The Effect of Airborne Particulate Matter on Skin Barrier Function in Seoul Analysed As Real World Data

The skin is the outermost barrier that directly and continuously contacts environment. In order to develop preventive strategies against skin damage, inflammation, and skin aging by the airborne particulate matter (PM) in Seoul Metropolitan area, we have been investigating the deleterious effects of PM on skin barrier, and its underlying mechanisms. Previous studies reported that PM can penetrate the barrier-damaged skin area and induce inflammatory responses in keratinocytes. Once reaching the dermal layer, PM can also inhibit collagen synthesis in dermal fibroblast. However, there are few reports about the direct effects of PM on skin barrier function. In this study, using a newly developed IoT-based at-home device measuring trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) and stratum corneum hydration (SCH), we investigated the potential correlation between PM and skin barrier function in daily based measurements. Total 26 participants (13 healthy volunteers and 13 atopic dermatitis-diagnosed volunteers) were enrolled for the study and participants were administrated to measure the TEWL and SCH at least once a day for 5 months. During the same period, daily PM concentration, UV irradiation strength, ambient temperature and relative humidity data were also collected and analysed against participants-generated clinical data. As results, while skin barrier function, expressed by TEWL, in healthy volunteers was not affected by PM, impairment of skin barrier by PM was observed in atopic dermatitis patients. These results suggest that PM can aggravate skin barrier function in predisposed skin, such as atopic dermatitis. Since TEWL data can also provide the information about the basal skin barrier condition, daily based TEWL measurement can be used for not only identifying more susceptible groups for PM induced skin damages, but also evaluating the efficacy of various preventive strategies, including cosmetics.