Abstract:

The skin as the largest organ of the human body is colonized by complex microbial communities. Most of them
are harmless, and even beneficial to the human body. Colonization is driven by the ecological environment of the epidermis,
and the skin microbial communities are highly variable because of endogenous host factors, topographical location and
exogenous environmental factors. The skin microbiota can be modulated by the cutaneous innate and adaptive immune
responses. Meanwhile, the skin microbiota can promote the evolution of host’s immune system. With the development of
molecular biological technology, there has been an emerging view of the resident skin bacteria with high variability and
diversity. A deepened understanding of the skin microbiome is essential to gain insight into microbial involvement in human
skin diseases and probiotic therapeutic approaches for their treatment. In this review, we summarize recent studies on skin
microbiome, and also illustrate the application potential of probiotics as a new complementary and alternative medicine in
the diagnosis and treatment of.typical diseases caused by microfloral imbalance.

Key words: skin microbiota, probiotic, skin disease, microfloral imbalance