Skinesa is a probiotic brand that's used to promote skin health. The brand describes its supplement as "a breakthrough from over a decade of research."
But does Skinesa contain research-backed ingredients for supporting skin health? Does the brand contain any unhealthy ingredients? How do real users rate and describe its effects? And is Skinesa clinically proven to work?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Skinesa to give our take on whether or not the supplement is likely to be effective for improving skin health and appearance, and whether or not it's healthy.
We'll share our concerns with some of Skinesa's marketing claims, and feature real customer reviews of the brand.
Key takeaways:
- Contains ingredients clinically shown to improve dermatitis
- Contains ingredients clinically shown to improve psoriasis
- We do not currently recommend Skinesa in healthy individuals
Ingredient Analysis
The active ingredients in Skinesa are shown below:
This is a probiotic blend with two relatively common probiotic species: Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus.
One of the clinical trials cited by Skinesa shows that three of the probiotic strains used in this supplement improved skin health in participants with atopic dermatitis.
However, the doses used in the trial are different to the doses used by Skinesa, and the trial included patients with dermatitis; it doesn't necessarily suggest a similar effect will occur in individuals without dermatitis.
A 2019 clinical trial cited by Skinsea reported that three of the probiotic strains used in this supplement improved skin health in participants with plaque psoriasis.
Improved gut health may be a secondary benefit of Skinesa, because this total probiotic dose is within the effective maintenance range, as we documented in our review of another probiotic supplement called Physician's Choice.
The inactive ingredients in Skinsea, shown below, should be safe and non-toxic:
Overall, we consider this formulation to be healthy, and to be somewhat likely to improve skin quality in individuals with dermatitis and psoriasis.
We do not currently recommend Skinesa in healthy individuals, because we haven't come across any convincing evidence that this formulation will improve skin quality in individuals without those dermatologic conditions.
Questionable Marketing Claims
As shown below, the Shop page on Skinesa's website claims the product will improve the look and feel of skin within 90 days:
We don't know how the brand can make such a specific claim when it doesn't appear that the proprietary formulation of Skinesa has been studied.
Skinesa suggests on the Breakthrough page of their website that the supplement is "clinically proven" and that 90% of patients achieved healthy skin.
Some of the individual active ingredients in Skinesa are clinically shown to be effective in clinical studies. This is not the same as the supplement itself being clinically proven to work, and this distinction is not made clear in our opinion in the above marketing claim.
The clinical trial cited above was not completed using Skinesa, but on a formulation including some of the active ingredients in Skinesa.
The brand also claims, without any citation at the time of publishing this article, that 0.2% of probiotics are backed by any scientific evidence.
We strongly disagree with this claim, as more than 50% of the probiotics that we've reviewed to date on Illuminate Health were backed by at least some existing scientific evidence.
Real People Try Skinesa
A YouTube creator named Rob Stuart claims to have experienced positive results from Skinesa:
A TikTok creator named Lauren Du Pree claims to have experienced some flare-ups from Skinesa:
@dupreezy Happy TSW Awareness Day! Didn’t even know that was a thing til this morning. Anyways, I’ve been using Skinesa for 90 days and I have improved, but there’s still much to be desired. #tsw #topicalsteroidwithdrawal #healing #skinesa #fyp ♬ original sound - Lauren Du Pree
Will Skinesa Cause Side Effects?
Skinesa doesn't appear to have been studied in any clinical trials, which makes it challenging to determine whether or not the supplement will cause side effects.
However, we can make an educated guess based on its ingredients.
The total probiotic dose is well within the standard daily dosing range according to a Probiotic Fact Sheet published by the National Institutes of Health.
This is important, because high doses of probiotics can cause temporary digestive issues like gas and bloating, as we discussed in our BioFit reviews article on another probiotic supplement.
We do not consider Skinesa likely to cause side effects in otherwise healthy individuals based on its ingredients.
There are no ingredients in this supplement that we consider to be unsafe.
The brand's website claims that there are "no known side effects" at the time of publishing this article.
Do Probiotics Improve Skin?
A board-certified dermatologist and popular YouTube creator named "Dr Dray" has a video on probiotics and skin:
Our Clean Skincare Pick
MindBodyGreen Best Skin+ is our top anti-aging skin supplement.
It contains orange extract which is clinically shown to increase skin moisturization, skin elasticity and skin radiance.
This supplement also contains astaxanthin which is clinically shown to cause "wrinkle formation reduction."
This supplement is free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Skinesa Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Skinesa in our opinion:
Pros:
- Healthy formulation
- Likely to improve skin in patients with dermatitis
- Likely to improve skin in patients with psoriasis
- May have secondary benefits to gut health
- Mostly positive online customer reviews
- Unlikely to cause side effects
Cons:
- Proprietary formulation doesn't appear to be clinically tested
- Brand makes some questionable marketing claims
- Some active ingredients have different doses than the existing clinical studies cited by the brand
