum.

It is a bilayer membrane that surrounds the skin cells, called keratinocytes.

There are multiple layers of the lipid bilayers in between each keratinocyte of the stratum corneum.

The skin barrier is a bilayer of lipids that surround the skin cells in the upper part of the epidermis.

These multilamellar membranes bathe keratinocyte skin cells in protective lipids.

The lipids (fats) that make up the skin barrier are:

ceramides

fatty acids

cholesterol

These lipids line up in bilayer membranes so that their hydrophobic tails (yellow in the illustration) form a center section that repels water.

This prevents the passage of water across the multilamellar membranes.

The lipids that form the bilayer membranes are like puzzle pieces.

They must be the correct size and shape to fit together and eliminate any spaces between them.

You must have a 1:1:1 ratio of lipids.

The skin barrier is made of of 3 main lipids:

Ceramides

Fatty acids

Cholesterol

There are many different kinds of fatty acids, and the type of fatty acid affects barrier strength and function.

Barrier repair moisturizers should:

contain the correct 1:1:1 ratio of lipids to repair the skin barrier,

show a maltese cross pattern when viewed under a cross polarized microscope.

Learn more about the lipids in the skin barrier with our interview with a skin barrier scientist on You Tube.

Moisturizers that have the three lipids (ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol), or that contain barrier repair technologies, will repair the skin barrier.

Click here to learn more about how to repair the skin barrier with barrier repair moisturizers

The skin barrier components are mostly made by the skin. The lipids in the skin barrier come from:

Granules in the granular layer of the epidermis

Enzymes in the epidermis¹⁵

Sebum

Diet- the role of the diet and the skin barrier is poorly understood because the science is conflicting.

The wrong skin care products are the most common cause of a broken skin barrier.

These factors also damage skin barrier integrity:

Cholesterol-lowering medications like statins¹⁶

Poor diet leads to fewer nutrients

Vegan diets low in cholesterol and fat

Gut microbiome and use of probiotics¹⁷

Presence of inflammation from disease

Genetic defects such as a defect in filaggrin gene¹⁸

Alcohol- denatured

Essential Oils

Exfoliants

AHAs (alpha hydroxyacids)

Acne medications such as benzoyl peroxide

Retinoids

Foaming cleansers

Preservatives

Fragrances

Retinoids and hydroxyacids initially damage the skin barrier, but once you use them regularly they strengthen the skin barrier.

Retinol is a type of retinoid.

When beginning a retinoid, if you develop retinoid dermatitis, your skin barrier can be temporarily damaged.

As you become acclimated to the retinoid, the skin barrier will be repaired. In fact, long term use of retinoids strengthens the skin barrier.

You can avoid retinol damaging your skin barrier by:

Use a low strength retinoid

Chose a retinol cream for beginners

Use the retinol properly

Use the proper barrier safe cleanser for your Baumann Skin Type

Match a barrier repair moisturizer to your Baumann Skin Type

Defects of the skin barrier can lead to diseases such as eczema, dermatitis, asthma, and allergies.¹⁹

When skin barrier defects cause inflammation, the risk of inflammatory diseases such as diabetes and heart disease increases.

Using barrier repair moisturizers has been shown to decrease systemic inflammation ²⁰ which should improve general health.

To take a questionnaire to see if your skin barrier is compromised - click here.

Learn about barrier repair moisturizers at this link or see our favorites here:

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