The Whole-Body Microbiome

One study found that we share 68 percent of microbes between the left and right forearms, but only 17 percent between the left and right hands

Despite popular misconception, this layer of oil is normal. It’s a substance called sebum, which the body secretes out of hair follicles to keep the skin moist and supple. If sebum becomes trapped in a hair follicle it can lead to a buildup of the acne-causing C. acnes. Often the bane of teenage years, acne can unfortunately flare up again around menopause for women, due to changing hormone levels. Whether fifteen or fifty years old, the root cause is the same: changing hormone levels. As relative testosterone levels rise, the skin’s sebaceous glands can go into overdrive and produce excess sebum. But whereas things eventually level out once puberty ends, in older women the problem is exacerbated by slower cell regeneration and prolonged buildup of C. acnes. Frustrating acne blemishes can pop up near the chin, jawline, and, sometimes, upper neck. Unlike the superficial zits teens get on their T-zones, these blemishes are often more like cysts, smaller and more tender deep below the skin—hence their being more painful and difficult to remove

fascinating differences in microbial communities, especially associated with people’s ages. Describing this particular sampling, Dr. Hillebrand grew animated at the prospect of how we can use these microbial differences to enhance the appearance and health of aging skin.

While gaining traction, he admits that the concept of embracing, rather than eradicating, bacteria on skin remains as foreign today as the discovery of groundbreaking topical skin products was thirty years ago. But he remains optimistic: “With the microbiome, we can actually do something. The challenge now is to figure out exactly how to leverage science into more effective skin products for real innovation.

Despite this progress, Dr. Greg Hillebrand, a senior skin scientist at Amway, a major health and beauty corporation, believes there is still a serious need for new methods and treatments for aging skin. “The pace of innovation in the anti-aging category is slowing. Conventional topical products like moisturizers, serums, and essences contain active ingredients aimed at preventing or reversing the signs of aging. Retinoids [a class of active ingredients] remain the gold standard, yet they have been around since the 1980s. The skin microbiota represents an exciting new focus area for us, and it’s the next best opportunity to solve many of the challenges associated with aging skin.” Dr. Hillebrand’s enthusiasm for the use of microbes goes back to 1995. He was sent to Japan by his former employer, Procter and Gamble, to figure out exactly how it worked by studying a prestige skincare line that consisted of a concentrated fungi ferment cultivated, processed, and filtered down into an essence product. “Many of my colleagues at the time did not actually believe it did anything; they all thought it was ‘foo-foo dust.’ I was only there for a few months when my director from the US came over to see how I was doing. I was excited to share my progress and ideas and met with him and my VP. I told them that I thought it might be possible that the fermented filtrate worked in part by favourably modulating the bacteria on the face in a way that we didn’t yet understand. Basically, I was proposing that the use of the product might shift the bacterial composition, perhaps maintaining the good ones and not the bad ones on the face.” In 1995, we didn’t yet appreciate the concept of “good” and “bad” bacteria on the skin—it simply wasn’t conceivable that the skin microflora were important; we certainly didn’t culture bacteria specifically to benefit the skin—so it was not surprising that the reaction of Dr. Hillebrand’s director to this novel idea was less than enthusiastic.

Thankfully, Dr. Hillebrand followed his hunch. Flash forward to present day, when he is critically involved in clinical studies and product testing for Amway explicitly focused on the microbes. Much of his team’s effort involves data gathering to better understand this emerging area. Amway set up a clinical test site, for example, during a major art event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where they figured there would be a large variety of patrons of all ages in attendance. The Amway team measured the skin microbiome of hundreds of festival-goers via swabs of their scalps, foreheads, forearms, and nasal/oral areas. The samples showed fa

We now realize that microbes have a critical, and most often positive, role in skin health: They can reduce wrinkles, dryness, sun damage, resistance to infections, acne, and even body odour. Compared to the killing effect of antibacterials, microbes keep our skin healthy and strong: They alter and educate our immune system, and out-compete certain disease-causing pathogens. The technical term for this is “competitive exclusion,” meaning that the resident microbes occupy any potential colonization site available to pathogens and try to out-compete those pathogens for nutrients and places to bind. As a result, there is a lot of potential for microbial strategies to rejuvenate our skin in adulthood, even after the damage is done. A better understanding of how these microbes work offers new ways to age gracefully inside and out

Whether fifteen or fifty years old, the root cause is the same: changing hormone levels

Despite popular misconception, this layer of oil is normal. It’s a substance called sebum, which the body secretes out of hair follicles to keep the skin moist and supple. If sebum becomes trapped in a hair follicle it can lead to a buildup of the acne-causing C. acnes