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Ph

Phytosphingosine

PhytosphingosineBarrier

One of the fats your skin barrier is partly built from, used in small amounts with ceramides to support the barrier and soften skin.

What it does

It’s one of the fats your skin’s outer barrier is partly built from. Products use small amounts of it to support the barrier and soften skin, and it also helps preservatives work a little better. You’ll find it next to ceramides and fatty acids in barrier creams.

The EU’s ingredient database lists it as a skin conditioner, its general term for an ingredient that keeps skin in good condition.European Commission, CosIng (© European Union, CC BY 4.0) · uses put in plain words by Drop ↗

The evidence, graded

emergingTwo independent lab studies tested phytosphingosine. Jang et al. (2017), at Seoul National University, found it cut melanin in pigment cells and in a lab-grown human skin model. Nagahara et al. (2018), at Tokyo Denki University, found it raised caspase-14, a protein that helps skin cells mature into the outer layer, in human skin cells. Neither tested it on people.Jang 2017 · Journal of Dermatological Science ↗

Graded per the methodology: strong · moderate · emerging · expert consensus. A weak source on a strong claim gets the weaker label.

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