Things That Disrupt the Barrier
At first, one may be inclined to think that barrier disruption means a cut or a some sort of physical damage to the skin. However, this is not always the case and fairly inconspicuous things may actually cause significant barrier disruption.
This includes things such as:
- Exposure to organic solvents or detergents (such as soaps) that remove that lipids from the outer lay of the skin
- Prolonged exposure to water can induce disintegration of the skin barrier [pubby doi="10.1007/978-3-662-07677-4_8"]
- Scratching, friction, and other mechanical damage
- Injuries to lower levels of the skin can later manifest themselves as a poorly formed skin barrier (this includes UV damage, thermal damage, radiation, etc)
- Prolonged exposure to high humidity (above 80%) leads to gradual barrier deterioration [pubby id="3516761"]
- Drastic changes in humidity [pubby id="12406336"]
- Abnormal pH (especially drastic pH elevations) [pubby id="12880427"]
Things That Lead to Poor Barrier Recovery
- Heavy skin occlusives can severally suppress the rate of barrier recovery [pubby id="25942510"]