Highlights
- •Pollution-induced skin damage is a global problem with particular relevance in China and India.
- •Ambient particulate matter exposure contributes to premature skin aging.
- •Ozone depletes antioxidants from skin.
- •Air pollution exerts detrimental effects on healthy and diseased skin.
- •The arylhydrocarbon receptor is key in mediating air pollution-induced skin damage.
- •Individuals with sensitive skin may represent a susceptible subgroup.
- •Specific cosmetic products are required to protect skin from air pollution-induced damage.
Abstract
In recent years, the health effects associated with air pollution have been intensively
studied. Most studies focus on air pollution effects on the lung and the cardiovascular
system. More recently, however, epidemiological and mechanistic studies suggest that
air pollution is also affecting skin integrity.
This state-of-the-art review focuses on this latter aspect; it was developed with
the collaboration of European and Chinese board of experts with specific interests
in environmental health, clinical and basic research in dermatology and cosmetic dermatology.
A literature review limited to pollution and health effects and (sensitive) skin was
performed using PubMed. Review and original articles were chosen.
We summarize the existing scientific evidence that air pollution exerts detrimental
effects on human skin, discuss potential clinical implications and suggest specific
and unspecific cosmetic protective measures.
Abbreviations:
AhR (arylhydrocarbon receptor), PM (particulate matter), PAN (peroxy acetyl nitrates), MDA (malondialdehyde), MMP (matrix metalloproteinase), PAH (polyaromatic hydrocarbons), UV (ultraviolet radiation), VOC (volatile organic compounds)Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Dermatological ScienceAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
WHO. Burden of Disease from Household Air Pollution for 2012. www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/FINAL_HAP_AAP_BoD_24March2014.pdf (accessed 25.07.14).
- Particulate matter air pollution and cardiovascular disease: an update to the scientific statement from the American Heart Association.Circulation. 2010; 121: 2331-2378
- Effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on natural-cause mortality: an analysis of 22 European cohorts within the multicentre ESCAPE project.Lancet. 2014; 383: 785-795
- Air pollution and lung cancer incidence in 17 European cohorts: prospective analyses from the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE).Lancet Oncol. 2013; 14: 813-822
- Sensory, clinical and physiological factors in sensitive skin.Contact Dermat. 2006; 55: 1-14
- Sensitive skin in Europe 2009.J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2009; 23: 376-381
- Sensitive skin in the American population prevalence, clinical data, role of the dermatologist.Int J Dermatol. 2011; 50: 961-967
- Self-declared sensitive skin in China: a community-based study in three top metropolises.Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2013; 27: 370-375
WHO's Ambient Air Pollution Database – Update 2014. www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/AAP_database_results2014.pdf (accessed 25.07.14).
- Assessment of metals pollution and health risk in dust from nursery schools in Xi’an, China.Environ Res. 2014; 128: 27-34
- Asian sand dust aggravates allergic rhinitis in guinea pigs induced by Japanese cedar pollen.Inhal Toxicol. 2009; 21: 985-993
- Global estimates of ambient fine particulate matter concentrations from satellite-based aerosol optical depth: development and application.Environ Health Perspect. 2010; 118: 847-855
University. BMICC. Global Annual Average PM2.5 Grids from MODIS and MISR Aerosol Optical Depth: Asia 2010. http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/data/set/sdei-global-annual-avg-pm2-5-2001-2010/maps (accessed 25.07.14).
