Your skin is the largest organ in the body. A living breathing tissue no more than a couple of millimeters thick it can weigh around 4kg and is about 2 square meters in area. Thickness varies depending on where it is on the body, your eyelids being the thinnest and your palms and soles of your feet being the thickest. But within those millimeters there are 3 layers, the epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. Your skin is your first line of defence, protecting you against UV rays from the sun, it keeps out microbes and bacteria from entering the blood stream and it stops the rest of your body from drying out, or drowning when you take a bath! It’s integral to help regulate body temperature, has sensory nerves that allows us to feel heat, cold, and touch and is an organ of elimination. And as if that’s not enough, your skin renews every 28 days or so, longer as you get older.
Unless you suffer from one of the many skin conditions it’s often the last thing people think about when considering their health. And yet your skin shows the first signs of stress in the body. Dry, wrinkled skin from dehydration and lack of essential fats, bags and dark patches under the eyes from lack of sleep, spots and pimples when there’s a hormonal imbalance, rashes when the body is trying to eliminate something that has got into the bloodstream, the redness of sunburn when you’ve spent too long at the beach, sweating when you’re coming down with the flu and shivering when you’re too cold. You can see in someone’s complexion when they’re worried about something, when they’ve had a great shock or if they’ve just run a mile in under 4 minutes! The skin can tell you when your liver is not functioning properly, if your heart is not beating as it should and if your kidneys are not filtering the blood adequately. Most of us don’t think twice about it but it’s an amazing piece of kit that when looked after properly can knock years off you and keep you healthy and strong.
So what are the 3 layers?
Well first we have the epidermis, the outermost layer that consists of mostly keratinocytes that produce keratin, a tough protein that helps protect from UV, bacteria, fungi and heat. There’s also Langerhans cells within this layer that act as defense cells, picking up any foreign substances that get through with their tentacle-like arms and delivering them to the lymph glands deeper in the skin. And melanocytes, the cells that give us our colour and protect us from UV and merkel cells that are associated with the sense of touch. And amazingly this thinnest of skin layers has 4 layers of its own, starting at the Stratum Basale, the deepest layer where plump new keratinocytes are formed, and travel up through the layers becoming flatter and dryer until they reach the outer layer, the Stratum Corneum where they slough off in a process called desquamation. And this all takes around 4 weeks.
The dermis is the second and thickest part of the skin and arguably has the most going on. Here you’ll find hair with muscles attached to raise the hair when you get cold and have goose bumps, blood vessels, sebaceous glands to produce the skin’s natural moisturiser sebum, nerves and nerve endings, blood vessels and sweat glands and ducts.
The hypodermis is the third layer and sits under the dermis, and it’s a thick fatty layer containing coarse bundles of collagen and adipose fat cells which provide padding and prevent injury to underlying muscles and tissues. They also provide insulation and the appearance of the skin is affected by the hypodermis.
So what’s the worst lifestyle choices for your skin?
Smoking. That has to come out as the worst thing you can do for your skin, and actually your whole body. When you inhale the smoke gets taken into your blood stream and delivered to every cell in your body, and your skin can really show it with collagen breakdown and a lack of vitamin A and C leaving you looking grey and ashen. It restricts blood flow that is vital for healthy skin.
Pollution and chemical exposure are not good either, think where you live, air conditioning, central heating, cleaning products and detergents, cosmetics, make up and anything you put on your skin.
A lack of exercise, poor diet and dehydration are all bad for your skin. Every cell in your body, not just the skin needs oxygen, water and nutrients to thrive, and if you don’t have these you can see it in your skin.
So how much of what you put on your skin actually gets absorbed into the bloodstream?
It depends. On what it actually is, the delivery, the size of the molecules, temperature, the health of your skin and your environment. Some things, like essential oils have tiny molecules and most can get right through to the blood stream, while other oils like vegetable carriers only penetrate the top layer because their molecules are much larger. Some cosmetics just evaporate and some pool just under the skin, but some, undoubtedly, do end up in the bloodstream, so it’s vitally important that you know what you’re applying to your skin.
And how do I keep my skin looking youthful, healthy and glowing?
Eat a natural diet with plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, essential fats and oils and a good source of protein. Cut down on caffeine, alcohol, processed food and seed oils and up your intake of water and fresh air.
And if you’re really interested contact me for information about 1-1 sessions on looking after your skin and my new course, Healthy Skin From the Inside Out
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