Kristy Jenkins - Age Defying SkinCare

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What is Skin?

Beneath It All: The Subcutaneous Layer

Sebaceous Glands: Oiling Your Skin

Skin Types: Dry Skin

Skin Types: Oily Skin

Skin Types: Combination Skin

Skin Aging and Wrinkles

Rosacea

Cellulite

Eczema: What Is It?

Forms of Eczema

Psoriasis

The Best Way to Clean Your Skin

A Survey of Soaps, or, A Soap by Any Other Name

Recommended Cleansers

CAN YOU REALLY Buy Beauty in a Bottle?

Anti-Aging Products

Natural Ingredients or Synthetic: Which are Better for Your Skin?

Caring for beautiful skin

Common Skin Care Complaints ,Is perfect skin really possible?

An Introduction to Sun Protection

Tanning and Burning

Sun Protection Factor

Tips for Providing Maximum Sun Protection

Winter Versus Summer Skin Care

Women's Skin Care

Sensitive Skin Care

Anti-Aging Secrets

W hat is Skin?

Skin is the body's biggest organ. When people think of organs, most often the heart, lungs and brain come to mind but typically not the skin. Like these and other organs inside the body, skin is made up of different types of tissues and these tissues are made up of cells.

Much like the roof on a house, the skin plays an important role in protecting our bodies. It keeps bodily fluids inside while at the same time carefully controlling the release of waste product. It also helps keep our internal body parts safe from the potentially harmful effects of the environment including the sun, light and bacteria and also from injury.

Several different layers make up the skin, but perhaps because the underlying layers are not visible, they're not thought of very often. We spend much of our lives worrying about acne and wrinkles but don't realize that these types of skin issues have a lot to do with the workings of the layers below.

If you were to look at a cross-section of skin, you'd see that skin consists of 3 different layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the hypodermis or subcutis layer. Let's take a closer look at each.

Epidermis

This is the outermost layer of skin - the one that is visible. It covers the entire body, from the head down to the feet. The epidermis itself consists of 3 layers and is made up of tightly-woven connective tissues of varying thickness. For example, the skin covering your feet is much thicker than that below the eye. The epidermis acts like a barrier, keeping the good in and the bad out.

The top layer of the epidermis is constantly being shed. It's the layer that acts as the gatekeeper keeping fluids in and dangers out. Although not easily visible, most of this layer is covered with thousands of tiny pores and hair shafts. New skin is continually being generated by the bottom layer to replace the skin that has been shed. The epidermis also contains melanin, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation (coloring) and protecting against the sun's damaging rays.

Dermis

This layer of connective tissue tucked in between the innermost and outermost layers is the site of much activity. The dermis is home to blood vessels, lymph vessels, nerve tissue, hair follicles, bundles of collagen and sweat glands. Much activity happens in the middle layer. Blood vessels supply nutrients. Nerve tissues give skin the ability to feel. And the muscle tissues in this layer when they are activated are what cause a person to develop goose bumps in response to cold or fear. This layer also has the ability to trap bacteria that manages to penetrate the epidermis.

H ypodermis or subcutis layer

The innermost layer of skin helps to regulate our body temperature. It is here that insulating fat and collagen can be found which is why this layer helps keep us warm. This layer also acts as a cushion or shock absorber, protecting the body from injury. The connective tissue that makes up this important layer is also known as adipose tissue.

Y our skin is far more than a covering that holds you together. It's a dynamic organ that works constantly to keep your body temperature a healthy 98.6 degrees. It cushions your delicate insides and stays on perpetual alert to regulate the proportions of water and salt in your body.

Another benefit: Your skin is an early warning system that helps you respond quickly to pain. Sound like a mixed blessing? But just think what happens when your hand accidentally brushes against a hot stove. Nerve endings in your skin detect the heat and immediately fire emergency signals to your brain, which promptly screams: That thing you're touching is hot, stupid, so move your hand! Without your early warning network of skin sensors, you would be badly burned.

There's a lot going on in your skin.

Skin is a barrier that keeps our insides in, even as it keeps unwanted visitors like bacteria and viruses outside. As a final bonus, it even functions as a chemical factory by making vitamin D! Skin cells convert steroid molecules (relatives of cholesterol) in your body to vitamin D when the cells are exposed to sunlight.

T aking It from the Top

Basically, your skin consists of multiple layers of cells. I won't bore you with the names and details of each micro-layer; their names come from Latin and Greek, and they're as long and confusing as you would expect medical terms to be.

Instead, I'll focus on the two main layers formed by all these thinner ones: the dermis (the inner layer) and epidermis (the outer covering). Each plays an important role in keeping your skin healthy and beautiful. Incidentally, even though I refer to them as the main layers, both are incredibly thin; the epidermis is one-to two-tenths of a millimeter thick (approximately 0.00394 inch), the dermis is several times thicker.

Scratching the Surface: The Epidermis

Imagine that you're digging a tiny tunnel down through your epidermis. At the bottom you find a skin factory, where specialized cells divide constantly to create new skin cells.

Each new cell starts moving up the tunnel, from the bottom of the epidermis outward. Each starts life as a soft, rounded cell, but morphs along the way into a thin, hardened disc. When viewed under a microscope, older skin cells resemble tiny scales.

By the time they reach the skin surface a journey of roughly 14 days the cells are dead. They're also dehydrated, which allows them to fit together tightly and create an interlocked covering called the horny layer. (Seriously!)

This is bad for the cells, but good for us. The horny layer makes an effective and durable barrier against the threats of the outside world. Since the cells are deceased, they are also expendable; if you happen to scrape a few off, you're not losing anything you can't replace. Their dry, hardened surface makes an uninviting home for microorganisms, which discourages bacteria and viruses from taking up residence on your skin.