SKIN

● The largest organ, is a sensory organ, helps in the making of vit D.

● Has 3 layers epidermis, dermis and the hypodermis, each having
different anatomy and functions.
● An intricately structured network that acts as the initial barrier against
uv rays, pathogens, injury and chemicals. It also regulates temp and
amount of water let out of the body.

EPIDERMIS:
● The outermost layer of our skin
● Varies in thickness smallest in the eyelids and largest in the palm
and soles. 1 and 1.5 mm accordingly
● Various types of disorders:
○ Acne
○ dandruff
○ Eczema
○ Melanoma. skin cancer, symptoms hard to find
○ Boils
● 5 layers in this:
○ Stratum corneum : topmost layer of the epidermis
■ Function: keep the pathogens away, retain moisture,
uv rays, bacteria, fungi, chemicals.
■ Made up of flattened cells called keratinocytes, this
shreds about 1ce every 2 weeks
■ Keratinocytes are producers of keratin, a fibrous
protein present in the nails, hair and skin, it helps in
their structure.
○ Stratum Lucidum: a separate transparent layer [present
only in some areas]
■ Helps in the degeneration of cells through the help of
a certain protein.
■ It is responsible for the elasticity of the skin
■ It keeps the body waterproof
■ It protects the palm and soles from friction
■ It is made up of dead flattened keratinocyte cells
○ Stratum granulosum :
■ Bulging (towards the surface) keratinocyte cells
■ Waterproof due to the presence of lipids, these lipids
also ensure that no fluids exit through skin. And
protect the skin.
 ■ The cells in this layer are more like the dead skin
cells of the outermost part of the skin as they start to
lose their structure.
■ Granules are present on this layer of the skin
■ Helps in the keratin maintenance
○ Stratum spinosum:
■ The thickest part of the epidermis
■ Has: desmosomes, newly formed keratinocytes,
dendritic cells, langerhans cells that help fight
infection
■ Main wall that helps keep the pathogens outside
○ Stratum basale:
■ Innermost layer of the epidermis
■ Has imp types of cells:
● Colum- a shaped stem cell that pushes the
older keratinocytes to the surface where they
later flatten out nd die.
● Merkel cells- the warrior behind the sense of
touch.
● Melanocytes: responsible behind pigment.
● DERMIS
○ PAPILLARY DERMIS: The upper layer of dermis that
consists the capillaries
■ Help regulate the temp
■ Provide essential nutrients O 2 to epidermis and
removes CO2 and other wastes
● Contains: meissner corpuscles. Receptors to
the sense of touch & lamellar corpuscles. The
receptors to vibration and pressure.
○ RETICULAR DERMIS: The reticular dermis is the thick,
lower layer.
■ The place where collagen is present.
■ Nd tissues
■ Collagen very imp provides strength and elasticity to
skin.
■ Thickness varies 0.6 mm eyelids approx to 3 mm feet
● HYPODERMIS:
○ The innermost layer of skin
■ Also called subcutaneous tissue
■ Made up of : fat connective tissue, Larger blood
vessels, Nerves
 ■ Majority of the fat in ones body is stored here
■ Insulates against changing temps
■ Protects your internal organs and muscles from falls
and impacts and tissue underneath
■ Functions
● Storage of fats
● Smooth contours appearance to the body
● The contraction and dilation of the B.V.
regulates the temp
● Deep pressure sensor
● Serves as the attachment point for bones,
muscles, and other organs to the skin
● Produces a hormone called leptin that keeps
the body's metabolism in homeostasis
● Conditions that affect the subcutaneous layer
of the skin include:
○ Bedsores
○ Hypothermia
○ Panniculitis
○ Sarcoidosis
○ Third-degree burns
○ Tumours

