Our All-Encompassing Skin
Skin, what does it actually do? We know it covers us, but since the body doesn’t waste resources, it must do other things as well. Join me as we investigate the largest organ of the body, what it means to us, and what functions healthy skin provides for us. This will not be an investigation of skin diseases but an exploration into better understanding healthy skin.
Functions of the Skin:
Protection -
Our skin provides us with several forms of protection. First, it holds in all our fluids and acts as a waterproof layer to the outside. Our skin is quite selective in what can be absorbed across it, and this is a good thing. You may be familiar with topical medications such as nicotine patches and hormonal creams that deliver medications into the body, so some substances do cross the skin and enter the blood stream. Alcohol increases skin absorption for 24 hours after ingestion, and pharmaceutical companies create penetration enhancing methods to deliver more medications into the skin. What else can cross this barrier?
Fat soluble substances like carbon dioxide, oxygen, hormones, fat soluble vitamins (A,D,K,E)
Resins of some plants like poison ivy and poison oak
Solvents such as acetone, dry-cleaning fluids, and paint thinner which dissolve our fatty cell membranes. (1)
Salts of heavy metals such as lead and mercury
Some drugs like nicotine and nitroglycerine
Castor and Jojoba oil
Another form of protection is shock absorption and armor for our delicate internal structures. We scrape and bruise our skin pretty regularly, or at least I do, these are impacts that stay at the surface protecting our vital organs beneath. A scrape on the skin is much less painful and easier to heal from than a scraped bone or ligament not to mention the damage that could be done to our blood vessels and nerves. Thank you skin!
Protection from infection. This one is pretty easy to imagine, but it gets even more detailed. Not only does skin provide a physical barrier to invaders, it is teeming with beneficial bacteria that help keep our skin at an acidic pH (our acid mantel) and crowd out other bugs. We also have immune cells called Dendritic cells that are constantly moving through our skin layers looking for any stray invaders that found a way in (cut/scratch) and getting ready to trigger a full immune response should we need one.
Temperature regulation is another form of protection offered by our skin. When we are too cold, we develop goose bumps and blood is directed deeper into our body. When we are hot, blood is directed to the surface of our skin to radiate off and we sweat. The evaporation of our sweat off our bodies is a great cooling method if a bit sticky.
Interface with the World
Our skin is one of our main ways of interacting with the world around us and those in it. We can sense changes in temperature, pressure, pain, wind moving, and pleasure. The sensation of touch is quite important for us and this is even displayed in the structure of our brains. The areas of our bodies that we use to feel: hands, feet, lips, and genitals occupy much more space in the sensory portion of our brains than other areas. Healthy skin allows us to better feel the world around us.
Elimination
Sweat, oils, rashes - these are all ways we eliminate substances our body no longer needs or never needed in the first place. Healthy sweat doesn’t stink. Healthy oils keep our skin supple and don’t cause acne. Skin rashes are either an inflammatory reaction to something we touched or our body responding to something off in our internal environment.
A Reflection of our Inner Selves
We decorate our skin liberally in our culture. Makeup, piercings, tattoos, strategic items of clothing, we use all of these as a way to express the unseen inner workings of what makes us who we are. Similarly, the state of our skin communicates our level of health for all to see.
There are religious and spiritual aspects of our relationship with our skin. In some cultures, tattoos must be earned and are a mark of pride; while in others, tattoos are seen as an insult to the temple of the body. Skin adornment can be a mark of cultural belonging or a protest against the culture one was born into. We use our skin in so many ways to communicate with the world. Have any doubts, watch a drag show and you will see the power that can be invoked in changing one’s outward appearance.
Creation of Vitamin D
Vitamin D is such a funny name for this hormonal substance that our body makes. In the skin, we use sunlight to convert cholesterol into pre-vitamin D.
Yep, cholesterol - it' is much more important than the nightly news gives it credit for. Men sure like their testosterone and progesterone is vital in early pregnancy all sex hormones are made from cholesterol as is cortisol which wakes us up in the morning and gets us moving.
What does Vitamin D do?
Helps move calcium into our bones
Is involved in immune function - including natural cancer prevention pathways
Is involved in cholesterol synthesis in the liver
Is involved in our moods and clarity of thought - ever experience Seasonal Affective Disorder? Try having your vitamin D levels tested and supplementing as recommended during the Winter months.
Plays a role in heart health - low levels increase your risk of heart disease and hypertension (2)
Plays a role in blood sugar regulation - low levels increase your risk of developing diabetes (2)
As you can see, our skin is truly something special. It is always in communication with our deeper structures sending feedback about the world around us. Newer studies are revealing interesting new information about how our skin and immune systems interact and change with each other which has big implications for conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, and other immune system driven skin disorders. We should all revel in each inch of healthy skin we have and do our best to keep it functioning optimally. This means being carful about what we put onto it, making sure we get enough sun to make Vitamin D but not so much we end up burning, and understanding how our overall health affects our skin and vice versa.
Remember, healthy skin starts in the gut. Need some pointers on gut health? Check out my series on Flaxseeds and Dandelion for a jumping off point. Ready for the next steps or need one on one guidance? Schedule a visit with me or your local Naturopathic Physician the experts in natural medicine.
Remember, Naturopathic Physicians treat the whole person not just one system or complaint at a time. I hope you are beginning to see how all aspects of ourselves are interwoven and cannot be effectively treated in isolation. I hope you can also see how using topical treatments neglects the causes of skin issues and just ends up making you sicker longer. Let’s stop playing hide and seek with our symptoms and get down to the business or healing.
To Our Health
References
Marieb, E., Hoehn, K., Human Anatomy & Physiology, Ninth Edition, 2013, Pearson Education, Inc
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/15050-vitamin-d--vitamin-d-deficiency