- A global single-sensor analysis of 2002–2011 tropospheric nitrogen dioxide trends observed from space.J Geophys Res. 2012; 117: D16309https://doi.org/10.1029/2012JD017571
- Confounding and effect modification in the short-term effects of ambient particles on total mortality: results from 29 European cities within the APHEA2 Project.Epidemiology. 2001; 12: 521-531
- The national morbidity, mortality and air pollution study part II: Morbidity and mortality from air polluiton in the United States.in: Research Report from Health Effects Institute. 2002 (www.cabq.gov/airquality/documents/pdf/samet2.pdf (accessed 25.07.14))
- Relationship between ambient fine particles and ventricular repolarization changes and heart rate variability of elderly people with heart disease in Beijing, China.Biomed Environ Sci. 2013; 26: 629-637
- The association between fine particulate air pollution and hospital emergency room visits for cardiovascular diseases in Beijing, China.Sci Total Environ. 2009; 407: 4826-4830
- Effects of airborne metals on lung function in inner Mongolian schoolchildren.J Occup Environ Med. 2013; 55: 80-86
- The acute effects of fine particles on respiratory mortality and morbidity in Beijing, 2004–2009.Int Environ Sci Pollut Res. 2013; 20: 6433-6444
- The outdoor air pollution and brain health workshop.Neurotoxicology. 2012; 33: 972-984
- Airborne particle exposure and extrinsic skin aging.J Invest Dermatol. 2010; 130: 2719-2726
- Indoor air pollution from cooking with coal or firewood accelerates skin aging in northern Chinese women.J Invest Dermatol. 2014; 134 ([abstract]): S51
- Ethnic differences and environmental factors in skin aging.J Invest Dermatol. 2014; 134 ([abstract]): S52
- Symptoms of atopic dermatitis are influenced by outdoor pollution.J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2013; 132: 495-497
- Are the short-term effects of air pollution restricted to cardiorespiratory diseases.Am J Epidemiol. 2009; 169: 1201-1208
- Eczema, respiratory allergies, and traffic-related air pollution in birth cohorts from small-town areas.J Dermatol Sci. 2009; 56: 99-105
- Ambient ozone as a risk factor for skin disorders.Br J Dermatol. 2011; 165: 99-228
- COX-2 expression and inflammatory effects by diesel exhaust particles in vitro and in vivo.Toxicol Lett. 2008; 176: 178-187
- Role of inflammation in cardiopulmonary health effects of PM.Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2005; 207: 483-488
- Ligthening up the UV response by identification of the arylhydrocarbon receptor as a cytoplasmatic target for ultraviolet B tradiation.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2007; 104: 8851-8856
- The aryl hydrocarbon receptor mediates UVB radiation-induced skin tanning.J Invest Dermatol. 2011; 131: 203-210
- Asian dust storm particles induce a broad toxicological transcriptional programin human epidermal keratinocytes.Toxicol Lett. 2011; 200: 92-99
- Ozone depletes tocopherols and tocotrienols topically applied to murine skin.FEBS Lett. 1997; 401: 167-170
- Vitamin C, uric acid and glutathione gradients in murine stratum corneum and their susceptability to ozone exposure.J Invest Dermatol. 1999; 113: 1128-1132
- Cutaneous responses to environmental stressors.Ann NY Acad Sci. 2012; 1271: 5-81
- Cutaneous MMPs are differently modulated by environmental stressors in old and young mice.Toxicol Lett. 2007; 173: 73-79
- Aryl hydrocarbon receptor is an ozone sensor in human skin.J Invest Dermatol. 2009; 129: 2396-2403
- Ozone exposure activates oxidative stress responses in murine skin.Toxicology. 2002; 179: 163-170
- Mechanisms of radical formation from reactions of ozone with target molecules in the lung.Free Radic Biol Med. 1994; 17: 451-465
- Sensitive skin: closing in on a physiological cause.Contact Dermat. 2010; 62: 137-149
- Epidemiological survey on sensitive skin of college students in Beijing.in: Proceedings of the 2nd congress of Chinese fMedical Women's Association. 2013: 158-164
- Epidemiolgical study of sensitive skin in Shanghai.J Clin Dermatol. 2011; 40: 403-406
- Sensory, clinical and physiological factors in sensitive skin: a review.Contact Dermat. 2006; 55: 1-14
- Ethnic variations in facial skin neurosensitivity assessed by capsaicin detection thresholds.Contact Dermat. 2009; 61: 325-331
- Synergistic damage by UVA radiation and pollutants.Toxicol Ind Health. 2009; 25: 219-224
- The new aryl hydrocarbon receptor antagonist E/Z-2-benzylindene-5,6-dimethoxy-3,3-dimethylindan-1-one protects against UVB-induced signal transduction.J Invest Dermatol. 2014; 134: 556-559
Biography
Jean Krutmann, MD, was on 3rd April 1959. Currently, Jean Krutmann is Professor of Dermatology and Environmental Medicine and Director of the IUF – Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. Furthermore, he is a coordinator of the Leibniz Research Alliance “Healthy aging” (a strategic alliance of 23 Leibniz institutes). His research is in the field of dermatotoxicology and immunodermatology with special emphasis on environmentally-induced skin diseases and skin aging. He is author or co-author of more than 200 papers. He is the recipient of the International Arnold-Rikli-Award, the Albert Fleckenstein Award, the Paul Gerson Unna Award, the Oscar Gans Award, the C.E.R.I.E.S. Research Support Award and the Dermopharmacy Innovation Award. He is a visiting and adjunct professor of dermatology at the Nagoya City University, Japan, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA and University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA. He is a member of the National Academy of Science of Germany and Xu Guang Qi Lecturer, Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 13, 2014
Accepted:
August 20,
2014
Received in revised form:
August 11,
2014
Received:
July 31,
2014
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
