Thursday, April 15, 2010

The 3 layers of your skin

The 3 layers of your skin

Most people don’t think of skin as an organ of the body, but in fact it’s the biggest and one of the most important. Applying facial sunblock will help your skin stay healthy and help it to do its job.

Your skin helps to keep the germs from reaching your internals, gives us a sense of touch, and helps the body maintain its temperature. The skin is composed of 3 layers, the epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous.

The epidermis is the outer layer. Cells in this layer are constantly changing. The newer cells push their way up moving the older skin cells to the surface where they die and flake off. This is the layer that gets exposed to the sun and applying a good facial sunblock will help protect these new skin cells.

Melanin is found in this layer and it’s what gives you your skin color. The more sun exposure you get, the more melanin is produced and hence the darker your skin gets. A good facial sunblock will slow down the production of melanin resulting in a lighter skin color.

The second layer is called dermis. It contains your sweat glands, blood vessels, nerve endings, and oil glands. This layer communicates to your brain what you are feeling. For example, if something you touched is hot, your skin will communicate to the brain, and your brain will tell the muscles to quickly pull away to avoid getting burning.

The third layer, subcutaneous, is mostly made up of fatty tissue helping the body to absorb shock. So, if you were to fall, the impact would be absorbed by the fat in this layer. The roots of your hair start in this layer. Hair eventually makes its way up going through all the layers and finally reaching the surface.

This is just a brief description of your skin and its functions. It is a very complex organ having many responsibilities. Facial sunblock should be used to help protect it. And even if you’re not directly in the sun, you should still use some for m of facial sunblock.

No comments: