Probiotics and Their Various Forms Supporting Skin Health

There is increasing evidence for a gut-skin axis and a potential influence of the skin microbiota on skin health. With this in mind, there is an opportunity for probiotics, even though they have traditionally been investigated for their intestinal and immune benefits. The skin has an important function as a barrier. Here, oral and topical probiotics, parabiotics, and postbiotics have been observed to have positive benefit, also in supporting the skin against UV-induced damage. The manufacturing of probiotics for skin health, especially for topical applications, may have very specific requirements, different from current oral applications, because the intended use and regulation are different. For the future, the field would benefit from rigorous human intervention studies as are becoming more common in the nutritional field. While currently mainly typical probiotic organisms such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are used, it can be foreseen that in the future also organisms representative for the skin microbiota will find application.