When it comes to treating acne, there are countless over the counter (OTC) options available. It can often be difficult to sort through the opinions of social media influencers as to what has been proven and effective to work to reduce inflammatory acne. Probiotics have been in the spotlight for many years now. These oral and topical products have more recently been receiving attention for their potential role in acne treatment.
What is a Probiotic?
Probiotics are microorganisms that can have beneficial effects on or inside of our bodies. They can be delivered as oral supplements or provided as topical products. Their purpose is to help correct a deficit or imbalance in your body’s gut microbiome. Oral probiotics can be ingested as supplements in a pill form, or naturally in fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, miso, kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi, and pickles as some examples.
Topical probiotics are live microorganisms that are applied to the skin. They are thought to help with inflammatory acne, photoaging, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis, rosacea, and wound healing to name a few. These products can be purchased without prescriptions in products such as serums, lotions, cleansers, and moisturizers.
How Can Probiotics Help Acne?
Probiotics are thought to help normalize the balance of healthy bacteria on the skin to reduce inflammation. Their role is primarily anti-inflammatory. Some probiotics produce antimicrobial compounds that inhibit the growth of c. acnes, the bacteria primarily responsible for inflammatory acne. However, there are no studies that have determined which strains or doses of these microorganisms to recommend.
Probiotics are helpful to restore a balance to your gut microbiome during or after a course of oral antibiotics which may help to mitigate side effects such as diarrhea. This can be useful with patients on longer courses of oral antibiotics for acne treatment. With or without antibiotics, probiotics may improve gut health which leads to reduced inflammation within the body and potentially may help to reduce inflammatory acne.
Some evidence does exist to support that topical probiotics may improve skin texture and reduce inflammation (Lactobacillus plantarum) when used adjunctively with other products.
What are the Pros and Cons for Probiotics?
Like all forms of acne treatment there are risks and benefits to incorporating a probiotic into your regimen.
Here are some of the pros:
- Probiotics can improve gut health which leads to less inflammation
- Probiotics can help regulate the immune system
- They may help to inhibit the c. acnes bacterial and be useful as an adjunctive acne treatment.
Probiotics also have several cons:
- Individual responses may vary
- Gastrointestinal upset, bloating, etc. may occur with oral supplements
- They may not be effective for all types of acne
- There is no optimal dose or proven efficacy established
- Allergic reactions and skin irritation is possible
- Can potentially cause increased breakouts
- More studies are needed as some side effects may be unknown
- Immunocompromised individuals should avoid probiotics
Are Probiotics Recommended for Acne?
At this time, there is simply not enough strong evidence to support the recommendation for taking or applying probiotics specifically to treat acne. More studies are needed to evaluate which types of probiotics are beneficial and what the effective dose would be.
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