Welcome to the world of the skin!

As we all know, the skin is the body's outer covering.
Interestingly, the skin is the body's largest organ.

The skin has many important functions, including:

-Protection: the skin is a barrier between the internal and external environments
-Water resistance: the skin prevents essential nutrients from being washed out of the body
-Excretion: the skin allows sweat to evaporate and thus removing unwanted substances in the process
-Temperature Regulation: Dilation and Constriction controls the amount of heat loss to the surroundings via conduction, convection and radiation.


Structure of the skin:





The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. It comprises of squamous cells, basal cells and melanocytes.










Melanocytes produces melanin, which gives the skin its colour

The dermis lies beneath the epidermis and contains blood and lymph vessels, hair follicles, and glands. These glands produce sweat, which helps regulate body temperature, and sebum, an oily substance that helps keep the skin from drying out. Sweat and sebum reach the skin's surface through tiny openings called pores. The blood vessels provide nourishment and waste removal.

Fun Facts about the skin:

1) The total weight of skin in an average human is appoxiamately 2.7kg

2) Most dust particles in the house

are actually made of dead skin

3) There are 20 feet of blood vessels in each square inch of human skin

4) 600,000 particles of skin are shed every hour by humans. This averages 1.5 pounds annually. If you live to age 70, you have shed 105 pounds of dead skin

5) There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth.