Infant skin care needs more appropriately formulated products, says J&J fellow

In an exclusive interview with Dr Georgios Stamatas, Research Associate Director, he explains that for the last ten years J&J has been studying infant skin physiology and this is leading to a better understanding of the need for appropriately formulated products when it comes to infant skin care. 

“We now know that infant skin structure and function differ from those of adult skin and that infant skin undergoes a maturation process that lasts for the first few years of life,”​ he tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.

“Such differences are expected to be reflected on its metabolomic profile. Moreover, infant skin microbiome is different and is evolving over at least the first 12 months. Studying the presence of specific metabolites can shed light into the actual biochemical processes that make infant skin unique.”​

Product development​

For a manufacturer, such as J&J, understanding the metabolomic processes involved in creating and maintaining the infant skin barrier can generate useful insights for product development.

An example of this, Georgios says, is in designing an optimum surfactant system for a cleanser that would respect the infant skin maturation processes.

“Developing more sensitive methods that can work with tape samples has been critical in our project,”​ continues Dr Stamatas.

“At our Emerging Science & Innovation group in J&J we are leading the development of innovative non-invasive methods for our clinical tests that maximise the relevant biological information content. When it comes to infant skin, non-invasive sampling becomes absolutely indispensable.”​

Recent advancements in analytical methods have meant that for J&J it can easily collect and analyse trace quantities of metabolites from the surface of human skin using mildly adhesive tapes.

This gives the metabolic profile of the top layer of the epidermis, as well as the metabolites that can diffuse from the deeper layers to the surface.

“Applied to skin care, metabolomics help us to get a better picture of skin physiology and health and therefore potentially identify target pathways for skin care products,”​ adds Stamatas.

Georgios Stamatas, PhD Research Associate Director and Fellow at Johnson & Johnson, is speaking on ‘Utilising Omics in Skin Care’ in Workshop Room 2 at the upcoming in-cosmetics event in Paris, on Tuesday 12 April.