On the PulseHighlights on biomedical research 
Don’t Just Blame Ageing for Skin Wrinkle, Blame the Skin Microbiomes
BY: Benny ChungFeb 6, 2024

Human skin aging is a natural and intrinsic process that involves shift of endogenous processes combined with external environmental factors such as exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) and pollution. These factors induce physiological changes which may in turn affect the skin microbiomes stability. Notably, the human skin harbours a diverse and individualised community of microorganisms compared to other areas of the body. In fact, the skin microbiome composition has shown to be more predictive of chronological age in adults than the oral or gut microbiome composition. To understand this relationship to host skin factors during aging, a study by Myers et al., (2024) collected microbial sequence data and metadata from 13 different observational cohort studies to perform a multi-study analysis. Subjects involved were all females aged between 18-70 years. Surprisingly, the results demonstrated that Kaistella and other microbiome taxa from phylum Actinomyctes positively correlated to high grade of Crow’s feet wrinkle (GCFW), a measure used to assess the skin quality. Thus, the study concluded a further exploration on the effects of microbiome dysbiosis on collagen synthesis. These findings in no doubt will change the landscape of skincare product development that may help rebalance the skin microbiome for a healthier looking skin.