Skin

Everyone has skin. Whatever colour it is, or how smooth or wrinkled it is, we take it for granted. But God gave us skin for a reason. God created Adam and Even with skin, like all humans today still have. But He also used skin (probably animal skin) to make the first clothes for the first humans.

"Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21).

The Bible also has many examples of people using an animal skin as a container for wine or other liquids, before glass bottles became commonplace.

Our human skin covers an area of about 1.5-2.0 m² and comprises 15 to 20% of a person’s body weight. The skin is the body’s largest organ. This protective covering acts as a barrier against pollution, radiation, the elements, harmful microorganisms, and physical trauma.

But that’s not all it does: skin locks in the body’s moisture, which keeps inner organs and muscles from drying out. To ensure that the body doesn’t develop vitamin D-deficiency diseases such as rickets, the skin manufactures vitamin D from sunlight. Skin also helps regulate body temperature by sweating to cool things off and conserving heat when the air grows chilly. And, thanks to its many nerve endings, skin is responsible for our sense of touch, which allows us to sense pain, pressure, temperature, and pleasure.

Skin guards against heat loss in an ingenious way: by constricting its blood vessels. This conserves heat-giving energy, which is needed by the vital inner organs.

Skin is composed of three layers. The top layer is called the epidermis. It measures less than 1 millimetre in thickness everywhere except on the palms and soles (where it is thicker) and the eyelids and inner elbows (where it is thinner). It is in the epidermis that new skin cells are created and melanin - ­the pigment that gives your skin its unique color - is produced.

The dermis is skin’s middle layer. It lies under the epidermis and is where skin’s collagen and elastin fibers are located. These fibres give structure to the skin. However, they lose their resilience as we age, causing skin to grow slack and creased. Blood vessels, oil or sebum glands, nerve fibers, hair follicles, and muscle cells are also found in the dermis. Skin’s bottom layer is the subcutis. It acts as a reservoir for water and fat cells, and serves as a cushion between the upper layers of skin and the body’s bones and muscles.

(Some information taken from http://www.skincarecity.com/blog/7/what-is-skin/