Microbial competition drives skin damage

This proposed hypothesis asks why reconstructed skin, a laboratory-built skin model, might suffer repeated damage even when tissue drug levels stay constant. It proposes a three-way cycle of competing microbes. One member releases a protease, an enzyme that breaks down proteins, and each shift in dominance could create another pulse of barrier damage. The test changes the starting mix, removes one member, then restores all three. A protease-null strain would keep competition while damage disappears. Sterile models could distinguish this idea from other possible rival cell-renewal and chemical explanations.