Skin+-+PD

= = =Introduction= toc Imagine you were walking on the sidewalk with a friend one day and all of the sudden you see a stranger walking, and as the stranger appears closer to you and your friend you start to notice that as the stranger is walking their internal organs are falling out on the sidewalk, bones sticking out with blood and veins and everything! Now that is obviously impossible but that is exactly what it would be if we didn’t have skin, I’m sure you have wondered before what skin is for and why we need it, It’s actually quite simple.

=Layers of The Skin=

Your skin may feel thick if you squeeze it, but believe it or not, your skin is only the thickness of about 1 to 2 pieces of printer paper. You also only have three different types (layers) of skin and it covers your entire body. The first layer of your skin is the ** epidermis **. The epidermis is also known as the ** horny layer **. The horny layer is the largest organ in your body and one of the most important. On the other hand, the epidermis is only made up out of dead skin cells, considering its the biggest organ in your body you would think it would be alive but its not. Its also waterproof, keeps insects/bugs out and away from your internal organs, and keeps all of the rest of your organs and all of your bones together, just imagine without your epidermis, your internal organs would be everywhere!

The second layer of the skin is called the ** dermis **. The dermis is the layer of skin that contains veins, arteries, hair follicles, nerves, blood, and sebum. Its also contains all of the cells that flow inside your body. When skin cells die in the dermis they float up and out to the epidermis, its why the epidermis is made up of dead skin cells and constantly get replaced by new cells that have died. That process takes about one month for all dead skin cells to be replaced by new dead skin cells. Now turning to the third layer of the skin, which is just a layer of fat and tissue that keeps your bones and other organs from sticking out of your skin.

=What Damages Skin=

As many people know the sun does in fact damage the skin, but lots of people don’t entirely know why it does, and it’s not only the sun, it could be from a variety of infections! One of the ways the sun damages your skin is if you're not protecting your skin with sunscreen. Tanning lotion is not sunscreen and if you use that as sunscreen it’s just like saying your a fish basking yourself with butter cooking under the heat. Even just a slight sunburn can harm the **immune system** (the immune system is what fights germs, bacteria, and infections to keep you healthy) making it weaker and harder to heal for the next time damage occurs on your skin. When your skin is exposed to the sun for a long period of time it causes the skin to peel and is considered as a ** sunburn **. It also causes freckles and sun-spots. Freckles form when the sun tans your skin creating an uneven distribution of ** melanin **. Melanin is what makes your skin color //your// skin color, no one else in the world has the same exact amount of melanin as you, it is scientifically impossible. Infections can also damage your skin. There are lots of different types of infections that can affect you. Some of these can just be as simple as a ** blister ** (a blister is what forms when your skin is rubbing against an object for a long period of time causing friction).You would think something that small wouldn’t be able to harm you in any way but it can get irritated or get infected with bacteria. = = =Causes of Skin Cancer=

Yet again the sun has to do with the damages and cancers of your skin. Skin cancer usually occurs more often on fair-skinned people but anyone of any skin color can get it, in fact its the most common type of cancer in the United States. Skin cancer develops in your body as a tumor when you have too much uneven melanin from the sun or any type of **UV rays**. A UV ray is ultraviolet radiation which can be a great source of vitamin D but can also be a poison to the skin if the skin is in the radiation level for too long, this type of damage is permanent.

Tanning machines are just as bad, no type of sunlamp is okay for the skin. It inflames the skin and makes it swell. After it swells it can reflect more light giving the illusion that you look younger when really it creates more wrinkles and once the damage is done, its done, forever damaging not only the epidermis but the dermis too! Smoking can also cause skin cancer because tobacco decreases the flow of blood to the skin, and deprives cells of oxygen, water, and food. It’s why most establishments have banned smoking and some local stores have even stopped selling them because they are bad for your health.

=How Skin Heals=

The healing process begins as soon as you get an open wound, the body responds right away to the area of where you are losing blood. The response to the area of where you are bleeding is called ** hemostasis **. Our bodies are functioned to be smart so we aren’t going to bleed out and die from a tiny paper cut, instead the blood vessles tighten to try and stop the bleeding which is known for the name ** vasoconstriction **. Hemostasis and vasoconstriction both trigger the process for the blood to start clotting ( it slows down bleeding to form a scab). Then a protien in your body, ** fibrin **, begins to cover the wound preventing anymore blood loss than necessary. Now that this fibrin is covering the outer layer of the wound it acts like it’s sheild and tries to fight off bacteria from trying to get into your wound. If any bacteria does get into the wound a few hours after the fibrin covers the wound inflammation begins which is when cells such as white blood cells fight off and get rid of the bad bacteria that has entered the wound. Once there is no more bad bacteria the skin begins to close the wound, this stage is called ** proliferative **, it’s when the skin produces ** collagen ** which makes the skin tissue close back up together again. Wounds however never do fully heal, in fact they only heal about 50-80% and sometimes leave scars.

=Conclusion=

Skin is important in so many ways for instance keeping all of your internal organs inside of your body, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be called internal organs and you wouldnt be able to live. You would bleed for eternity, something that would happen in a horror movie. Without your skin all of your organs and blood would get washed out by water if it rained and it keeps bugs and insects such as bedbugs on the outside of your body. So please protect your skin once it’s damaged and torn, those scars stay forever.

=References=

Works Cited Brynie, Faith Hickman. 101 Questions about Your Skin That Got under Your Skin ... until Now. Brookfield: Millbrook, 1999. Print. “Freckles.” Listen to your skin. LEO Pharma Inc, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. . Life Science: Cells Discovery Education, 2002. Full Video. Discovery Education. Web. 19 December 2014. . “Scab-inspired wound dressing speeds healing.” Gizmag. Gizmag, 2003. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. . “Skin Cutaway.” Directory of Limitations. Serbin communications, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. . Skin Layers Diagram. The University of Chicago Medical Center. The University of Chicago Medical Center, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014. . “Your Skin.” Kids Health. The Nemours Foundation, 2014. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. .