|
Your skin is pretty amazing. It holds everything—your bones, muscles, and organs—in place. It alerts you to pain, helps control your body temperature, and acts as your body’s first line of defense between you and the outside world.
Your skin consists of three layers: The epidermis is the part of your skin that you see and is responsible for the formation of new skin cells. The layer of skin cells you see is already dead and awaiting replacements.
The dermis houses nerve endings, blood vessels, oil glands, and sweat glands. The nerve endings work with your nervous system and brain to tell you what you’re touching or feeling. Your body has about 20 types of receptors that send messages to your brain. The most common are for heat, cold, pain, and pressure or touch.
Pain is a very necessary part of life. If you were unable to feel pain, you would not be able to protect yourself from life’s little scrapes or big breaks.
The final layer is subcutaneous fat. This layer helps your body stay warm and absorb some of life’s physical jolts. This layer also houses hair follicles, the roots of body hair.
For More Information:
Listed above are Web sites that offer additional
information on this topic. University of Iowa Health Care
does not sponsor or endorse these sites, or guarantee the
accuracy of the information contained on these sites. These
links are here for general information only, and should not
be used for personal diagnosis or treatment. If you have any
questions, please contact UI
Health Access.
Back to top
|
