Lunar dust dermatologic considerations for NASA's artemis program and the gateway space station: a narrative review

The Artemis program and lunar gateway present an opportunity to advance NASA's presence away from Earth's orbit and back to the Moon. Astronauts will be faced with many dermatological challenges unique to the lunar environment, such as the surface material on the Moon. We used PubMed and Google Scholar to perform a literature review with articles related to the effects of lunar dust on skin collated and analyzed to assess the dermatological implications of these missions. The effects of lunar dust on wound generation and healing were reviewed, while also analyzing passive and active measures used to minimize astronaut exposure to lunar dust. A myriad of methods involving advances in medicine and engineering (e.g. bioinspired texturing of materials, staged decontamination, emollients) will need to be employed to best protect astronauts from the effects of lunar surface materials and other insults to best protect the Artemis astronauts. These advances will help with future NASA missions to Mars and beyond as other terrestrial space bodies will likely present astronauts with similar dermatological insults from surface materials and regolith. Dermatologists can serve a role in helping researchers develop techniques to protect skin health and understand the pathophysiology involved with lunar dust exposure.