Skintelligent by Natalia Spierings EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Natalia Spierings
- Language: English
- Genre: Dermatology
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 8.4 MB
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The Structure of the Skin
We are going to begin our journey through the structure and function of the
skin from the top – the stratum corneum – and get right down to the fat (the
subcutaneous tissue, that is). I think it is incredibly important to get a
handle on the fundamentals of skin because these terms and ideas are used
so often by Big Skincare to market and sell products. If you understand
them, you will be able to appreciate how so much of what is sold to you
doesn’t really make much sense.
First up though, we need to discuss what normal skin is. As you can
probably see by looking around you, there is a range of what people
consider to be ‘normal skin’ throughout the world. However, for the
purpose of this book, it does need a definition. When I am dealing with a
patient, here is how I define ‘normal skin’: it has a ‘regularly irregular’
surface – take a second to reread that. Regularly irregular. The surface of
the skin is composed of skin cells, with intervening hairs, sweat ducts and
oil glands. It is gently undulating, but still reflects light in a way that makes
it appear relatively smooth. Normal skin can be mildly pigmented (with
brown spots on it like freckles) and it can range in colour from very pale,
almost translucent white, to very dark brown. It can also be slightly red- or
yellow-tinged, depending on your ethnic background or any skin issues that
may be present.
Normal skin is slightly oily in the centre of the face and perhaps a little
drier towards the outside. This is what people refer to as ‘combination’ skin
– when in fact we all have combination skin to a certain degree. Some
people are just oilier in their mid-face area (the ‘T zone’).
As time passes and we chronologically age and are exposed to the world
around us (sun, smoking, stress), skin changes, though to me it still stays
within a range of ‘normal’ (as long as no skin disease is present) with fine
lines and deeper lines developing around the eyes, the mouth and the
forehead. Pigmentation spots can appear and get darker and little blood
vessels can become more prominent on the nose and cheeks of lighterskinned people. These are all still normal changes – though we may not like them!
Many patients come to see me worrying that their skin barrier is ‘weak’
or ‘damaged’ and looking for advice on how to ‘repair’ it, when in fact they
have perfectly normal, healthy skin. The fact is that if you have normal,
healthy skin, your skin barrier is certainly intact and using too many
products intended to ‘strengthen’ it can do more harm than good. Let’s
understand why, by exploring the stratum corneum’s structure and function.
THE STRATUM CORNEUM
To understand how skincare products do or do not ‘work’ (and to make
sense of the marketing jargon surrounding each and every lotion, potion and
ingredient), we need to make sense of the stratum corneum. The stratum
corneum is the very top of the skin – it’s the part you see and feel.
The thickness of the stratum corneum ranges from 10 to 20μm – that’s
the thickness of clingfilm – and it contains 15 per cent water. At a very
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