30 Amazing and Fascinating Facts About Skin | Amazing Facts 4U
- Skin is the largest organ in the human body. Average skin when stretched out is about 2 Sq. Meters.
- Skin is a versatile organ acting as a waterproof, insulating shield, guarding the body against extremes of temperature, damaging sunlight, and harmful chemicals.
- Skin also exudes antibacterial substances that prevent infection and manufactures vitamin D for converting calcium into healthy bones. Skin is a huge sensor packed with nerves for keeping the brain in touch with the outside world. At the same time, it also allows us free movement.
- Our skin has basically 3 layers . The outer epidermis is dead skin but waterproof. The middle dermis holds hair and sweat glands and the innermost subcutis which has fat and large vessels and nerves.
- Extent to which skin can be stretched differs from region to region.
- The thickest skin is found on soles of feet (about 1.5 mm ) while thinnest skin is found on eyelids ( About .02 mm).
- Amazing fact is that the human skin contains about 45 miles of nerves.
- Amazingly in one square inch of our hand we have nine feet of blood vessels, 600 pain sensors, 9000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors and 75 pressure sensors.
- Amazing fact is that every square inch of skin on the human body has about 32 million bacteria on it but the vast majority of them are harmless.
- Humans are the only primates that don’t have pigment in the palms of their hands.
- Amazingly horns, hoofs, hair (fur), feathers and scales are evolutionary adaptations of the epidermis , the outer layer of skin.
- Amazing fact is that humans have about 2 to 3 million sweat glands, which can produce up to 3 liters of sweat on a hot day. A pair of feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce half a litre of sweat a day. Your body releases wastes and toxins through sweat.
- Fact is sweat is actually odorless. Odor is due to bacteria on the skin eating and digesting fatty compounds.
- The glands that produce wax in ear are nothing but specialized sweat glands.
- Amazingly every 28 days your full skin is replaced. Every minute you shed about 30000 to 40000 dead cells. This is equivalent to shedding 4 kg a year. In fact 50 % of the dust in your home is dead skin.
- Each hair has a small muscle pili which is responsible for raising hair during cold or in heightened emotional state.
- Fact is an average human has 100000 hair follicles on the scalp. You lose around 50 to 100 hairs a day.
- Straight hair lies flat because it is round and grows out of round follicles. Curly hair comes out of an oval follicle.
- Scar tissue lack sweat glands and hair.
- Amazing fact is that your skin is home to at least 1000 different types of bacteria.
- Amazingly on an average 14 species of fungi live between your toes.
- Amazingly only about 7 % of skin cells are melanocytes which are responsible for your skin color.
- It takes 6 months for babies to develop their permanent skin tone.
- White skin appeared on humans just 20,000 to 50,000 years ago, as dark-skinned humans migrated to colder climates and lost much of their melanin pigment.
- 1 in 110,000 people suffer from albinism , a genetic disorder . They lack melanocytes.
- We get wrinkles in our skin after exposure to water due to absorption of water by dead skin cells. Wrinkly skin also increase the surface area of the skin.
- Fact is acne is the result of overproduction of cells that line the sweat glands. Over production of sebaceous oils block skin follicles.
- Fingernails grow 0.1 millimeters each day and toenails grow 1 millimeter a month. Fingernails grow faster than toenails, and nails grow faster during the summer than the winter.
- Touch receptors called Meissner corpuscles , concentrated in the fingertips and palms, lips and tongue are amazingly sensitive to a pressure of just 20 milligrams, the weight of a fly.
- Excessive exposure to sun can lead to skin cancer. Health professionals recommend the “ABCD’s” of early detection for skin cancer. Check for Asymmetry (unequal shape), Border (look for edges that are blurry or scalloped), Color (if the color on it varies) and Diameter (if it is bigger that 1/4 of an inch).
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