Why are Skin Therapists So Obsessed with Skin Barrier Function?
The main function of the skin is protection. It forms the barrier between our body and the environment. If our skin barrier is not functioning optimally, it can cause an array of concerns and prevent performance of clinical skin procedures. This post will explain the structure of the skin barrier, what happens when it is impaired and how we can keep it healthy for optimal function. Our skin barrier refers to the uppermost surface of the skin: the layer that we can touch and see. The skin structure in this uppermost layer, which is called the stratum corneum, can be compared to the bricks and mortar of a brick wall, with the bricks being the skin cells, called corneocytes, and the mortar being intercellular lipids. You can see this in the image below. The purple represents the intercellular lipids and the yellow/light brown the skin cells. You can also see in this diagram some purple links between the cells called desmosomes. These are little clips that hold the cells together (1,...