GLANDS
● 3 glands present in the skin:
○ Sebaceous gland: a skin organ that produces sebum. 2 types of
sebaceous glands:
● Ones attached on the hair follicles: majority have
openings here. Its function is to produce and release
sebum.
● Ones not attached to the hair follicles: works with
the sweat glands to open at the surface of the skin to
release sebum
■ Present on the dermis layer of the skin. We don't have
sebaceous glands on our palms and soles of the feet.
■ Most on hair nd face
■ Sebum : An oily substance made up of lipids like
cholesterol, fatty acids, glycerides, squalene, wax its
functions are:
● Prevents moisture loss nd brittle hair
● It is a natural lubricant that prevents things from
rubbing against one's skin
● Acts as a protective layer from infections and fungi,
it aslo contributes to our body odour.
○ Anatomy : If you hold a penny between your pointer finger
and your thumb with the face pointing toward yours, the
shape of your finger and thumb look like the outline of a
sebaceous gland. The penny is the opening of the sebaceous
gland, which is where your gland secrets sebum into your hair
follicle. Inside the sebaceous gland are several cells that create
sebum (epithelial cells).
○ Sweat gland :
■ Small coiled tubes in the skin that produce sweat
■ Also called sudoriferous or sudoriparous glands
■ An endocrine gland that secretes substances into the
epithelial surface.
■ Composition:
● Water mostly
● Small amts of sodium, potassium, calcium,
magnesium
■ Imp for regulation of body temp. Found all over the body.
■ Types:
● eccrine gland: simple coiled tabular glands present
throughout the body. They are most numerous on the
soles of the feet.Responsible for thermoregulation all
over the body they do it by:
○ Evaporation of heat
○ Emotionally induced sweating
 ● Apocrine glands: responsible for the production of a thick milky
fluid that cause body odour
● Are large branched glands.
● It secretes the secretary products by budding of the cells
● Found in armpits, groin and breast
● Secrete periodically and are activated by nerve ending
What Are Nails?
Nails are plates of hardened protein packed into layers. Nails support and
protect the sensitive tips of our fingers and toes. We use our nails for many
tasks, like picking up small objects, scratching an itch, and untying a knot.

What Are the Different Parts of Nails?

Nails have many parts:

● The matrix (MAY-triks) is the area at the base of the nail that makes
new cells.
● The lunula (LOON-yuh-luh) is the white part of the matrix that looks
like a crescent moon.
● The nail plate is the largest part of the nail. It looks pink from the
network of tiny blood vessels in the skin beneath it.
 ● The nail bed is underneath the nail plate.
● Nail folds are the areas of skin around the nail plate that hold it in
place.
● The cuticle (KYOO-tih-kul) is the thin layer of skin that comes from the
nail fold near the lunula and attaches to the nail plate.

How Do Nails Grow?

Cells grow in the matrix at the base of the nail. As new cells are made, they
move up to the surface of the skin and push the older cells up and forward
toward the tip of a finger or toe. The cells get pressed tightly together to
make a thin plate. Plates pile into layers to form the nail. During this process
the cells become hard and die. This hardening is called keratinization
(kair-eh-tih-neh-ZAY-shen).

If an injury causes a nail to tear off, the nail will grow back if the matrix isn't
severely injured.

Hair grows all over the outside of our bodies, except on the palms of the
hands, soles of the feet, and lips. It also grows in the nose, ears, and around
the eyes.

Hair does a few different jobs depending on where it’s located:

● Hair on the head and body helps keep us warm.

● Eyelashes help keep dust and other particles out of the eyes.
● Eyebrows protect the eyes from sweat and other liquids (like water
spraying from a shower). They also give some protection from sunlight.
● Hairs inside the nose filter out dust, pollen, and other irritating particles.

What Is Hair?
Hairs are thin strands of hardened protein packed into layers. The hard outer
layer you see is called the cuticle (KYOO-tih-kul). It protects the two softer
inside layers, the cortex (KOR-teks) and the medulla (meh-DUL-uh).
Each hair grows out of a follicle (FAHL-ih-kul), which is a sac-like pit in the
skin. At the base of the follicle is the papilla (puh-PILL-uh). This is where the
actual hair growth happens.

The root of the hair is the soft bulb at its base. The hair shaft is the part that
sticks out from the surface of the skin.

An oil gland, called a sebaceous (sih-BAY-shiss) gland, is attached to a follicle.

Oil made in these glands helps keep hair and skin from getting too dry.

Older people often have gray or white hair because their hair follicles can’t
make melanin as easily as when they were younger.

● SENSATION IN THE CUTANEOUS ORGAN

Cutaneous sensation is a sensation that is aroused by stimulation of the
skin's end organs. It's one of the five sensory modalities that Aristotle
recognized: touch, vision, hearing, smell, and taste.

The cutaneous senses are traditionally thought to have four submodalities:

Tactile, Thermal, Painful, Pruritic (itch.

However, there is growing evidence for a fifth modality that conveys positive
affective (pleasant) properties of touch.

