The Infant Skin Barrier: Can We Preserve, Protect, and Enhance the Barrier?

Table 1

Infant and adult skin: similarities and differences.

Structural differences	Infant skin	Adult skin	Reference
Epidermis
Corneocytes	Smaller	Larger	[2]
Granular cells	Smaller	Larger	[2]
Stratum corneum and epidermis	Thinner	Thicker	[1, 2]
Microrelief lines	More dense	Less dense	[2]
Depth of surface glyphics	Similar to adult	—	[2]
Facultative pigmentation (melanin)	Less	More	[142, 143]
Dermis
Dermal papillae (density, size, and morphology)	More homogeneous	Less homogeneous	[2]
Distinct papillary-to-reticular dermis transition	Absent	Present	[2]
Compositional differences
Epidermis
Natural moisturizing factor concentration	Lower	Higher	[11]
pH	Higher (newborn only)	Lower	[6, 32, 34]
Sebum	Lower (7–12 month-old infant)	Higher	[144]
Stratum corneum water content	Higher	Lower	[11]
Dermis
Collagen fiber density	Lower	Higher (young adult)	[2, 145]
Functional differences
Rate of water absorption	Higher	Lower	[11]
Rate of water desorption	Higher	Lower	[11]
Skin barrier function	Competent	Competent	[9, 10]
Transepidermal water loss	Higher	Lower	[11]