Prebiotic cosmetics

Abstract

The microbiota of the human skin is characterized by a complex and filigrane network of interactions between the microbes and the skin surface cells. Most of the resident microbes on healthy skin can be regarded as being harmless or even beneficial to skin. The topical application of prebiotic and probiotic actives turns out to become a new and promising approach in therapy and cosmetics. In cosmetics, prebiotic actives with the ability to rebalance the skin microflora may be used. Probiotic approaches mainly consist of applying inactivated microbial biomass rather than live bacteria. Stimulating the expression of the skin's own antimicrobial peptides provides another way of improving the skin microbiota. First examples are given for the treatment of mild to moderate microbial disorders on the skin of face and body, on the scalp, and in the oral cavity. © 2011 Springer- Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.