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? What was our Product Tester's honest experience using it for a month? 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 also feature our Product Tester's experience including before-and-after images, share our concerns with some of Skinesa's marketing claims, and compare Skinesa to other popular skin health supplements to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Contains ingredients clinically shown to improve dermatitis
- Questionable marketing claims
- We do not currently recommend Skinesa in healthy individuals
We Tested Skinesa Probiotic
One of our Product Testers named Amy Lau tested Skinesa Probiotic for a month straight.
Here's her experience:
It came in a small tube, which initially made me think it contained dissolvable tablets, but they were regular capsules.
The packaging was easy to open, and I took it every morning with my other probiotics and supplements.
I didn’t notice any smell or taste. I swallowed the capsules with water.
I didn’t notice much of a change, but my skin was already in good condition, so there may not have been much room for improvement.
Here's a headshot image from before using Skinesa:
And here's an image taken after a month straight of using Skinesa Probiotic:
Honestly, I couldn’t tell much of a difference between this and other probiotics I’ve taken. I would have preferred a formula that included a prebiotic, so the cultures arrive with something to feed on.
I did not experience any side effects.
Overall, I would rate Skinesa Probiotic 7.5/10, but I would not purchase this product again at its current price.
Ingredient Analysis
The active ingredients in Skinesa are shown below:
image source: https://www.skinesa.com/
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:
image source: https://www.skinesa.com/
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:
image source: https://www.skinesa.com/
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.
image source: https://www.skinesa.com/
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:
image source: https://www.skinesa.com/
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.
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.
Skinesa vs. Popular Skincare Supps
Here's how Skinesa compares to other popular skincare supplements, in terms of formulation quality, in our opinion:
Ritual HyaCera
Contains effectively-dosed, clinically studied active ingredients like wheat oil extract, which is shown to support skin barrier repair.
We consider Ritual HyaCera to be more likely to be effective than Skinesa.
Winner: Ritual HyaCera
Micro Ingredients Collagen
Provides a research-backed dose of collagen peptides, along with other effective bioactives, as we documented in our Micro Ingredients Collagen review article.
Micro Ingredients is the winner from a potential efficacy perspective.
Winner: Micro Ingredients
Thorne Radiant Skin Complex
Contains research-backed active ingredients and is free of any questionable inactives.
The brand doesn't make any questionable efficacy claims on their product page, and is a more trustworthy brand in our opinion.
Winner: Thorne Radiant Skin Complex
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
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
- Our Product Tester claimed minor improvements
- Unlikely to cause side effects
Cons:
- Proprietary formulation doesn't appear to be clinically tested
- Brand makes some questionable marketing claims
- Our Product Tester didn't notice substantial improvements
- Our Product Tester didn't consider this to be a good value
- Some active ingredients have different doses than the existing clinical studies cited by the brand
- Less likely to be effective than competitors in our opinion
