The Skin, Introduction

At long last, here it is, the beginning of my series on the skin! I've pulled together info from lots of different sources for this series, so it has taken a while. As well, since I didn't want to intrude on anyone's Copyrights, I started to draw my own pictures using pencils, markers and even crayons! Then, this was taking so incredibly long, I found some copyright free images from Wikipedia, so things have sped up somewhat.

Please remember that I am not a Dermatologist, I am a Pediatrician! Also, somewhat more important, I am not your doctor!

So, this series is meant for just general information, to better educate all of us about the skin's purpose and function. It is easier to research problems and products for our own skin when we have a basic understanding of what is happening and why this works. As well, you'll then be able to know that someone is giving you a line when they say that pores can open and close, because you'll know that this is anatomically not possible!

I've divided this project up into lots of parts, to make everything more digestible.
Part 1- Anatomy & Function: A basic overview of skin anatomy, and then separate posts going into each of the layers and parts, with discussion of the function of each of these parts
a) The Epidermis
b) The Dermis
c) The Subcutaneous Fat Layer
d) Sweat Glands/Pores
e) Hair Follicles
f) Nails

Part 2- Effects of Lotion & Cosmetics
a) Sunscreen
b) Retinoids
c) Peptides
d) Antioxidants
e) Hydroxy Acids

And a huge list of other posts that I have started to pull together, so many that I can't even mention them all here. However, I've started researching them, and there are so far about 20 or so posts in this series, and I'm sure that it will grow even more.

Resources that I've used to pull this series include (but this is certainly not a comprehensive list):
-Netter's Atlas of Anatomy
-Habif, Clinical Dermatology
-Fitzpatrick, Color atlas and Synopsis of Clinical Dermatology
-Clinics in Dermatology
-And of course my husband, who shall remain nameless. He is a Biomedical Engineering professor with a lab that focuses on extracellular architecture and interactions, including research on Melanoma (so, he's very familar with the skin and all this stuff!)
-Today's skin image