Why you need to take care of your eye's microbiome
Step 1: learn what your eye skin's microbiome is
Step 2: understand why you need to take care of your eye's microbiome
Don't worry, your "chief eye officer" (aka me!) is here to help you 💡 Read more below to get learning.
The skin's microbiome is a living layer of bacteria that helps support and protect the skin.
When the microbiome isn't balanced the skin becomes sensitive and ages faster.
There are definitely skincare products that emphasize restoring the skin's microbiome...but I think we're forgetting about the eye are microbiome!
Fun fact: the eyelid's microbiome is more similar to the skin's microbiome!
But the microbiome of the lash line oil glands and conjunctiva are both different from each other and different from the eyelids.
And the microbiome of your lash line oil glands is actually quite diverse...
...and contains some bacteria that have lipase activity.
That might've flown past your head (you're not alone), so this means that the bacteria has an enzyme (lipase) that can dissolve the lipids.
Still with me?
When there's an imbalance in the microbiome of the meibomian glands, this leads to more bacteria with lipases to dissolve the liquids.
When the lash line oil glands' lipids are dissolved, the eyes become sensitive, inflamed and dry.
This is a very important reason why it's important to take care of the lash line oil glands, because when you don't the microbiome becomes imbalanced and the eyes become more sensitive.