Things You May Not Know About Your Skin

The skin you’re in is amazing! It protects your organs, sheds cells, and keeps you cool or warm. But how much do you know about your skin, aside from the fact that you should protect it from UV rays? Here are some fascinating facts about your skin:

You have TONS of skin

Your skin is your body’s largest organ. Your skin has a surface area of about 22 square feet.

Not all of the skin on your body is the same thickness

Your eyelids, for example, have the thinnest skin, while your palms and soles of your feet have the thickest skin.

Your skin is heavy

About 16 percent of your overall body weight is from your skin.

Your skin is made up of multiple layers

Your skin has three layers: the epidermis, dermis, and subcutis. The subcutis is the innermost layer of your skin and is made up of fat and collagen cells. The dermis is the middle layer and is responsible for 90 percent of the skin’s thickness. The epidermis is the outermost layer and serves as a protective barrier between the body and the environment.

Your skin helps your body maintain temperature control

When your body is too hot, blood vessels widen so that heat can easily be released through the skin. When your body is too cold, the blood vessels in the skin constrict.

The way you sleep can affect your skin

Sleeping with your face buried in your pillow can lead to wrinkles.

You shed lots of skin

You lose 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells a minute!

Scars are caused by damage to the second layer of skin, the dermis

Scar collagen is different from collagen in normal skin. Even when skin cells die and are replaced, scar collagen is not shed. Scar tissue does not grow hair.

Your skin was a different color when you were born

Healthy newborn baby skin is a deep red or purplish color, and hands and feet are a bluish hue.

Acne is the most common skin condition in the U.S.

More than 85 percent of people will experience it at least once in their lives.