To help keep your skin at its best, you need to understand a crucial function of this vital organ - the skin barrier.

To understand the skin barrier, start by taking a closer look at the structure of the skin itself.

"If the skin barrier is not intact, the risk of bacterial infection goes up," Scheinman says.

"The moment you pierce the skin barrier, there is risk for transmission of a disease."

As we age, our skin barrier can become more delicate.

Protection and support of the impaired skin barrier is another priority.

Flea bites allow for the bacteria to pass the skin barrier.

Article: Matching the skin barrier to the skin type.

Now, researchers are developing techniques to move a wider range of drugs across the skin barrier.

Since the drug molecules themselves bear a small charge, the current drives them across the skin barrier.