Our skin isn’t just the outermost layer of our walking billboard but its health is vital in our existence. Without it, we couldn’t do most of the things we take for granted. Like, breathing, moving and maintaining the bodies’ internal functions efficiently. And while skin essentially keep pathogens and other bad stuff out of our bodies, consumers spend millions of millions of dollars on products with the intent to penetrate that defense. Read on for more fascinating facts about the skin.
1. Your Skin Has Three Distinct Layers.
Skin is considered an organ in its own right. It’s comprised of three layers: the waterproof top layer, the epidermis; a middle layer of tougher connective tissue, hair follicles, and glands called the dermis; and the inner layer, the hypodermis, which is mostly fat and connective tissue that supports the skin’s structure and attaches it to muscles.
2. Skin Color is Determined by Cells in The Epidermis.
Those cells are known as melanocytes, which secrete a pigmented substance called melanin; the more melanin in the cells, the darker the skin. Having too little or too much melanin can lead to some skin color disorders: On one end of the spectrum are conditions like vitiligo—which occurs when some melanocytes lose the ability to produce melanin, resulting in whitish patches on the skin—and albinism, a condition in which melanocytes don’t produce any melanin. On the other end is hyperpigmentation—the presence of excess melanin, which can cause darker patches of skin.
3. Your Skin Could Weigh more Than 20 Pounds.
“Your skin accounts for 15 percent of your body weight,” says Toral Patel, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist and supervising physician at D&A Dermatology in Chicago and a clinical instructor of medicine at Northwestern University. This makes it your body’s largest organ.
According to that calculation and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average American woman weighs 168.5 pounds and carries more than 25 pounds of skin. An average man weighing 195.7 pounds will have nearly 30 pounds of skin.
4. Your Skin Renews Itself Every 28 to 30 Days.
New cells are created in that deep layer of the skin and take about four weeks to rise to the surface. There, they grow hard and then shed. This process, in which old skin is sloughed off and replaced by newer skin, might occur more than 1000 times over the average American’s lifespan. But all skin is not created equal: Its thickness varies naturally among all areas of the body. Thickness can also be affected by age, gender, and habits (like smoking) that can change the cells’ elasticity and other traits. According to Patel, the skin on the soles of your feet is up to seven times thicker than the skin of your eyelids.
5. Your Skin is Host to Billions of Creatures.
Your skin hosts a microbiome that can contain more than 1000 types of bacteria (along with other microbes, viruses, and pathogens). These “tiny ecosystems,” as Patel describes them, are mostly friendly bacteria that work in concert with our bodies for many beneficial purposes, including wound healing, reducing skin inflammation, and assisting the immune system to help fight infection. These bacteria were once thought to outnumber your own cells 10 to one, but more recent research has found the ratio is closer to 1:1.
6. Your Body’s Fluid Balance Depends on Skin.
Your skin is a significant shield against billions of tiny microbes and pathogens. But just as importantly, skin keeps fluids in. Another way to think of this, Patel says, is that your skin resembles a brick and mortar pattern. The bricks are the cells. The mortar is made up of lipids, fatty acids, and other sticky proteins that form the watertight layer. “If you have any ‘holes’ in skin where moisture can escape, which are more susceptible to damage, that leads to dryness, cracking, and inflammation,” Patel says.
People who have suffered burns often have fluid-balance problems, says Robert T. Brodell, M.D., professor of dermatology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi. “Fluids are seeping out, and they can’t keep them balanced internally,” he tells Mental Floss. This can be incredibly dangerous, because fluid loss can cause the heart to stop pumping blood to the rest of the body. Dehydration, hypertension, and other problems may also occur when skin is injured.
7. Your Gut and Your Skin are Symbiotic.
The gut and the skin never come into direct contact with one another, yet research shows that the gut has a profound impact on the skin.
“The skin becomes very unhealthy when the microbiome of the gut goes into a state of dysbiosis,” meaning when something attacks the gut’s good bacteria, says Gregory Maguire, Ph.D., a former professor of neuroscience at UC San Diego and the founder and chief scientific officer of BioRegenerative Sciences, a stem-cell technology company.
Dysbiosis can lead to inflammation, irritation, rashes, and pain. “There’s good evidence that eczema [or] atopic dermatitis is partially due to dysbiosis of the gut and skin,” he says.
In a 2017 paper published in the Archives of Dermatological Research, Maguire writes that normal gut bacteria can actually calm the body’s response to stress. A reduction in the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which is thought to cause breakouts, also reduces the chance of skin irritation—all thanks to microbes in your intestine.