A

SKIN

The skin is the biggest organ in the body

Layers of skin

THE SKIN is formed by 3 layers - epidermis, dermis and hypoderm.

The epidermis is the layer responsible for the formation of our nails, hair and glands, which produces sweat and the necessary oils for hydration.

B

Representation of the sensitive homunculus on the postcentral gyrus

Did you know? Neurologists represented the human body on sensitive and motor portions of the brain proportionally to the neural areas responsible for the sensitive capacity and the motor function of the body, as you can see in the figure, and named it the “sensitive homunculus” or “motor homunculus” whether on the post or precentral gyrus.

The feet, the hands and the mouth are regions which have a great quantity of sensitive receptors, besides motor functions. 

C

Meissner’s corpuscles; Intra-epithelial free neural terminations; Krause’s corpuscules; Vater-Pacini’s corpuscules. THE SKIN has specialized receptors for many sensations: pain, tickles and pleasure (free neural terminations), temperature (Krause’s corpuscles), pressure (Vater-Pacini’s corpuscles) and touch (Meissner’s corpuscles).

D

Sudoriparous gland producing sweat

Sweat is produced by the human organism in a way to expel heat, whenever the body’s temperature is above normal. And how do you expel heat?

Your skin is renewed every one or two months without you noticing. The most damaged cells are replaced by new one that starts to flatten as it arrives at the surface.

Your hair-raising in a cold day occurs because the hair has a muscle that raises it, forming a surface of air that work as a thermal isolator.

E

Sun rays make the skin thin and sensitive

THE SKIN is the biggest organ in the human body and it’s about 16% of our overall weight. For example: a 60 kg person weighs approximately 10 kg of skin. Make your calculations and find out your skin’s weight.

When you get older, your skin gets thinner and more sensitive, due to prolonged exposure to the sun.