Skin Problems and Skin
Diseases
Visit our discussion forum on skin
rashes, conditions, and disorders
Introduction to This Website About the Skin Problems and Skin
Diseases
Although many people don't think of the skin as
an organ like the heart, liver, stomach, or kidneys, medically
speaking it is actually the largest organ in the human
body.
The goal of this website is to help non-medical
readers get the answers they want, in easy-to-read and
easy-to-understand language, about the skin itself, disorders
like a skin rash or skin cancer, and of course skin care
and skin treatment.
Anatomy of the skin
The skin is made up of three layers:
Epidermis
The epidermis is the outer layer of the skin,
where new skin cells form and old skin cells, die, flake off
(this happens so gradually you never notice) and are
replaced.
Dermis
This is where nerve endings, blood vessels, oil
glands, and sweat glands are located.
Subcutaneous fat
The third layer of the skin is the bottom
layer, which is mostly of fat that helps your body
and also holds hair follicles.
Facts about the skin
In addition to being the largest organ in the
body in overall size, it's also the largest by volume and
weight. Fifteen percent of your total body weight is made up of
your skin, and it has a surface area of between 15 and 21
square feet (1.5 to 2 square meters). On average, the skin is
about one-tenth of an inch thick, and one square inch contains
approximately 650 swaet glands, 20 blood vessels and about one
thousand nerve endings.
Important skin functions include:
-
protection: the skin forms a barrier between the
outside world and the body's internal organs,
bones, circulatory system and nervous system
-
sensitivity: to heat, cold, pressure, vibration,
and external irritants and threats
-
temperature control: the skin helps keep us both
cool and warm through various anatomical operations
like sweating
-
storage: the stores lipids and water
-
synthesis: the synthesizes vitamin D
-
excretion: by sweating, the skin excretes urea, but
the concentration is tiny compared to urine (about
1/130th)
-
absorption: bsorption: elements like oxygen,
nitrogen and carbon dioxide can be absorbed by
the skin in small amounts, which assists in
respiration. Medicine can also pass
through the skin in the form of ointments or by
means of adhesive patch.
-
social communication: for better or worse, the
color, condition and ways we decorate our skin
plays a role in what others think of us socially
and culturally.
Browse other websites about skin
disorders and skin care by using the convenient search box
below
Custom Search
Need more information about your skin
and other health-related topics?
Visit Our Online
Bookstore
where you'll find a special series of
electronic books written especially for this
website
| 
