Natural Products and Extracts Important for Skin Health and Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

The skin is an organ which provides contact with the environment and protects the human body from pathogens, physical, mechanical, and chemical factors. There is growing interest in searching for novel, low-cost, highly effective, and safe compounds and products that can enhance and promote skin health. Natural products, due to their multidirectional bioactive compounds, are important as protective and active ingredients. They can protect the epidermis, the outer layer of the human skin formed by keratinocytes, which is the first line of defense against various harmful factors, i.e., pollution, ROS, UV, and ionizing radiation. They can also strengthen the skin’s hydrolipidic barrier, prevent transepidermal water loss, maintain the balance of the skin microbiota, modulate the skin’s immune system, as well as support the function of fibroblasts. Moreover, natural raw materials exhibit many biological effects, e.g., antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, anticarcinogenic, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, photoprotective, antityrosinase, and antiaging. Therefore, they can have great potential to cure different kinds of skin problems, including pigmentation disorders, inflammatory diseases (e.g., acne, rosacea, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis, and erythema), cutaneous vascular lesions, tumors, trauma (blows, cuts, or burn injuries to the skin), and viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections.

This Special Issue is dedicated to original research and reviews articles focusing on natural products and extracts important for proper functioning and the protection and curing of disease in the skin. Articles discussing the current state of the art in the field of molecules derived from natural products for cosmetic and pharmaceutic applications, as well as their mechanism of action and therapeutic indications for the treatment of skin disorders, are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Sławomir Wilczyński
Dr. Monika Michalak
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Pharmaceutics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.