Choose one of our e-retailers to order online. You will be redirected to the BIODERMA's products page.
Understand my skin
How the Skin Microbiome Supports Faster and Healthier Skin Healing
Recent studies show that the skin microbiome - beneficial microorganisms living on our skin, is essential for healing. It helps prevent harmful bacteria, reduces inflammation and supports epidermal repair. When disrupted, the skin’s natural healing process can slow down.
Our skin is a living organ, home to a diverse community of microorganisms - including hundreds of species of bacteria and yeast. Together, these microbes make up the skin microbiome. When the skin is healthy, the microbiome exists in harmony with our skin cells, forming a balanced ecosystem where both rely on each other to maintain skin health.
How the Skin Microbiome Supports Healing in Weakened Skin
The skin microbiome works closely with the microbial, immune, physical and chemical components of the skin barrier to help maintain overall skin balance. Recent scientific discoveries have highlighted its vital role in wound healing. “The importance of the skin microbiome in skin repair has become increasingly clear,” notes Professor Marco Romanelli, Chair of Dermatology at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Italy.
Marco Romanelli, Professor and Chairman of the Division of Dermatology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
When we get a superficial cut or other form of weakened skin, it is normal to clean it to remove dirt and germs. And yet, ‘in clinical practice,’ explains Marco Romanelli, ‘the inappropriate use of antiseptics can alter the microbiome, resulting in delayed healing due to microbiome imbalance. Therefore, to preserve the healing process,’ he goes on, ‘it is important to use antimicrobial agents only when they are essential. For example, at the wound cleansing stage.’ Using them ‘any longer than necessary may even be detrimental to the healing process,’ he concludes. So, the microbiome actively influences healing. How? By participating in each of the four stages of the skin’s repair process.
The Role of the Skin Microbiome in the Four Stages of Healing
The skin’s healing process occurs in four overlapping stages: blood clotting, inflammation, tissue regeneration, and final maturation and remodelling. During each phase, the skin microbiome plays a key role by triggering an innate repair response. This response supports faster, more effective healing and helps restore the skin’s barrier function.
This includes:
Fighting infection:
The skin microbiota competes for space and nutrients, using defence mechanisms to resist colonisation by harmful microorganisms. By disrupting the spread and toxicity of pathogens, it helps prevent infections - especially in weakened or damaged skin.
Regulating immune responses and inflammation:
The microbiome interacts with the skin’s immune system to help regulate and suppress excessive inflammation, creating a more stable environment for healing.
Restoring the skin barrier:
As new tissue forms, the microbiome supports the regeneration of the skin barrier. It plays a role in the production of ceramides, essential for hydration, and works with the epidermis to secrete lipids and acids that form a protective, impermeable layer. This naturally acidic environment helps prevent dryness, lowers infection risk, promotes tissue reconstruction, supports wound closure, and helps maintain healthy collagen levels.
A New Approach to Skin Healing: Supporting the Microbiome
With growing knowledge of the skin microbiome’s role in repair, a new approach to healing weakened skin has emerged — one that focuses on protecting and restoring microbiome diversity.
As Professor Marco Romanelli highlights, proper cleansing is vital to reduce the risk of infection. Antimicrobial agents like zinc can be helpful initially on compromised skin. However, repeated use after cleansing may disrupt the skin’s natural healing process.
Following cleansing, applying a targeted healing cream that respects the skin’s microbiome can significantly support recovery. By preserving the skin’s natural ecosystem and microbial diversity, this approach strengthens the skin’s defences and promotes faster, more effective healing. A healthy microbiome is fundamental to maintaining skin balance and resilience.
Cicabio
SPF50+ Skin Healing Cream
Write a review
The 1st ecobiological repairing anti-hyperpigmentation cream* that optimizes healing process while preserving the skin’s ecosystem.
We install cookies to facilitate your navigation on our website and ensure its security. We also use cookies to analyse traffic and to provide you with personalised content.
Certain cookies can be used to identify you, whether directly or indirectly, via your personal data.
Some of these cookies are installed by third-party partners (third-party cookies). Their terms of data processing are described in their privacy policies, which we recommend you to read. For more information regarding the way we process your personal data, please read our Personal data protection charter.
You can allow or refuse the installation of cookies by ticking or unticking the appropriate boxes. You can change your preferences at any time by going to the “Cookie settings” section at the bottom of the page.
For more information, please read our Cookie Policy.
Preference for all cookies
These cookies are generally placed by our advertising partners, in order to offer you advertising content, on and off our websites, relevant and personalized according to your interests, the pages viewed on our website, etc. If you do not accept the deposit of these cookies, you may not see suitable advertisements appear.
These cookies allow us to understand how visitors interact with our website, to know the most visited pages or sections and thus improve its operation and ergonomics. If you do not allow the deposit of these cookies, we will not be able to track the performance of our website.
Comments managers facilitate the filing of comments and fight against spam.
These are cookies that are necessary in order for our website to function optimally and securely. If you disable these cookies, some of our website’s features will no longer be available.
These cookies allow us to provide you with certain features and services on our website to improve your experience. Some of these cookies may be placed by our partners, who offer their services on our website (e.g. chat tool). If you do not accept the deposit of these cookies, these features and services may not work properly.
Services to display web content.
These cookies allow us to enrich the multimedia content of our website and improve its user-friendliness. They also allow you to connect to your social networks, share content from our website, etc. If you deactivate these cookies, you risk not being able to use the functionalities offered by social networks, or not being able to consult the multimedia content of our website.
These cookies allow us to enrich the video content of our website and improve its usability. If you disable these cookies, you may not be able to view the video content on our website.
NAOS UKI sets cookies in order to optimize your experience on the website, to offer you personalized content according to your interests and to lead traffic analysis. We invite you to read our Cookie Policy to find out more. You can accept or customize the deposit of these cookies by clicking on the buttons below. You can change your preferences at any time by going to the “Cookie settings” section at the bottom of the page.