General Functions of Your Skin

By Elizabeth Andrews


Protection Skin has a protective function due to its capability to withstand physical influences: Because of its smooth, resistant, and elastic covering and its particular fatty hypodermic region, skin has the capacity to absorb external shocks and pressures. Withstand chemicals and water: The horny cells, keratin, fatty tissues, and sebum of your skin prevent excess water, liquids, or chemicals from penetrating. Protect against wounds and bacterium: The skin's immediate and constant regeneration of cells and its acidic pH enable it to safeguard against injuries and bacterium. Protect against the sun or ultraviolet radiation: The skin affords defense against these elements with the aid of the horny layer, keratin and melanin, which rise from your basal cell layer toward the top layers and tan the skin to prevent burns. Sebum and sweat also defend our bodies against ultraviolet and infrared radiation.

Respiration In people, the tissues of the skin, like all other tissues, breathe. (Oxygen is absorbed and carbon dioxide is expelled.) However, skin respiration is extremely weak.

Temperature Regulation One of the most important functions of the skin is its capacity to regulate body temperature. When the body becomes overheated, that's, once the internal temperature is elevated, vasodilation occurs in the skin. This raises the volume of blood circulating (giving skin higher color) and the quantity of perspiration secreted. When the temperature is too low, vasoconstriction occurs. Then the diameter of the blood vessels decreases by contraction. Less blood is circulated, skin color fades, and perspiration decreases. These processes allow the body to save its warmth and protect itself against cold and so are in charge of the skin reddening when hot and turning white when cold.

Secretion External. Your skin, through the secretions of the sweat glands, helps rid the waste. The sebaceous glands, which create a secretion called sebum, force out harmful substances. Internal. Skin secretes enzymes, fermentation substances, hormones, and so forth, which take part in nutritional exchanges. The most important hormone secreted by the skin is histamine (a tissular hormone which produces allergy symptoms).

Absorption Absorption is the most important part of the nutrition process. Since the skin is impermeable, it is crucial for your esthetician to find out how to avoid all the obstacles to skin penetration.

Renewal To the other functions of the skin, you can include that of cellular renewal, for the beauty and freshness of the skin rely on the rate that it can regenerate itself (approximately thirty days). Regeneration occurs in the basal cell layer. All the cells within this layer divide in half: One of the two new cells remains in the same position while the second travels to the next higher layer. Eventually, as the cell ages, it reaches the horny layer where it's eliminated by the desquamative layer.

Bactericidal Action The skin is continuously in contact with microorganisms. Because the skin is acidic (i.e., it features a pH that ranges from around 5.4 to 6.2), it effectively prevents most organisms from entering. That's the reason it is always extremely important in esthetics to respect and maintain the skin's acidic pH.




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