What is the skin

Skin or skin is soft and elastic tissue that has many important functions. One of these functions is to give us information about the environment around us. Because the skin, hair and nails are the outer covering of the body, it is easy to observe changes in their appearance, whether due to skin diseases or other illness with symptoms of the skin. Inside the skin there are millions of tiny nerve endings specialized receptors that underlie the sense of touch, who feel the pressure, heat, cold and pain. In the skin there are small glands: sebaceous glands that produce a waxy substance that maintains the skin surface elastic, waterproof, sweat glands, which produce a watery liquid that cools the skin in case of excessive heat. At this temperature regulation help small blood vessels that dilate the skin if the weather is warm to dissipate heat, and the skin takes on a rosy color, and shrink if the weather is cold to conserve heat, and the skin looks pale. In the skin there are thousands of hair follicles, where there are cells that divide actively and continually produce hairs that are more developed on the scalp and pubic region. Also there are small hairs distributed throughout the body, but they are so small as to be visible to the naked eye. The nails of fingers and toes are constantly produced by cells that are actively dividing, located beneath the folds of skin located at the base of each nail. Most skin disorders, hair and nails treated here only cause changes in appearance. In some cases there are other symptoms such as itching, swelling and pain. In general however, the disorders that affect skin, hair and nails are neither serious nor dangerous to your health in general. But they can be very annoying and in some cases alter your appearance so disfiguring. The skin is made of two layers. The surface layer that is outside is a thin skin that cover and underneath the epidermis is a thicker layer, the dermis, which contains numerous specialized structures such as hair follicles and sweat glands. Below the dermis is a layer of fatty tissue called the subcutaneous fat. The surface layer of the skin, the epidermis, is very active. The cells located at its base is continually divide to produce new cells, which gradually form a hard substance, keratin. Gradually formed keratin, these cells die, and moving across the surface of the epidermis where they replace worn out cells eliminated by rubbing against clothing or while walking. In fact, any movement causes friction causes a detachment of some skin cells. The continuous production of cells underlying the epidermis is accompanied by a steady loss of cells from the skin surface itself. On average it takes approximately a month for a cell epidermal complete its journey from the base to the surface. On some parts of the body, the pressure and friction are higher, the skin is thicker and the path takes longer. Many skin problems are due to a defect in the constant turnover of skin cells. In psoriasis, for example, there is an accumulation of cell surface due to an increased cell production at the base of the epidermis.