- Ceramides are lipids that are naturally found in the skin which help maintain the skin’s natural barrier and prevent moisture loss.
- Skin naturally loses ceramides with age, becoming drier and less supple.
- People with skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis generally produce fewer ceramides.
- Moisturizers, creams, cleansers and other skin care products containing ceramides can help repair the skin’s barrier and relieve dryness.
Ceramides are a vital part of the skin’s natural barrier, enabling skin to maintain a healthy appearance. The body’s natural production of ceramides gradually declines with age, leading to drier and less supple skin.
Regular application of skin care products that contain ceramides can help repair the skin barrier, and increase moisture, leading to visible improvements.
What Are Ceramides?
Ceramides are a type of fat, called lipids, contained in the outermost layer of skin. Together with fatty acids and cholesterol, ceramides provide the skin with a natural protective barrier against the environment.
They also prevent the skin from losing moisture. Under the surface, ceramides act as a glue to hold the skin’s matrix—or structure—together, keeping skin firm and supple. However, ceramide production diminishes with age, which contributes to thinning and loosening of the skin.
Structure and types of ceramides
The outermost layer of the skin, called the stratum corneum, has a bricks and mortar design. Skin cells are the bricks, while lipids are the mortar that holds these bricks together. Ceramides make up about 50% of the lipids in the stratum corneum.
Although there are three different types of ceramides (sphingosine, phytosphingosine and dihydrosphingosine) their individual roles in maintaining the skin’s barrier are not clear.
Benefits of Ceramides for Your Skin
Ceramides benefit the skin in two specific ways; by keeping skin adequately moisturized, and by strengthening the skin’s natural barrier.
Dry skin and acne
Exposure to cold weather, wind and chemicals in the environment draws moisture away from the skin, leading to dryness. Ceramides help to bolster the skin’s natural barrier, preventing transepidermal water loss. This action keeps the skin hydrated from the inside out.
Ceramides can also be used to treat dryness in acne-prone skin. One study demonstrated that a combined skin care regimen using a mild cleanser plus a ceramide moisturizer was effective in treating dryness without exacerbating acne.
Eczema and psoriasis
Eczema and psoriasis are two conditions that leave the skin dry, red and itchy. Both cause the skin’s barrier to weaken, resulting in high sensitivity and susceptibility to irritants, as well as the inability to retain moisture.
Using a cream with ceramides strengthens the epidermis and restores the skin’s ability to retain moisture, helping to relieve dryness and itching.
What Causes Skin to Lose Ceramides?
Age, some skin conditions, the use of harsh soaps or exfoliants and exposure to environmental contaminants can all contribute to the depletion of ceramides in the skin.
The skin undergoes many changes with age. It thins and loses some of its elasticity; the production of ceramides and other lipids slows, and years of continual exposure to UV rays also lowers ceramide levels. As these fats are depleted, the skin’s barrier becomes weaker and more vulnerable to damage.
Eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, causes dry, red and itchy skin. People with this condition not only have fewer ceramides, but the ones they do have cover less of the skin’s surface area.
Psoriasis is an autoimmune disease in which skin cells reproduce too quickly and form dry, scaly patches called plaques on the skin. In areas of skin that are covered by psoriasis plaques, the skin contains fewer ceramides and is less able to retain water.
Cold winter air is drier than humid summer air. This dryness can strip the skin of its moisture. Winter also reduces the amount of protective ceramides in skin.
Another study found a 50% drop in ceramides in the skin on participants’ arms during the fall and 