How Skin Works

The skin is one of the most important components of our physical appearance and is the largest organ of our body. It fulfills many functions.

These include:

• protecting of internal structures against injury

• protecting against external bacteria and viruses

• exchanging of fluids and gases (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide) from our body into the environment

• Temperature regulating (by blood flow and sweat to maintain right body temperature)

• protecting against ultraviolet rays (through Melanocytes cells, responsible for melanin production, which give our skin the tanned look)

• acting as an immune organ to detect infections

• acting as a sensory organ to detect temperature, touch, vibration, etc

• functioning as visible signal for social and sexual communication

When any of these functions fail, serious consequences may follow. Collapse of temperature regulation leads to heat stroke or hypothermia.

If the barrier function fails which protects body from the environment, fluid can be lost and a person can dehydrate.

Our skin is a precious gift from nature. It is an amazing organ that shelters us from harmful bacteria and viruses, keeps us cool and warm during temperature changes and protects us from dangerous sun rays.

The skin always has a way of telling us if our internal organs are not working properly, it has memory and gets out the bad things out of our body.

Failure of the immune function of the skin can result in infection and sensory organ failure to undetected damage such as pressure sores.

There is a social and psychological impact on the person due to the importance of the skin through our appearance.

Many people can be very vulnerable and sometimes feel even rejected by general public because of their appearance with skin damage.

Most skin conditions can be caused by:

• Internal problems

• External elements in our environment (by breathing in or consuming)

• Wrong skin care regiments