THE SKIN

The skin is the largest organ of the body, with a total area of about 20 square feet. The
skin protects us from microbes and the elements, helps regulate body temperature, and
permits the sensations of touch, heat, and cold.

SKIN HAS THREE LAYERS:

 The epidermis, the outermost layer of skin, provides a waterproof barrier and
creates our skin tone.

 The dermis, beneath the epidermis, contains tough connective tissue, hair
follicles, and sweat glands.

 The deeper subcutaneous tissue (hypodermis) is made of fat and connective

tissue.

The skin’s color is created by special cells called melanocytes, which produce the
pigment melanin. Melanocytes are located in the epidermis.
Epidermis: The upper or outer layer of the two main layers of cells that make up the skin.
The epidermis is mostly made up of flat, scale-like cells called squamous cells. Under the
squamous cells are round cells called basal cells. The deepest part of the epidermis also
contains melanocytes. These cells produce melanin, which gives the skin its color.
The other main layer of the skin is the dermis, the inner layer of skin that contains blood
and lymph vessels, hair follicles, and glands. These glands produce sweat, which helps
regulate body temperature, and sebum, an oily substance that helps keep the skin from
drying out. Sweat and sebum reach the skin's surface through tiny openings called pores.

Dermis: The lower or inner layer of the two main layers of cells that make up the skin.
The dermis contains blood vessels, lymph vessels, hair follicles, and glands that
produce sweat, which helps regulate body temperature, and sebum, an
oily substance that helps keep the skin from drying out. Sweat and sebum reach the
skin's surface through tiny openings in the skin that act as pores.

Sweat gland, either of two types of secretory skin glands occurring only in mammals.
The eccrine sweat gland, which is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system,
regulates body temperature. When internal temperature rises, the eccrine glands
secrete water to the skin surface, where heat is removed by evaporation. If eccrine
glands are active over most of the body (as in horses, bears, and humans), they are major
thermoregulatory devices. In other animals (dogs, cats, cattle, and sheep), they are
active only on the pads of the paws or along the lip margins and may be entirely absent
over the rest of the body; such animals often depend on panting for effective
temperature control. Smaller mammals, such as rodents, cannot endure dehydration
and hence possess no eccrine glands at all.

Apocrine sweat glands, which are usually associated with hair follicles, continuously
secrete a fatty sweat into the gland tubule. Emotional stress causes the tubule wall to
contract, expelling the fatty secretion to the skin, where local bacteria break it down
into odorous fatty acids. In human beings, apocrine glands are concentrated in the
underarm and in genital regions; the glands are inactive until they are stimulated by
hormonal changes in puberty. In other mammals, apocrine glands are more numerous.
Certain specialized glands, such as mammary glands, wax-secreting glands of the ear
canal, and many mammalian scent glands, probably developed from modified apocrine
glands.

Sebaceous gland, small oil-producing gland present in the skin of mammals. Sebaceous
glands are usually attached to hair follicles and release a fatty substance, sebum, into
the follicular duct and thence to the surface of the skin. The glands are distributed over
the entire body with the exception of the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet;
they are most abundant on the scalp and face.

The sebaceous gland secretes a mixture of fats (triglycerides, wax esters, squalene, and
cholesterol) and cellular debris, which is discharged as sebum through the sebaceous
duct connecting the gland to the hair follicle. Sebum helps to form the slightly greasy
surface film of the skin; it thus helps keep the skin flexible and prevents the skin’s loss
of absorption of excessive amounts of water.

Sebaceous glands begin to form from embryonic hair follicles during the fourth month
of gestation and are large and well-developed at birth. They shrink during childhood but
enlarge again with the onset of puberty; the maturation of the glands seems to be
dependent on circulating levels of male hormones, in particular testosterone.

The sebaceous glands are involved in the development of the common adolescent skin
disorder known as acne vulgaris. Acne occurs when the outlet from the gland to the
surface of the skin is plugged, allowing sebum to accumulate in the follicle and
sebaceous duct. The chemical breakdown of triglycerides in the sebum, possibly by
bacterial action, releases free fatty acids, which in turn trigger an inflammatory reaction
producing the typical lesions (pimples) of acne.

References

https://www.britannica.com/science/sweat-gland