Guide to Knowing Your Skin and What Can Damage it

Your skin is the largest organ of your body. Has anyone ever accused you of having "think skin", or if you are an overly sensitive person someone may have told you to get "thick skinned". The next time you hear one of these comments, you can dazzle them with this bit of skin fact: the average skin is 2 to 3 mm thick and everyone has two types of skin, thick and thin. The thick skin covers your heels on your feet and the palms of your hands. The thin kind covers the lips of your mouth. Skin accounts for approximately 15% of your body weight.

The skin on your body has many functions. Eight functions to be exact, they are: sensation, protection, heat regulation, control evaporation, aesthetics and communication, storage and synthesis, excretion of sweat, and absorption. You need your skin to feel sensations to explore your world, to be aware of dangers and to realize when something is on you or moving on you. Your skin can detect heat or cold. Skin can recognize being touched, applied pressure or vibrations. 

The skin can detect tissue injury through pain and discomfort. Your skin protects you from both internal and external harmful agents by acting as a barrier to environmental factors or contaminants like sun and chemicals. Your skin can also regulate heat by way of the blood that flows through it. When blood vessels dilate or get bigger, heat is lost, when they constrict or get smaller, cutaneous blood flow reduces and conserves heat. Skin can control evaporation and prevent fluid loss. This is why burn victims go into shock. When the skin is severely damaged bodily fluids are lost and shock results.