The adjective cutaneous literally means 'of the skin' (from Latin cutis, skin).

As the interface with the surroundings, skin plays the most important role in protecting (the body) against pathogens. Its other main functions are insulation and temperature precept, impression, and putting together of vitamin D and the passport of vitamin B folates.

Severely damaged skin will try to heal by forming scar tissue, often giving rise to discoloration and depigmentation of the skin.

The practice of consistent with nature or synthetic cosmetics to treat the appearance of the look and circumstances of the skin (such as pore control and black division cleansing) is common among many cultures. Oily skin is caused by hormonal fluctuations in the body, which lead to a DHT sensitivity. This sensitivity means that the skin begins to lose moisture and essential fat acids (linoleic acid in particular), causing thousands of skin cells to die, so the derm compensates for this loss of moisture by producing higher levels of oil. Oily skin can be cleaned rapidly with a lenitive solution of cleansing, when pure bath soaps fail (see in the world of the departed: Hygiene). Afterward, body lotions could be used to recondition cleansed skin, as would be used to treat dry skin.
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pelt has pigmentation, or melanin, provided by melanocytes, which suck in some of the potentially dangerous ultraviolet radiation (UV) in sunlight. It also contains DNA repair enzymes which help to turn topsy-turvy UV damage, and people who lack the genes for these enzymes bear up under domineering rates of skin cancer. One form predominantly produced by UV illume, malignant melanoma, is particularly invasive, causing it to spread quickly, and can often be deleterious. Human skin pigmentation varies among populations in a affecting manner. This has led to the classification of people(s) on the basis of skin color.

Mammalian skin often contains hairs, which in sufficient density is called fur. The hair mainly skin care serves to augment the insulation the skin provides, but can too answer as a secondary sexual characteristic or as camouflage. On some animals, the skin is very hard and thick, and can be processed to create leather. Reptiles and fish have hard protective scales on their skin for protection, and birds have laborious plumage, all made of tough -keratins. Amphibian skin is not a strong barrier to passage of chemicals and is often subject to osmosis. A frog sitting in an anesthetic solution could quickly go to sleep.

The pelt is often known as the largest organ of the human body. This applies to exterior superficies, as it covers the body, appearing to have the largest surface area of total the organs. Moreover, it applies to weight, as it weighs more than any single internal organ, accounting for about 15 percent of material substance weight. as being the average adult human, the skin has a surface area of between 1.5-2.0 square meters (16.1-21.5 sq ft.), most of it is between 2-3 mm (0.10 inch) thick. The average square inch (6.5 cm?) of skin holds 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 60,000 melanocytes, and more than a thousand nerve endings.