Cutaneous sensation is mediated by receptors that are distributed in a grid

pattern in the epidermis and dermis. These receptors are innervated by
different classes of afferent nerve fibers.

Some types of cutaneous receptors include: Mechanoreceptors,

Thermoreceptors, Nociceptors, Chemoreceptors.

Some examples of cutaneous receptors include:

● Ruffini's end organ (skin stretch)

● End-bulbs of Krause (Cold)
● Meissner's corpuscle (changes in texture, slow vibrations)
 ● Pacinian corpuscle (deep pressure, fast vibrations)
● Merkel's disc (sustained touch and pressure)
● Free nerve endings

The sensory pathways for cutaneous senses cross over from the left side of
the body onto the right side of the brain and from the right side of the body to
the left brain

​ Different types of receptors

​ Mechanoreceptors
​ These receptors detect touch, pressure, and stretch. They are located in
the skin, muscles, tendons, joints, blood vessels, and hair follicles.
​ Thermoreceptors
​ These receptors detect differences in temperature. They are located
throughout the skin.
​ Nociceptors
​ These receptors detect signals from damaged tissue or the threat of
damage. They are located in the skin, muscle, joints, bone, and viscera.
​ Chemoreceptors
​ These receptors detect changes in the chemical composition of the
blood. They are located in the tongue, nose, heart, and head.

The
● WOUND HEALINGWhen the skin is injured, our body sets into motion
an automatic series of events, often referred to as the “cascade of
healing,” in order to repair the injured tissues. The cascade of healing is
 divided into these four overlapping phases: Hemostasis, Inflammatory,
Proliferative, and Maturation.
● Phase 1: Hemostasis Phase
● Hemostasis, the first phase of healing, begins at the onset of injury, and
the objective is to stop the bleeding. In this phase, the body activates its
emergency repair system, the blood clotting system, and forms a dam to
block the drainage. During this process, platelets come into contact with
collagen, resulting in activation and aggregation. An enzyme called
thrombin is at the center, and it initiates the formation of a fibrin mesh,
which strengthens the platelet clumps into a stable clot.
● Phase 2: Defensive/Inflammatory Phase
● If Phase 1 is primarily about coagulation, the second phase, called the
Defensive/Inflammatory Phase, focuses on destroying bacteria and
removing debris—essentially preparing the wound bed for the growth of
new tissue.

●
● The 4 phases of wound healing. Healing begins with Hemostasis.
● During Phase 2, a type of white blood cells called neutrophils enter the
wound to destroy bacteria and remove debris. These cells often reach
their peak population between 24 and 48 hours after injury, reducing
greatly in number after three days. As the white blood cells leave,
specialized cells called macrophages arrive to continue clearing debris.
These cells also secrete growth factors and proteins that attract immune
system cells to the wound to facilitate tissue repair. This phase often lasts
four to six days and is often associated with edema, erythema (reddening
of the skin), heat and pain.
● Phase 3: Proliferative Phase
● Once the wound is cleaned out, the wound enters Phase 3, the
Proliferative Phase, where the focus is to fill and cover the wound.
 ● The Proliferative phase features three distinct stages: 1) filling the wound;
2) contraction of the wound margins; and 3) covering the wound
(epithelialization).
● During the first stage, shiny, deep red granulation tissue fills the wound
bed with connective tissue, and new blood vessels are formed. During
contraction, the wound margins contract and pull toward the center of the
wound. In the third stage, epithelial cells arise from the wound bed or
margins and begin to migrate across the wound bed in leapfrog fashion
until the wound is covered with epithelium. The Proliferative phase often
lasts anywhere from four to 24 days.
● Phase 4: Maturation Phase
● During the Maturation phase, the new tissue slowly gains strength and
flexibility. Here, collagen fibers reorganize, the tissue remodels and
matures and there is an overall increase in tensile strength (though
maximum strength is limited to 80% of the pre-injured strength). The
Maturation phase varies greatly from wound to wound, often lasting
anywhere from 21 days to two years.
● The healing process is remarkable and complex, and it is also susceptible
to interruption due to local and systemic factors, including moisture,
infection, and maceration (local); and age, nutritional status, body type
(systemic). When the right healing environment is established, the body
works in wondrous ways to heal and replace devitalized tissue.

Aging

How does our skin age?

