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The skin is the largest organ in the human body, and the first line of defense against harmful environmental irritants. Throughout your life, your skin is exposed to radiation, chemicals, and pollutants that wreak havoc on the cells in your epidermis. Internally, your diet and nutrition, hydration, lifestyle, and the natural aging process work on damaging the inner layer, your dermis. As time passes, the components of your skin lose their youthful ability to combat these problems and replenish the damaged tissues, and the result is aging - fine lines, wrinkles, splotchiness, dryness, dullness, and so on.

The good news is that no matter your age, there are things that can be done to prevent and treat skin aging. From drinking water and eating right, to Botox and chemical peels, the skin is now treatable in a way that it never before has been.

First and foremost, one should understand the structure and function of the tissues that make up the skin. The skin, or the Integumentary system, is much more than just an outer layer of cells. Muscles, hair, glands, pigmentation, layering, and keratin are all ingredients in the organ we simplify as skin.

SKIN FUNCTION
The skin has five major functions. It is an organ of protection, shielding the internal body parts from abrasion, UV light, dehydration, and microorganisms. In this way, the skin acts as part of the immune system. It is also an organ of sensation - the receptors in the skin respond to hot, cold, pressure, and pain. The skin produces Vitamin D when exposed to UV light, regulates temperature via blood flow and sweat production, and excretes bodily waste.

SKIN ANATOMY
The skin's most internal layer is the hypodermis, the layer that is attached to bone and muscle and supplied directly with blood and nerves. This is sometimes referred to as subcutaneous skin. The subcutaneous is rich in fat, and helps pad and insulate the body.

Above the hypodermis is the dermis, and finally the outermost portion, the epidermis. The dermis has fewer fat cells than the hypodermis, contains collagen and elastic fibers that help give the skin structural strength, and projects blood vessels into the outermost epidermis to help remove waste products, supply nutrients, and regulate temperature.

The epidermis has its youngest cells above the dermis, and the oldest cells are at the surface of the skin. The older cells are continually sloughed off, and protect the younger cells underneath. Cells fill with a protein known as Keratin which changes

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