Natural Product-Based Treatment for Skin Infections

Skin is the largest multifunctional organ of the human body; it consists of three major layers: epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. Skin acts as the first line of the body’s defence mechanism. Skin infection occurs due to exposure to the environment; it profoundly affects human health and places a heavy burden on the healthcare system. Bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi can lead to skin infection. Medicinal plants are nature’s gift to mankind to live disease-free healthy lives. Nowadays, there is growing interest in using ethnomedicinal plants as they represent a valuable alternative to treat skin infections because of their low cost, high effectiveness, well-tolerated, fewer side effects, and can treat chronic skin infections. The treatment of skin infections using medicinal plants and metabolites is derived from ancient times. Compounds with potential therapeutic advantages against microorganisms causing skin infections can be efficiently identified and optimized by researchers by using computational techniques such as molecular docking, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR), molecular dynamics simulations, virtual screening, pharmacophore modelling, and network pharmacology. These methods help us for better understanding the antimicrobial activity on molecular basis and speed up the process of discovery a new drug and helps in the development of novel plant-based drug.