Background and Design: Although barrier function requires cholesterol, free fatty acids, and
ceramides, applications of one or two of these lipids to damaged skin impedes barrier
recovery, while equimolar mixtures allow normal recovery. Both incomplete and complete
mixtures appear to be internalized within the epidermal nucleated layers, followed by the
secretion of abnormal vs normal lamellar body contents, respectively. We compared the
ability of complete physiologic lipid mixtures vs a nonmetabolized hydrophobic lipid …