Probiotics for the skin: a new area of potential application?

Aims: The current study aimed at assessing, in vitro, the potential use of probiotics for the skin. Methods and Results: Propionibacteria were chosen as potential probiotics as they are members of the normal cutaneous microbiota. Dairy strains were chosen because of their documented safe use. Production of anti-microbial substances was assessed, against selected skin pathogens. Only production of organic acids was detected. Two of the tested strains were found to exhibit high adhesion to human keratin, in vitro . Despite this high adhesion, no inhibition of skin pathogen adhesion to human keratin was observed. Conclusions: The current strains assessed may not be optimal for use as skin probiotics. However, the results of the study show that the methodology works for investigating this kind of application. Significance and Impact of the Study: Methods for selecting probiotics for potential application on the skin are presented.