Understanding the Human Skin

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Okay, like I promised, I'll be sharing useful tips on how to take good care of the skin. Every one of us desires to have a smooth and glowing skin, however, most times, we're faced with several skin issues that make us wonder if it's truly possible to have a clear skin that is smooth and attractive. In your quest to know how to make your skin glow and look beautiful, have you ever wondered what the skin is really made of?

There are vital questions that you need to answer in order to ensure that you take good care of your skin, for instance, what is the human skin made of? What are some of the factors that affect the skin positively or negatively? What does the skin require in order to be properly nourished? Well, I'll start my next series by answering these questions and several others. So get ready for another series of useful tips on how to take proper care of your skin.

So what is the Skin?

The starting point is understanding what the skin is, “it's the largest organ of our body that covers the surface of our body and interestingly, it accounts for about 16 percent of our body weight.” One interesting fact about the human skin is that it's a dynamic organ that is subject to constant change because the cells of the skin's outer layer are always shedding and being replaced by inner cells that are moving up to the surface.

The Skin's Structure

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The human skin has three structural layers:

• The Epidermis
• Dermis and
• The Hypodermis

Let's talk more about each layer.

The Epidermis

This is the skin's outer layer that acts as a barrier between the exterior environment and the interior body. It has the following characteristics:

• The thickness of the epidermis varies, the thinnest is 0.05 mm which can be found on our eyelids while the thickest is 0.8+/-1.5 mm which can be found on the palms of our hands as well as the soles of our feet.
• The epidermis is also divided further into 4 to 5 layers and the lowest layer of the epidermis is comprised of cells that divide and push forward the cells that are formed into higher layers. The cells will flatten while they move into higher layers and eventually, they will die. So, the first layer of the epidermis comprises of flat skin cells that are dead and in about two weeks’ time, they will be shed. Now, whenever we scrub our face, this is the layer that we remove.
• The melanocytes, as well as the keratinocytes (helps to synthesize keratin which is a protein), are the main cells of the epidermis

Dermis
This is the layer of our skin that is found below the epidermis and it has the following features:

• It contains nerve endings, oil glands, sweat glands, blood vessels and hair follicles
• The dermis is a layer of elastic and fibrous tissue (predominantly made of elastin, collagen, and fibrillin). It is the part of the skin that provides it with strength and flexibility

The Hypodermis
This is the next layer that can be found below the dermis and it is the innermost layer of the human skin. It has the following features:

• The hypodermis comprises of loose connective tissue and mostly fat
• The fat cells found in the hypodermis help in insulating the body from cold and heat. It also provides a protective padding and it is an energy storage region of the skin
• The thickness of the hypodermis varies based on the area of the body and also varies between individuals.

This is an introduction to the skin so in my next post, I'll be talking about the function of the skin, the things that affect it and several types of skin diseases/conditions so you shouldn't miss it.

Thanks for reading and please leave your comment below.