Your skin is more than the outer layer of your body, it is a fascinating and complex organ that performs many important functions. Without it we would not be able to move, breathe or maintain the internal workings of our body. Since it is responsible for protecting our organs, eliminating cells and keeping us cool or warm.
However, some of us don’t know much about her, beyond her care. So we have compiled some interesting facts that you may not have known about her skin and that will surely surprise you.
1. It is the largest and heaviest organ in your body.
In adults, this organ has an approximate area of 2 square meters. This makes it significantly larger than the liver, which interestingly is its second largest organ. Obviously it’s also the heaviest organ, with about 16 percent of your total body weight coming from it. Which represents approximately 5 kilograms.
2. Your skin starts to age in your 20s
If you associate getting older with being in your 40s or 50s, we have bad news for you. Once you hit 25, your collagen levels can slowly start to deplete, which can lead to sagging and the appearance of fine lines. Antioxidants like vitamin C can help keep you looking younger and healthier.
3. Sleeping can possibly give you wrinkles
Sleep is good for you, it helps your body repair and rebuild itself. However, if you sleep on your side or stomach, you could be putting pressure on your face, which can contribute to wrinkles.
4. His skin does not have a single layer
Although we usually talk about the skin as if it were just one layer, it is made up of three layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutis. The subcutis is the innermost layer and is made up of fat cells and collagen. The dermis is the middle layer and is responsible for 90 percent of the thickness. While the epidermis is the outermost layer and serves as a protective barrier between the body and the environment.
5. Your skin helps regulate temperature.
Your skin can regulate temperature through its blood supply. When the skin becomes overheated, the blood vessels widen so that the heat can be easily released through the skin. When your body is cold, the blood vessels in your skin constrict.
6. You remove thousands of skin cells every minute.
While this may sound shocking, it’s totally natural for your body to shed dead skin cells every day. We are talking about 30,000 to 40,000 cells per minute.
However, even though your body may try to get rid of them on its own, many cells end up remaining on the surface of the skin, settling in the pores. This can lead to a rather dull and rough complexion, but luckily there’s an easy fix for it, exfoliation.
7. It has different levels of thickness.
The thickness of their skin varies depending on the area of their body. For example, your eyelids have the thinnest skin at just 0.5 millimeters. While on the soles of the feet it is thicker, measuring about 4 millimeters thick.
8. Your skin type can change.
Even if you’ve had the exact same skin type your entire life, things like hormonal imbalance, climate change, and age can cause your skin to change from one type to another.
9. It’s not just genetics that determine how your skin ages.
Many people attribute how quickly skin ages to their genetics, but it turns out that external factors play a huge role in skin aging. Sun exposure can account for nearly 90 percent of premature aging, and other factors like pollution and smoking can influence how quickly you age.
10. The lighter your skin, the more likely you are to have wrinkles.
The explanation behind this is that naturally dark skin contains more collagen and elastin. These two elements are responsible for maintaining the elasticity of the dermis, so a greater quantity translates into fewer wrinkles.
11. The color depends on the cells of the epidermis.
Those cells are known as melanocytes, which secrete a pigmented substance called melanin; the more melanin there is in the cells, the darker the skin. So this color can range from black to pale pink, or go through different shades of brown. The same goes for our hair. since depending on the amount of melanin it has, it can be: blond, red, brown, black or gray. In the latter case, it is due to the moment of our life when the production of melanin is lower.
Likewise, having too little or too much melanin can cause some skin color disorders. At one end of the spectrum are conditions such as 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 do not produce melanin.
At the other extreme is hyperpigmentation, the presence of excess melanin, which can cause darker patches on the skin. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that just as this substance is responsible for the different colors of skin and hair, melanin is also responsible for the production of freckles. This due to the uneven production of said pigment.
12. Scars are caused by damage to the dermis.
Scar collagen is different from normal skin collagen. As such, even when skin cells die and are replaced, the collagen in the scar does not shed. What causes scar tissue to prevent hair from growing in that area.