Skincare

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13.     The dead outer cells containing keratin are constantly shed from the skin surface. Feeding on the leftovers stuck on the keratin, a group of harmless microbes live on the skin, which have adapted to its acidic medium. These microbes attack all kinds of foreign bodies to protect their feeding site. In one experiment, the typhoid bacteria, Salmonella typhi, was smeared on human skin and, within twenty minutes, was completely destroyed by the beneficial resident bacteria. The same Salmonella typhi smeared on a glass slide, after twenty minutes, had remained and reproduced. Though we can’t see or feel our tiny resident skin microbes, they wriggle around, constantly fighting territorial battles against other, often harmful, microbes.

14.     There are two main types or microbes on our skin: permanent residents and transients. Permanent microbial species live on the surface of the skin and also in deeper layers. Washing off the surface populations simply encourages microbes in the lower layers to come up. However, transient populations, which are picked up from other people or animals, are generally removed by thorough washing.

15.     Meanwhile, we produce 10 billion skin flakes – squames – daily. In a year, that amounts to over 2 kg. What happens to these? Well, remember the idea of dust-to-dust? Dust in the home is 90 percent squames, the favourite food of the peaceful dust mite. Dust mites have evolved to live with us in harmony. A double bed has 2 million dust mites. Studies have found no home, free of dust mites. These peaceful squames-munchers are the final link in the skin’s ecosystem.

Skin Functions

16.     The skin acts as a caring cover to our body and is a busy frontier handling a number of physiological functions. It performs many vital roles as both a barrier and a regulating influence between the harsh outside world and the controlled environment within our bodies. Skin’s important functions include the following:

 (i)      To regulate body temperature – Internal body temperature (core temperature) is controlled through several processes, including the combined actions of sweat production and the rate of blood flowing through the network of blood vessels within the skin. In very cold conditions, skin blood flow drops very low, retaining heat in the centre of the body and preserving the flow of warm blood to the vital organs within the chest and abdomen and to the brain.