Studying babies’ skin, right from Day1.
Isn’t a baby's skin wonderfully soft? Yes, but also very fragile and still developing.
Our EV.E.I.L.S. (Evaluation of Early Infant Life / focus on Skin) program is an unprecedented global study that has enabled three major discoveries on babies’ skin:
Babies have immature skin
The barrier function of babies skin is immature and is more porous than that of adults. Therefore it, needs more protection from external influences in order to preserve its cell capital. This cell capital – unique for a whole lifetime - with which the baby's skin has from allows the skin to regenerate throughout life, but is particularly vulnerable during the first 2 years of life.
Baby skin dehydrates faster
At birth, babies skin is cannot adequately to capture and retain water and therefore becomes dehydrated more easily and faster than adult skin.
4 baby skin types
There are four different skin types with different characteristics: normal, dry, very sensitive and eczema-prone skin. With this discovery, Mustela has developed products using specific active ingredients to address the unique needs of each skin type.
Discover Your Baby's Skin Type
Normal skin
There’s nothing quite like the soft delicate skin of a baby. “Normal” refers to this “baby skin” idea: it is supple, soft and comfortable. Still... it is more susceptible to external influences (pollution, bacteria, pollen) and is dehydrated constantly. During its two first years, babies skin needs to be hydrated and protected on a daily basis.
Dry skin
Dry skin is dehydrated and contains less lipids than normal skin. As a result, it becomes rougher and finer and can also peel or tingle, especially when exposed to harsh weather conditions, hot or cold air etc.).
It is easy to relieve dry skin, with daily skin care and attention.
Eczema-prone skin
Today, eczema-prone skin) affects 1 in 5 children. It is a non-contagious chronic inflammatory skin disease, which causes red itchy patches on well-defined areas of the body and face.
These chronic flare-ups differentiate eczema-prone skin from normal skin types. They affect the sleep and quality of life of not just the baby, but the entire family.
But here’s the good news: the symptoms can be controlled (the intensity and frequency of the flare-ups can be decreased) by adopting the right skincare routine and care. These symptoms also reduce with age.
Very sensitive Skin
A baby’s very sensitive skin reacts instantly and temporarily to the slightest everyday stress, to specific products, or to stimuli that would not trigger irritation on normal skin. Consequently, the skin reddens with a tight, tingling or heating sensation. However, very sensitive skin can be soothed quickly, no matter what part of the body is affected. Multiple factors trigger the reaction in very sensitive skin. Fragranced products should be avoided, and to calm the irritation and redness, it is important to choose soothing products that protect the skin barrier.
Mustela has published 59 international scientific publications on skin and has filed 14 patents.
An innovative research methodology on reconstructed skin
Our teams have developed patented models of reconstructed baby skin at different ages – Stelaskin® - that mimic different skin types.
Due to this innovation, we are able to study different skin types in depth, better understand the impact of the stressors on the specific skin types and evaluate and test all our products on these reconstructed skin models.
