STUDY ANALYSIS: Microplastics and Skin Aging
This is the first study linking microplastic exposure to skin damage. The implications of this study are considerable
A new study in the journal Environmental Pollution suggests that skin exposure to microplastics could have a role to play not only in skin aging, but also in skin cancer, rates of which have increased massively in recent decades.
As the researchers behind the study note, this is the first study to look at the effects of microplastics on skin cells in particular. We’ve had studies of microplastics entering the body through the gut and the lungs, but not the skin.
Although this study wasn’t carried out on living creatures (humans or rodents), we can assume that the findings will hold for us and for other animals. I’m sure in the near future we’ll see studies that look directly at microplastic exposure via the skin, whether under experimental conditions in the lab or in the wild, among creatures that are habitually exposed to microplastics in significant quantities on the surface of their bodies—fish and sea creatures, for example.
It’s worth noting that microplastics can probably and do migrate into the skin cells via an internal route too. By that I mean, microplastics enter the body through the gut or lungs, pass into the blood and from the blood end up in skin tissue. This will make it more complicated, at least in the wild, to determine the extent to which microplastics enter the body via the skin, as opposed to through the mouth or nose. Experiments will have to be devised to quantify the proportion of microplastic particles that make it through the skin.
So, let’s talk about the study.
Skin cells in vitro (in cell culture) were exposed to microplastics and it was shown:
1) that microplastics are absorbed into skin cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner (i.e. more get in the longer the time of exposure and the larger the amount of exposure);
2) that exposure increases levels of inflammation within the skin cells and damage the mitochondria; and
3) that exposure causes an increase in cell senescence, a process which is linked to aging of skin cells and also cancer.
An in vivo model was then used to investigate the effects of microplastics on skin-cell function. It was shown that microplastics inhibit skin-cell regeneration and aggravate inflammatory reactions in the skin.
So what does this mean?
One thing it might mean is that the explosion of skin cancer in recent decades could be as a result of increased exposure to plastic particles. I’m thinking synthetic clothing, in particular, which is in direct contact with the skin. The more you wear synthetic fibres, the more gets into your skin, the more risk of cancer—especially if, say, you have a diet laced with seed and vegetable oils and spend lots of time in the sun…
But it could also be, as I say, because of plastic being distributed around the body by the circulatory system and then ending up in the skin, even if you don’t wear synthetic fibres.
And what about the massive rise in allergic skin conditions? Again, plastic could be a missing piece of that puzzle. If microplastics are interfering with the skin’s normal inflammatory mechanisms, that might explain why more and more people have extremely sensitive skin. Again, I don’t think plastic would be the only explanation in this case. Diet and the use of copious amounts of personal-care products are two other obvious factors I can think of.
The health of the skin microbiome, which is compromised especially by the use of chemical-laced personal-care products, is another factor to consider. As with your gut, if the bacteria aren’t healthy, you aren’t healthy. Skin bacteria are part of the body’s first line of defence: they prevent the invasion of harmful pathogens and help regulate the skin cells. There are already lots of studies of the interactions between microplastics and bacteria, so it would be interesting to see what effect plastics have on the kinds of bacteria that live on our skin.
Plenty to think about!
I can see all types of makeup (and shampoos/body washes etc) being a huge contributer to this as well. The amount of chemicals in them is seriously jaw dropping.
Save the earth and body, make Mom’s cooking great again on clean china plates.