Your location determines your skin microbiome. And if you live in a city, you’ve lost most of it.

The data

Esse’s testing of over 1000 fully sequenced skin microbiome samples reveal a stark pattern: urban dwellers have lost approximately 73% of their skin microbial diversity compared to rural populations and hunter-gatherers.

This isn’t theoretical. Someone living in Manhattan has a fundamentally different skin ecosystem than someone in Peru. The difference is measurable, consistent, and significant.

Why it matters

This loss of microbial diversity correlates directly with the rise of inflammatory skin conditions:

• 85% of adolescents develop acne
• 30% of the population develops atopic dermatitis
• 70% of women report sensitive skin

These figures are effectively zero in hunter-gatherer populations. The evidence points to a clear cause: modern skin isn’t equipped for modern life because it’s missing its foundation of microbial diversity.

What changed

Skin evolved in constant contact with soil, plants, rivers, and animals. This exposure provided a continuous flow of transient microbes, neutral microorganisms that pass through without causing harm, but whose chemical signatures train your immune system.

Indoor living disrupted this, as contact with nature’s microbes is limited. Your immune system now primarily encounters microbes of human origin, which can potentially be threatening pathogens. This shifts your baseline immune response into chronic low-grade inflammation.

The consequence

Urban skin operates on high alert. Without the microbial diversity it evolved to have, barrier function weakens. Inflammation becomes chronic. Sensitivity increases. The skin you were born to have becomes compromised by the environment you’re forced to live in.

The solution

We can’t return to hunter-gatherer conditions. But we can mimic these conditions using biotechnology . Live probiotics reintroduce beneficial microbes your immune system needs to encounter. This assists in restoring the microbial diversity modern life has stripped away.

The goal isn’t to recreate the past. It’s to address the mismatch between your evolved biology and your current environment. By bringing back the microbes that should be there, we restore the foundation for sustainably healthy skin.

This is skin as it should be.