Skin aging is a complex biological process influenced by combination of

endogenous or intrinsic (genetics, cellular metabolism, hormone and
metabolic processes) and exogenous or extrinsic (chronic light exposure,
pollution, ionizing radiation, chemicals, toxins) factors.These factors lead
together to cumulative structural and physiological alterations and
progressive changes in each skin layer as well as changes in skin appearance,
especially, on the sun-exposed skin areas

Skin that has aged due to intrinsic factors (mostly sun protected skin) will be
thin and atrophic, finely wrinkled and dry while that due to sun damage
shows a thickened epidermis, mottled discoloration, deep wrinkles, laxity,
dullness and roughness.Although the fundamental mechanisms are still
poorly understood, a growing body of evidence points toward the
involveHow does our skin age?
Skin aging is a complex biological process influenced by combination of
endogenous or intrinsic (genetics, cellular metabolism, hormone and
metabolic processes) and exogenous or extrinsic (chronic light exposure,
pollution, ionizing radiation, chemicals, toxins) factors.These factors lead
together to cumulative structural and physiological alterations and
progressive changes in each skin layer as well as changes in skin appearance,
especially, on the sun-exposed skin areas

Skin that has aged due to intrinsic factors (mostly sun protected skin) will be
thin and atrophic, finely wrinkled and dry while that due to sun damage
shows a thickened epidermis, mottled discoloration, deep wrinkles, laxity,
dullness and roughness.Although the fundamental mechanisms are still
poorly understood, a growing body of evidence points toward the
involvement of multiple pathways in the generation of aged skin.

The primary structural components of the dermis are collagen, elastin and
glycosaminoglycans have been the subjects of the majority of anti-aging
research and efforts for aesthetic-anti-aging treatments pertaining to the
skin, from”anti-wrinkle creams” to various filling agents.

Skin changes that come with age

These changes reflect not only the alterations in the skin per se but also
fluctuations in tissues beneath the skin. Together they convey the effects of
aging.
Skin changes that occur naturally as we age:

1. Rough or coarser skin.

2. Loss of elastin causes the skin to sag or become slack.
3. Skin becomes more transparent. This is caused by thinning of the
epidermis (surface layer of the skin).
4. Skin becomes more fragile. This is caused by a flattening of the area
where the epidermis and dermis (layer of skin under the epidermis)
come together.
5. Skin becomes more easily bruised. This is due to thinner blood vessel
walls.
6. Skin develops lesions such as benign tumors (seen in mostly
fairer/Caucasian skin)
Changes below the skin also become evident as we age. They include:

1. Loss of fat below the skin in the cheeks, temples, chin, nose, and eye
area may result in loosening skin, sunken eyes, and a “skeletal”
appearance.
2. Bone loss, mostly around the mouth and chin, may become evident
after age 60 and cause puckering of the skin around the mouth.
3. Cartilage loss in the nose causes drooping of the nasal tip and
accentuation of the bony structures in the nose.
ment of multiple pathways in the generation of aged skin.

The primary structural components of the dermis are collagen, elastin and
glycosaminoglycans have been the subjects of the majority of anti-aging
research and efforts for aesthetic-anti-aging treatments pertaining to the
skin, from”anti-wrinkle creams” to various filling agents.

Skin changes that come with age

These changes reflect not only the alterations in the skin per se but also
fluctuations in tissues beneath the skin. Together they convey the effects of
aging.

Skin changes that occur naturally as we age:

1. Rough or coarser skin.

2. Loss of elastin causes the skin to sag or become slack.
 3. Skin becomes more transparent. This is caused by thinning of the
epidermis (surface layer of the skin).
4. Skin becomes more fragile. This is caused by a flattening of the area
where the epidermis and dermis (layer of skin under the epidermis)
come together.
5. Skin becomes more easily bruised. This is due to thinner blood vessel
walls.
6. Skin develops lesions such as benign tumors (seen in mostly
fairer/Caucasian skin)
Changes below the skin also become evident as we age. They include:

1. Loss of fat below the skin in the cheeks, temples, chin, nose, and eye
area may result in loosening skin, sunken eyes, and a “skeletal”
appearance.
2. Bone loss, mostly around the mouth and chin, may become evident
after age 60 and cause puckering of the skin around the mouth.
3. Cartilage loss in the nose causes drooping of the nasal tip and
accentuation of the bony structures in the nose.

SKELETAL SYSTEM
●
 REMEMBER
Collagen is a type of protein that humans and animals produce naturally. It’s
a fibre that connects tissues, keeping them strong and resilient and
preventing them from stretching.