Skin Health
Skin
The skin is the largest organ of the human body designed to protect us from the environment and helps detoxify the body from unnecessary toxins. What you apply to your skin such as cosmetics and skin care can change the structure of your skin and stop it from performing very important jobs. Any water or alcohol based product will absorbs into the deepest layers of the skin and finally into the blood.
The skin needs to breathe and sweat 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If you stop the skins process from performing these functions the sweating of toxins will turn inward and most likely cause lung, liver, and blood disorders. It is best to read all labels of any products you apply to your skin or place in your bath water. If you cannot pronounce the name of any ingredients you may want to do the research before using the product. Many products also disguise themselves as natural and non toxic by stating on the label herbal formula or something similar, when in fact if you read the ingredients you will find the herbal ingredients along the side of the toxic or synthetic ones. It is also important to view the inactive ingredients. We find it interesting that something can be labeled inactive. Inactive means no effect on a substance absorption or metabolism. How can anything you swallow not be absorbed? The only way a substance cannot be absorbed is if it never leaves your stomach or bypasses the small intestines, which neither is possible.
So what does our skin tell us about our health? Our skin reveals our general health and internal aging. Our skin may show wrinkles which are a sign of internal dehydration and a lack of fatty acids. Wrinkles can also be related to an elasticity or collagen disorder. Rashes are usually toxins or allergies which can come from food, environment, constipation, liver disorders, drugs, and vitamins that are not recognized as nutritional supplements. Use your skin as the windows to view the inside of your body. Learning how to read the skin will help you prevent and resolve many serious health problems.
Skin Cancer
Discussing skin cancer, which is the number one cancer in the US, helps to validate much of the information above. How many more times are you going to cut away your shield of armor that protects you from the environment? Sooner or later that cancer is going to learn that coming to the surface is not a smart thing to do and turn inward where it no longer can be seen or cut away. This is where the real damage starts to take place. You ignore the warning that the body is telling you by placing that cancer right on your face. The next step after you have it cut away or removed some other way is to figure out why does it have to show up on your face? The face is the most obvious place you will pay attention to. Vanity will not allow otherwise. So we know that the skin is just a window to what is happening inside our bodies. This means we need to discover what might be causing the skin problem and how to prevent and treat it. If we only treat it, most likely it will return like history has proven over and over again. The next step is your physician has instructed you to get the highest SPF sun block you can buy and lather in on every part of your body that is revealed to the sun. This is the sun that keeps the planet and human existence alive. So does the sun keep us alive or is it killing us? What do Australia and the US have in common when it comes to the number of cases of skin cancer? Australia and the US lead in the number of new case of skin cancer each year. Australia and the US also use more sun block then all other countries combined. So if these 2 countries are doing everything possible to prevent sun cancer, then why do they both have the highest numbers of cases in the world?
Sunblocks and Sunscreens
Sunscreens are the most popular at the moment. Available in creams, lotions and gels, they contain chemicals that absorb UV rays. They are also inconspicuous on the skin. The chemicals that are most often found in sunscreens include PABA, Benzophenones, Cinnamates, Salicylates.
Sunblocks, instead of absorbing UV rays, reflect them. At one time sunblocks could be spotted by the opaque white film, but new technology has created sunblocks with particles so tiny, that the opaque film is no longer noticeable. Chemicals most common in sunblocks include Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
We learned earlier in this article that anything you apply to your skin with that is water or alcohol based will fully absorb into your blood. Research has also taught us that UV rays are very dangerous to our bodies. Now the sunscreen absorbs the UV rays and the sunscreen get absorbed into our bodies. I wonder what the body does with those UV rays. Listen closely to what your skin cancer is telling you. Not to complicate thing further but the ingredients in most Sunscreens are dangerous. Beside some of them being carcinogenic, the Cinnamates stimulate cell proliferation in MCF-7 cells which are a well-characterized estrogen receptor. So for the past 50 years women had to suffer and die from using safe scientifically proven Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) which is now proven very dangerous. The cosmetic chemical companies release sunscreens that contain dangerous chemicals;however, being that there are plenty of humans to go around makes it ok to produce for profit. View our Skin Product Chemicals article by clicking on the link at the end of this article for more information.
Sunblocks, besides that facts that they are full of metals, reflect the UV rays. That definitely sounds better, we just hope they are reflecting into the earth and not onto your friend or family member lying next to you wearing the UV absorbing sunscreen. If this is the case you may want to give them a lesson in safe sunbathing as there are all natural and effective non-synthetic chemical free sunscreens available to you.
The skin is the largest organ of the integumentary system, made up of multiple layers of epithelial tissues that guard underlying muscles and organs. Skin pigmentation (see: human skin color or coloring) varies among populations, and skin type can range from dry skin to oily skin.
The adjective cutaneous literally means "of the skin" (from Latin cutis, skin).
Because it interfaces with the environment, skin plays a very important role in protecting (the body) against pathogens. Its other functions are insulation, temperature regulation, sensation, synthesis of vitamin D, and the protection of vitamin B folates.
Severely damaged skin will try to heal by forming scar tissue. This is often discolored and depigmented.
The use of natural or synthetic cosmetics to treat the appearance of the face and condition of the skin (such as pore control and black head cleansing) is common among many cultures. Oily skin is caused by hormonal fluctuations. This leads to a DHT sensitivity. This abnormal sensitivity causes the skin to lose moisture and essential fatty acids (linoleic acid in particular). When thousands of skin cells die the skin compensates for this loss of moisture by producing higher levels of oil. Oily skin can be cleaned quickly with a mild solution of detergent, when pure bath soaps fail (see below: Hygiene). Afterward, body lotions could be used to recondition cleansed skin, as would be used to treat dry skin.
Skin Performs the Following Functions:
Protection: an anatomical barrier from pathogens and damage between the internal and external environment in bodily defense; Langerhans cells in the skin are part of the adaptive immune system
Sensation: contains a variety of nerve endings that react to heat and cold, touch, pressure, vibration, and tissue injury; see somatosensory system and haptics.
Heat regulation: the skin contains a blood supply far greater than its requirements, which allows precise control of energy loss by radiation, convection and conduction. Dilated blood vessels increase perfusion and heat loss while constricted vessels greatly reduce cutaneous blood flow and conserve heat. Erector pili muscles are significant in animals.
Control of Evaporation: the skin provides a relatively dry and impermeable barrier to fluid loss. Loss of this function contributes to the massive fluid loss in burns.
Aesthetics and Communication: others see our skin and can assess our mood, physical state and attractiveness.
Storage and Synthesis: acts as a storage center for lipids and water, as well as a means of synthesis of vitamin D by action of UV on certain parts of the skin.
Excretion: sweat contains urea, however its concentration is 1/130th that of urine, hence excretion by sweating is at most a secondary function to temperature regulation.
Absorption: Oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide can diffuse into the epidermis in small amounts, some animals using their skin for their sole respiration organ. In addition, medicine can be administered through the skin, by ointments or by means of adhesive patch, such as the nicotine patch or iontophoresis. The skin is an important site of transport in many other organisms.
Water Resistance: The skin acts as a water resistant barrier so essential nutrients aren't washed out of the body.
