Leaky Skin: Why Your Skin Barrier Isn’t Healing and How to Fix It

Leaky Skin: The Hidden Root Cause of Chronic Skin Issues

Leaky skin is a skin condition that most of you have never heard of, yet it’s becoming a term that experts refer to when dealing with a compromised skin barrier. Today we are going to cover what leaky skin is, how to prevent it, and what you can do to heal your skin. Let’s dig in!

What is Leaky Skin?

Leaky skin occurs when the skin’s barrier becomes damaged allowing harmful substances to enter the skin; triggering inflammation. When the skin’s barrier becomes chronically compromised, it leads to persistent skin irritation, such as sensitive skin, acne, and rosacea. However, other skin conditions may result, like wrinkles, dullness, uneven skin tone, and dehydrated skin.

What Causes Leaky Skin?

There are two major causes of leaky skin…

1. Skincare products that damage the skin
2. Gut imbalances

Skincare products

If we are suffering from acne, we tend to buy whatever acne product that will “fix” our skin the “quickest,” but in actuality we just end up stripping the skin of its natural oils and hydration, therefore drying it out. I call this “attacking the skin” because we basically will stop at nothing until the skin clears up and when it doesn’t, we buy more, resulting in a vicious repeating cycle. Instead of constantly throwing products at the skin, we need to pay attention to why your skin continues to break out. Instead of healing, these products strip the skin of its natural oils, water, and beneficial bacteria that it needs to heal, further weakening the skin barrier. 

I remember thinking this exact thing many years ago when I had adult acne. I was doing all the right treatments and using the correct products, yet nothing cleared up my skin. It wasn’t until my 3rd baby when I did a gut cleanse that made me learn that it’s the health of our gut impacting our skin. Once I healed my gut, my skin naturally cleared up.

Gut Imbalances

An unhealthy gut, also known as leaky gut, means that the foods you eat are not being properly digested. This leads to inflammation and tear holes in your gut lining. When this happens, you suffer from digestive issues, like gas, bloating, cramping, constipation and/or diarrhea, and IBS or IBD symptoms. And the more you continue to eat the wrong foods, the more inflammation you create. 

This is known as Gut Dysbiosis, the entire balance of bacteria becomes altered. This is not only creating harmful substances leaking into your body, brain & skin, but the amount of bad to good bacteria is unbalanced, and it’s harming your gut. Dysbiosis isn’t just confined to the gut, our skin can develop dysbiosis caused by your gut. MDPI says, “Like in the gut, an unhealthy skin characterized by a dysbiosis lining may have intercellular cracks in the stratum corneum and deeper layers, allowing external material to penetrate the skin, blood as well as the brain, lungs, and gut.”

How to Heal Leaky Skin

Healing comes by simplifying your skincare. Just a simple cream-based cleanser and hydrating moisturizer is all your skin needs twice a day. The goal is to support the skin while it heals. This means, being gentle and not attacking the skin. When it comes to skincare, buying over the counter is NOT our recommendation. In this week’s podcast, we had on a special guest talking about ingredient safety and how the US hides ingredients and calls it safe and clean. This is MUST-LISTEN. 

The other way to heal leaky skin is addressing the root cause. First off, if you have any digestive issues, your gut needs attention. If acne is showing up in patterns or your hormones are off, your gut needs attention. EVERYTHING stems from your gut. The first step towards healing is to do functional testing for your gut. This will give you the answers to work towards healing your gut and helping you feel better inside and out, allowing you to help clear your skin.

It starts with the right nutrition and guidance, because we all know we need to eat better and make healthier choices, but how easy is it? There’s too much information out there and it’s preventing many of you from starting. If you don’t know what’s causing your gut issues, you can’t fix it or you’ll spend a ton of time and money trying to fix your gut, only to run into a dead end.

Can Leaky Gut Affect Your Skin?

Your skin is part of a larger system, it’s not just an exterior organ. All our organs are connected. The gut and skin share similar microbiomes and barriers, which is how they connect. The gut is the largest internal organ and the skin is the largest external organ. Let’s not forget about food sensitivities that cause inflammation in the gut. Both leaky gut and food sensitivities impact the health of your skin. Rupa Health says, “Dysbiosis and food sensitivities can disrupt this connection causing an imbalance in the microbiome and leading to acne, eczema, and other skin disorders like psoriasis. Reducing or avoiding food sensitivities and maintaining a healthy gut through proper nutrition can positively impact skin health.”

Which Products Help Repair Your Skin Effectively?

Healing comes from simplicity and being kind to yourself and your skin. It’s as simple as a cream-based cleanser and hydrating moisturizer twice a day. The goal is to support your skin while it heals.

Can Supplements Improve Symptoms?

Yes, but only when we know what is going on with your gut. Probiotics are all the rage right now and many people have incredible benefits from taking them. Yet, a majority of people don’t. Why is that? Our gut has a specific amount of various kinds of bacteria and when that balance is off, dysfunction occurs. If you’re taking a probiotic with a specific strain that your gut doesn’t need, it’s going to make your situation worse, not better. 

That is why gut testing is crucial. We can pinpoint your exact issue, whether it be imbalanced bacteria, H.pylori, parasites, or yeast, we can then create a customized nutrition plan that includes supplements to support your gut while it heals. If you’re going to continue to eat poorly, supplements aren’t going to help in any way. The goal of supplements is to support your body in the healing process. Most people get that wrong.

How Do I Find a Clinic Offering Leaky Skin Diagnosis?

We are here to help! At Skin Deep Esthetics, we now offer an inside out approach to your skin. We can assess your skin during a New Client Facial to see what is going on topically and from there, we can also incorporate our Functional Medicine services that include gut testing, nutrition plans, lifestyle changes, and supplementation. Visit our website to learn more about our functional medicine programs and see if you’re a candidate!

Got questions? Drop them in the comments below.