STRUCTURE
To take the best care of your skin, it's important to understand its makeup. The skin consists of three distinct layers: the epidermis, the outer layer that you can see and touch; the dermis, the inner layer where all the work takes place; and subcutaneous fat, which separates the skin from the rest of the tissue in your body.
\"Skin Care\"
Outer Layer (Epidermis)
Two principal layers make up the epidermis - the stratum corneum (the outermost layer and hard surface) and the Malpighian layer. The cells that make up most of the epidermis (95 percent) are called keratinocytes because they produce keratin - a protein comprised of amino acids (the building blocks of most life) crowded together in a dense configuration of an "alpha helix."
Keratin gives skin its considerable strength and composes not only the surface layer skin, but also hair, fingernails, toe - nails, animal fur, horns, hooves and feathers. It is what keeps your skin waterproof.
The other epidermal cell is the melanocyte, which produces the melanin that colors the skin. (White skin and black skin do not differ in the number of melanocytes. Black skin is darker in part because its melanocytes synthesize more melanin that those in white skin.)
Melanocytes lie in the Malpighian layer, where the miracle of skin reproduction and replacement occurs. At the base of this layer, basal cells constantly divide - approximately once every hour - to form new cells. It takes approximately two weeks for the whole process to occur - from cell birth and movement upward through the Malpighian layer, to cell death and surfacing at the outermost layer, the stratum corneum. A new outer layer skin is formed approximately every twenty - eight days. Even as you read this, your skin cells are dying and replacing themselves.
Inner Layer (Dermis)
The layer of connective tissue known as the dermis lies immediately beneath the epidermis. The dermal connective tissue is composed of cells called fibroblast, fibrous proteins (collagen, reticulum and elastin) made by cells and a material called ground substance. Besides fibroblast, other cells turn up occasionally in the dermis, most of them migrating from the bloodstream to ingest foreign substances and fight infection. Collagen, the most abundant, is responsible for the skin's mechanical strength.
The ground substance, a composition of water and a variety of chemical substances, forms a matrix in which all other dermal components are embedded and through which the transfer of substances between cells occurs.
Unlike the epidermis, the dermis contains blood vessels, which provide it with nutrients and oxygen and remove, metabolic waste products. The dermis also contains lymphatic vessels and nerves, as well as specialized structures called appendages: sweat glands, sebaceous (oil) glands and hair follicles.
Skin Care - Outer Layer (Epidermis) And Inner Layer (Dermis)
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