What is skin made of?

Skin is the biggest organ of your body. An organ is a part of the body that has a specific job. Skin does a lot to keep your body healthy. It:

• Covers and protects you.
• Fights dangerous germs and stops them from getting inside the body.
• Makes melanin, the molecule that gives your skin color and helps protect the skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
• Helps keep your body at the right temperature.
• Prevents dehydration by keeping fluids inside the body.
• Gives you a sense of touch, allowing you to sense texture, pressure, and temperature.
• Makes vitamin D to help keep bones strong.
• Contains hair follicles (FAA-luh-klz), which grow hair and help repair wounds.

What is skin made of?

Like all organs in your body, skin is made of different types of cells. Cells are the smallest building blocks of life. Your body is made of trillions of cells.

Cells are very small – much smaller than a grain of rice. To better understand how tiny cells are, click here and drag the scroll bar to the right.

Skin is organized into three main layers:

• The epidermis (eh-puh-DUR-muhs) is the part of the skin you can see. At the bottom of the epidermis, where you can’t see, new skin cells are forming to replace old ones that flake off.
• The dermis (DUR-muhs) is the next layer down, hidden under your epidermis. This layer of skin has blood vessels, nerve endings, and oil and sweat glands.
• The hypodermis (hai-pow-DUR-muhs) is the deepest layer of skin. It helps you store energy and connects your skin to your muscles and bones.

The skin contains many different types of cells that work together. For example, there are:

• Immune (uh-MYOON) cells that fight germs.
• Eccrine (EH-kruhn) cells that make sweat to cool your body down when it’s hot.
• Nerve (nurv) cells that send messages to your brain to give you a sense of touch.