Skin Facts
- The skin covering the body of a newborn baby has an area of
about 2500 cm². By the time the baby has grown up it may
have to cover 18000 cm² (1.8 square metres - about the size
of a shower curtain). If the baby grows up to be very tall or
very fat, it can be considerably more.
- The skin of an average woman weighs about 3 kg, and that of
an average man perhaps 5 kg.
- The thickness of the skin varies, depending on its site on the
body. It is thinnest on the eyelids and thickest on the palms
of the hands and the soles of the feet.
Over most of the body the skin carries hairs, but in most people
these are not very noticeable except on the head, eyebrows, eyelids,
face, armpits and groin. In some dark-haired people the hairs on
the forearms and legs (and, in men, the chest) may be visible. Shaving
leg hair is common in some cultures.
There are sweat glands all over the skin,
opening at tiny pores on the surface; in certain areas, such as
the armpit, they are particularly prominent.
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| Thick
skin on the palms of the hands can withstand considerable wear
and tear... |
|
| ...and
may develop callouses (patches of hard, horny skin) to protect
the structures beneath. |
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The delicate skin around the eyes undergoes some marked changes
over the years: this shows the non-wrinkled skin around the eyes of an eight-year-old...
