Want healthy skin? Don’t wash your face too often — and grow a beard!
When you look in the mirror, it’s not just your reflection in front of you — you’re actually staring into a world of tiny bugs that live on and in your face. ‘It may be slightly disturbing, but the reality is that our skin may be more microbe than it is human,’ says Laura Bowater, a microbiologist and senior lecturer at norwich Medical School.
‘Fewer than 50 per cent of the cells on our faces are actually our own.’
And new research suggests that far from causing harm, as you might expect, the millions of tiny bugs on our faces could be protecting us, just as the healthy bacteria in our gut do.
Last month, researchers showed that beards, which harbour huge amounts of bacteria (either directly from the skin or transferred f rom hands), may actually kill off harmful bacteria.
‘We were trying to prove or disprove the theory that beards are too dirty to have on your face,’ explains Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist from University College London, who led the study.
In fact, they made a potentially far more vital discovery. Previous research had suggested beards contained harmful bacteria such as e.coli, which are usually found in the intestine and thought to be transferred by unwashed hands after trips to the loo.
This can lead to stomach upsets and urinary tract infections. But the latest research identified 100 different species of bacteria in swabs from 20 beards — and not one of them was harmful.
In fact, 25 per cent of the bacteria had ‘antibiotic’ properties, and were producing chemicals that were killing off harmful bacteria, without causing any harm themselves, says Dr Roberts.
One type of bacteria, staphylococcus epidermidis, which occurs naturally on our skin, was found in laboratory tests to be able to kill micrococcus luteus, a microbe found in skin that is implicated in a number of infections.
So what else do we know about the bugs, viruses and mites that call our faces home?
GOOD SKIN BUGS STOP INFECTION
JUST as good bugs in your gut help ward off the bad bugs that can cause infections and ill health, the good bugs on your skin work to protect you.
The bacteria compete with each other for space and nutrients, so if skin is colonised by beneficial bacteria there is no space for harmful bacteria, explains Dr Bowater. The good bugs on your skin may help keep nasty bacteria such as staphylococcus aureus, which can lead to skin infections, at bay.
Studies that have looked at people who clean their skin extensively, leaving it very dry, or who have eczema, found skin problems such as impetigo and infections are more likely as this removes the ‘good’ bugs and makes the environment ideal for bad bugs to flourish.
BEING TOO CLEAN MAY BE BAD NEWS
WASHING your face removes many bugs from the surface of our skin, particularly if you use cleansers containing alcohol as this kills bacteria.
Most cleansers also contain soap, and this reduces the amount of oil in our skin, which loosens the bacteria’s hold — so they fall off, explains hugh Pennington, an emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen. This cleanliness is short-lived, as the layer of bugs rebuilds itself within about 20 minutes.
The problem is that we have bacteria on our hands, and when we touch our faces, as we inevitably do, many of the bugs that have adapted to live on moist surfaces such as our face will quickly be transferred back.
So, as Professor Pennington says, ‘cleansing is mainly to clear away dirt, which makes you look cleaner — but as far as bacteria go, it could be a bad thing because it makes it more likely that harmful bugs will take their place’.
Both good and bad bacteria have an equal chance of recolonising the skin, adds Dr Bowater, but antibacterial face washes may tip the balance in favour of the bad.
This is because they contain harsh chemicals that dry out the skin if used regularly, so could make it less friendly to good bacteria that like moisture, and give more chances for bad bugs to survive.
THE TINY ‘SPIDERS’ ON YOUR FACE
EACH and every one of us has tiny spider-like mites on our faces that live buried head-down in our hair follicles. Called demodex, these eight-legged mites live off the oils the skin on our face secretes.
One theory is that they are passed on from mother to child during breast-feeding.
Why they are there is still not properly understood, but some research suggests that people who suffer from rosacea may have more demodex than normal.
Some scientists believe demodex may directly cause the condition, or that the red skin associated with it results from toxins the mites release when they die — although these theories are not supported by research so far.
BUGS THAT LIVE BEHIND OUR EARS . . .
IT’S not just that bugs live on our faces — there are specific bugs that can survive only on specific bits of our face, too.
For example, swabs from various areas of the face have revealed 18 different kinds of bacteria that live exclusively on the side of our nose (in the crease between the nostril and our cheek), and 15 different species that live behind our ears, says Dr Bowater.
It is thought our relationship with these bugs i s mutually beneficial.
The bugs act as a ‘ barrier’ to harmful bugs, while for the bugs themselves these fuller parts of the skin (compared with, say, the dry skin on our l egs) i s rich in nutr i e nt s s uch as salt from sweat and chemicals in hair follicles that they can live on.
. . . AND THOSE THAT TRIGGER ECZEMA
SOMETIMES, seemingly harmless bacteria can become harmful. For example, most faces have propionibacterium, bugs that are thought to contribute to acne — but not everyone will have acne, says Dr Anton Alexandroff, a consultant dermatologist at the University hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust.
Changes i n the skin during puberty alter how the bacterium behaves in some people, leading to acne spots, he says.
Why some people develop acne but others don’t — despite the same skin surface changes — is because bacteria acting inside the body also contribute to the condition. This is why oral antibiotics may be used to treat it.
Also, some bacteria that are harmless on their own become harmful in the presence of other bugs — competition with other bacteria for nutrients, for example, makes them behave differently.
A strain of staphylococcus aureus, which normally lives up your nose, where it doesn’t cause a problem, can easily move to live all over your face. Usually it does nothing, but in certain people who have weaker immune systems or very dry skin, the bug gets into cracks and worsens eczema, says Dr Alexandroff. In extreme cases, it is also linked to impetigo, a common and highly contagious skin infection that causes sores and blisters.
And most of the bugs found on our faces survive happily without causing harm, but lead to symptoms when they are moved to the ‘wrong’ place. This includes the fungus malassezia, which survives on skin normally without causing symptoms, but if it is on the scalp or your beard, and growing fast, it can cause dandruff in some people, adds Dr Roberts.
WHY IT’S HARD TO GET RID OF ACNE
SOME bugs have found ways to survive the threat of face-washing — by living deep inside our pores. The skin consists of many tiny ridges, thanks to the pores, sweat glands and hair follicles, and some bacteria have adapted to live deep inside these ridges, feeding on chemicals released there.
each ridge is packed full of layer upon layer of bugs, says Professor Pennington. Washing your face will reach only the bugs on top — those underneath stay where they are, and there is no way to fully sterilise your face, he says.
This is why cleansing your face a lot won’t help acne spots — as the propioni bacteria that causes acne lies deep in the pores, says Dr Alexandroff. What is needed is treatment to kill off the bacteria, such as topical antibiotic creams, or to effectively dry up the oil that feeds them (which is how the drug Roaccutane works).
THE FLU VIRUS ON YOUR CHEEKS
SOME viruses, such as those that cause colds and flu, sit on the surface of skin, even if you wash, for days without causing harm. They will cause infection only if they get transferred into the nose or mouth and are swallowed.
And other viruses — known as phage s—live inside certain bacteria on our faces but cause no harm. We may have ten times as many viruses as we do bacteria on our faces, though we don’t know what many of them are doing there, adds Dr Bowater.