Breast milk skin care

Actress Jodie Smith Turner revealed a few years back that she adds breast milk to her skin care products.  “Ever since I had my baby, my current beauty secret is that I put breast milk in all of my face serums," Jodie told Vogue in an interview.

“My skin is very sensitive, so I use a light cleanser, and then I put on a serum with aloe and breast milk that I literally squeeze right into my hands from my boob. I think it’s the lactic acid. I’ve just found that the milk has been revolutionary.”

This is something new in the field of cosmetic. So is it really effective in treating skin related problems?

First of all you must know that any form of milk is rich in lactic acid. This acid is loved by the good bacteria on your skin and hated by the bad bacteria. Lactic acid is also a potential moisturizer. This means it can maintain the moisture levels in your skin and diminish the appearance of wrinkles and saggy skin. This will have an anti-aging effect on your skin and you will look younger.

However the application of breast milk for skin care has no guarantee that you can reap the above benefits for real. This is because there is no way to define the potency of its absorption by the skin. Studies have been conducted with human milk in topical applications.

The results are conflicting. In some cases the intervention is comparable to the effect of the medication in some cases it is not. Hence the effectiveness of the method is not been proven conclusively.

But there are other studies that have shown that breast milk can help heal cracked nipples. Cracked nipples are a problem that women have when breastfeeding. However you must be aware that for biosecurity reasons the milk cannot be used on anyone other than the person who has produced it.

This is because the person may have some infectious disease like HIV. But for cosmetic purposes breast milk may be used by the producer of the milk.

The milk being the persons own biological material. So if the milk is not contaminated, it has high nutritional value. It is rich in proteins, lipids and carbohydrates.

The breast milk has several defense cells, such as immunoglobulins, leukocytes, which are white defense cells, epithelial cells, stem cells, in addition to probiotic bacteria, the good bacteria, which are there to colonize the baby's stomach. So there is a huge field for studies, a possibility for evaluating efficacy and safety.

So even without any proven effectiveness and only on the basis of cracked nipple healing there is no harm if a women chooses to use her milk in cosmetic products. You can do this as long as the skin is not irritated and you don’t get any rashes. It is best first to try the cosmetic on the inside of your elbows. If nothing happens then you can try on your face.

But then again you must remember there are better alternatives that have proven effect.

In conclusion

Using breast milk for skin care has not yet been proven to have any cosmetic benefits, though cracked nipples due to breastfeeding have been healed.