Skin functions and Layers Some facts about skin

Skin is the largest organ of the body. It has an area of 2 square metres (22 square feet) in adults, and weighs about 5 kilograms. The thickness of skin varies from 0.5mm thick on the eyelids to 4.0mm thick on the heels of feet. Skin is the major barrier between the inside and outside of the body!

Functions of skin
1. Protection: it protects against UV light, mechanical, thermal and chemical stresses, dehydration and invasion by micro-organisms. 2. Sensation: skin has receptors that sense touch, pressure, pain and temperature. 3. Thermoregulation: various features of the skin are involved in regulating temperature of the body. For example sweat glands, hair, and adipose tissue. 4. Metabolic functions: subcutaneous adipose tissue is involved in production of vitamin D, and triglycerides.

Three layers of skin:

The epidermis: a thin outer portion, that is the keratinized stratified squamous epithelium of skin. The epidermis is important for the protective function of skin. The basal layers of this epithelium are folded to form dermal papillae. Thin skin contains four types of cellular layers (keratinocyte, melanocyte, Langerhans cell, and Merkel cell), and thick skin contains five. (stratum corneum, stratum lucidum, stratum granulosum, stratum spinosum, and stratum basale.) The dermis: a thicker inner portion. It consists of two layer, which are papillary layer and reticular layer. This is the connective tissue layer of skin. It is important for sensation, protection and thermoregulation. It contains nerves, the blood supply, fibroblasts, etc, as well as sweat glands, which open out onto the surface of the skin, and in some regions, hair. The apical layers of the dermis are folded, to form dermal papillae, which are particularly prominent in thick skin. The hypodermis. This layer is underneath the dermis, and merges with it. It mainly contains adipose tissue and sweat glands. The adipose tissue has metabolic functions: it is responsible for production of vitamin D, and triglycerides.

The arteries supplying the skin are deep in the hypdermis. Branches from the arteries pass upwards to form a deep and a superficial plexus. The deep cutaneous plexus is at the dermal/hypodermal junction. It supplies the fatty tissue of the hypodermis, and the deeper parts of the dermis, including the capillaries for hair follicles, deep sebaceous glands and sweat glands. The superficial subpapillary plexus lies just beneath the dermal papillae, and supplies the capillaries in the dermal papillae. The pink colour of skin is mainly due to the blood seen in venules of this plexus. There are many arteriovenous anastomoses in the dermis, which can prevent blood from entering the superficial cutaneous plexus. This strategy is used as a response to cold as a way of conserving heat. The danger is that if the epidermis loses its blood supply for too long, it will die. Alternatively, when it is hot, more blood is allowed into the superficial plexus, and the skin flushes. The blood in the superficial capillaries is cooled by the evaporation of sweat of the surface of skin.