Bacterial skin colonisation has long been of interest to dermatologists. The skin of an adult human is a complex ecosystem spread over a 1.8m2 area, which includes folds, invaginations and specific niches where the microbes’ living conditions can vary quite significantly. Most microorganisms living on the skin are harmless and, in some cases, they can perform certain functions without involving human genome.1
A shift in our understanding of the skin, moving on from the general consensus that ‘the skin is the biggest bodily organ providing barrier function by its specific structure and cell functions’ to ‘the skin is an ecosystem, a live biological complex of various microorganisms actively interacting with tissue cells’,1,7 helps us achieve a more profound understanding of how the skin functions are performed. This can allow us to discover new ways to prevent and treat various skin…
