How To Repair A Damaged Skin Barrier Function

The skin barrier is a very interesting topic. I have had this topic for a while but just didn’t know how to start. Super glad to finally write about the skin barrier.

The skin barrier function is responsible for binding water between the cells of the epidermis making the skin look smooth, firm and overall keeping the skin healthy. Once the skin barrier function is damaged, most skincare products would not work until the repair is done.

Keeping the skin barrier function healthy is part of good skincare and it makes a huge difference between healthy and unhealthy skin. If the lipid barrier is damaged, it is said to be impaired. An impaired skin barrier looks dry, chapped, rough, flaky and rough.

Try this at home: Get some lemon juice and rub it on your arm, if you don’t feel anything then that’s great. If you feel burns or inflammation, then your skin barrier is damaged and needs to be repaired. A healthy skin barrier function will keep the lemon juice from entering the epidermis. Now, let us go to the 8 tips for skin barrier improvement.

How To Repair A Damaged Skin Barrier Function

1. Proper Skin Cleansing

Skin cleansing is really basic but it is the first step towards a healthy or impaired skin barrier. Once this stage goes wrong, the whole skincare is affected. When choosing a cleanser for your skin, consider the PH, whether it’s foaming or not and how long the cleanser is left on your face.

Foaming cleansers are excellent for removing dirt and sebums but they can irritate and dry out your skin. Also, many foaming cleansers increase the skin’s PH due to their alkalinity making the skin dry and rough. You may want to consider the kind of cleanser you buy.

No matter what your skin type is, look for cleansers with PH close to the skin’s acid mantle (PH 4.0 – 6.5). Learn more about cleansers by reading “how to cleanse your face properly“

2. Apply Moisturizers

When the skin is dehydrated, it is suffering from a lack of moisture in the surface of the skin. Several factors like over-exposure to the sun, weather, harsh cleansers and aging.

Look for moisturizers that contain these 3 components; cholesterol, ceramides and fatty acids. If one of these 3 is missing in your moisturizer, the repair in the skin barrier function is delayed. A complete mixture of these 3 components in your moisturizer allows skin barrier repair recovery.

Types of moisturizers with Cholesterol, Ceramides and free fatty acids are:

3. Apply Natural Oils

Natural oils are everywhere and inexpensive but choosing the right kind of natural oil matters a lot. They enhance the skin barrier function and improve skin hydration. The best kind of natural oil to buy in this regard are those that are high in Linoleic Acid.

Linoleic acid is a polyunsaturated fatty acid that is rich in Omega-6. You can find such oils in Sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, hemp seed oil, raspberry seed oil, rosehip oil and sea buckthorn oil are great for the skin. If there are low levels of linoleic acid in the skin, the skin barrier function becomes impaired leading to acne and skin dryness.

4. Look Out For Water-Loving Ingredients

Applying lipids alone without the use of water-loving ingredients is not effective. These ingredients work by attracting water while lipids hold the water tightly to seal in the moisture. The mixture of lipids and hydration must work hand in hand to keep the skin healthy.

Check out ingredients that contain hyaluronic acid and sodium PCA. They are excellent hydrators and readily accepted by the skin. You can find them in creams, serums, sunscreens and other hydrating products.

5. Supplementation Of Flaxseed Oil For Sensitive Skin Type

If you have sensitive skin, you might want to try supplementing with flaxseed oil. Supplementing with Flaxseed oil according to Skin Pharmacology and Physiology improves skin barrier hydration, reduces redness, roughness and scaling.

The study had 13 women with sensitive skin supplements with flaxseed oil for 12 weeks. At the end of the study, skin hydration and smoothness improved, inflammatory and skin irritation decreased. You should consult your healthcare professional before starting any supplements.

6. Exfoliate Your Skin

Using proper exfoliants like Alpha hydroxy acids (AHA) enhances the skin barrier function and improve the skin’s appearance. Not all AHA’s are capable of improving the skin barrier function. The best AHA to improve the skin barrier are those that contain gluconolactone and tartaric acid.

A study had 11 healthy participants use four different types of AHA’s (Glycolic acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid and gluconolactone) for 4 weeks. At the end of the study, the gluconolactone and tartaric acid groups saw significant improvement in their skin barrier compared to the glycolic and lactic acid groups.

You would find gluconolactone commercialised in PHA skincare products. It contains anti-aging benefits, strengthens the skin barrier, is gentle and moisturises the skin.

7. Use Your Sunscreen

This is a no-brainer. UV radiation has deleterious effects on the skin by affecting the biochemical composition of the skin. An unprotected skin suffers from sunburn, dryness, chapped skin and premature aging. So always apply your sunscreen,

When picking sunscreens, look for an all-rounder sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB. Check out this post for facts you need to know about sunscreen.

8. Apply Your Vitamins

Not all vitamins help to improve the skin barrier function but you see vitamin B3 and vitamin C are the ones to look out for.

Vitamin B3 or Niacinamide has numerous benefits on the skin. The topical application of niacinamide stabilizes the skin barrier function, reduces water loss, and stimulates ceramides making it useful for dryness. In short, the application of niacinamide increases the production of ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids important for the skin barrier function.

Also, vitamin C helps to heal wounds faster, neutralizes free radicals and stimulates the production of collagen. Both of these vitamins are critical to skin barrier function improvement.

Conclusion

An impaired skin barrier function does not allow products to work properly no matter how much you try. Once the skin is damaged, wounds are not healed properly, the skin is dry, chapped, wrinkled and micro-organisms that would normally not affect the skin begins to cause serious problems. This is why we need to repair and improve the skin barrier function.