Anatomy of Skin
Anatomy of Skin
The skin is composed of the epidermis and the dermis. Below these layers lies the hypodermis. The hypodermis is also commonly referred to as subcutaneous fat, or subcutaneous tissue. The outermost epidermis is made up of stratified squamous epithelium.
It contains no blood vessels and is nourished by diffusion from the dermis. The main cell in the epidermis is the keratinocyte. The epidermis of skin is responsible for keeping water in the body and keeping harmful chemicals and pathogens outside our body. The dermis lies beneath the epidermis and contains a number of structures, including blood vessels, nerves, hair follicles, smooth muscles, glands and lymphatic tissue.
The skin is a vital organ that covers the entire outside of the body, forming a protective barrier against pathogens and injuries from the environment. The skin is the body’s largest organ; covering the entire outside of the body.
About the Dermis
The dermis is typically three to five millimeters thick and is the major component of human skin. It is composed of a network of connective tissue, predominantly collagen fibrils providing support and elastin fibers, which make the skin elastic and provide flexibility. The main cell in the dermis is the fibroblast. The fibroblast produces collagen which gives our skin firmness and elastin, which allows the skin to be elastic and flexible, and glycosaminoglycan which makes the skin hydrated. The only cell in your body that can produce a fibroblast is the mesenchymal stem cell.
Facial Skin Aging and Treatments
Facial skin aging occurs as a result of several factors: the gradual loss of fibroblast in the dermis is the main cause of skin aging, other causes are the effects of gravity, facial muscles acting on the skin (dynamic lines), loss of subcutaneous fat. The main cause of skin aging is the gradual loss of fibroblast. The fibroblast is the only cell that can produce collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycan. Collagen protein is what gives the skin firmness and strength, elastin is a protein that gives the skin elasticity, and glycosaminoglycan is the protein that provides fluid and moisture in the skin. Without these three proteins produced by the fibroblast, the skin loses elasticity, firmness, and moisture. This results in wrinkling, especially in the forehead, around the eyes, the lips, and a shift where the face basically shifts downward to increase the nasal labial lines from your nose to your lips on either side in a punching [ph] of the neck skin, and also wrinkling on the dorsum of your hands. Environmental factors, especially exposure to ultraviolet radiation and smoking, greatly increases the appearance of skin aging. The only cell that can produce a fibroblast is the mesenchymal stem cell.
Treatments for facial skin aging are numerous. These can include Botox, which can reduce wrinkling for a period of months. The use of various fillers to decrease the deepening lines in the face. There are numerous facial creams with various growth factors, retinoid, and various moisturizers. Other procedures include dermal abrasion, puncturing of the skin with a dermapen, and various laser treatments. The use of stem cell creams is becoming increasingly popular. These creams generally come from plants or fruits and provide growth factors to stimulate the fibroblast to produce collagen, elastin, and glycosaminoglycan. The only way to increase the number of fibroblasts in your dermis is to either inject the dermis with living fibroblasts, or mesenchymal stem cells. The obvious advantage of injecting mesenchymal stem cells into the dermis is that the stem cell can reproduce itself, so you have a ready supply of mesenchymal stem cells for years or perhaps your lifetime. These cells then differentiate into fibroblast, which produce the proteins, collagen, elastin and glycosaminoglycan to slow down or prevent aging.