Skin protected from harsh environments

It makes sure that loss of water from our body is kept at a minimum as well. Additionally, our skin is an immunological barrier. Any negative influences that can penetrate the skin from the outside are eliminated by our immune system. In this sense, the immune system in our skin can be considered to be a backup system for the skin’s function as a physical barrier. The skin is the largest organ of our body. For adults its size is 1.5 m2 to 2.0 m2 on average, it weighs about 9 kg and has a medium thickness of 2.5 mm. Compared to all the other organs in our body, the skin is not only by far the biggest, but also the most tested, by external as well as internal processes in the body. Apart from this, the skin also plays an eminent role in maintaining thermal balance in our body. When our body warms up, perspiration begins and we see an increase in microcirculation. However, when the environmental temperature decreases, the skin also plays a central role for our body to maintain its temperature. Thus, when the environmental temperature decreases, the skin is ‘sacrificed’.

Body temperature conservation – sacrifices skin has to make

Skin microcirculation plays a central role in the skin’s functioning as a key organ in maintaining our body’s thermal balance. The cutaneous microvasculature is vast and primarily focused on thermoregulation of the body (Fig. 1). Secondly the cutaneous microvasculature leads to the supply of nutrients to the skin cells and plays an additional role in the immune reactions in the skin. At room temperature, the cutaneous microcirculation amounts to about 450 mL/min, representing about 8.5% of the total blood flow in our body. Under these circumstances the skin temperature is ideal for functioning normally as a physical and immunological barrier. When the external temperature decreases, maintaining thermal balance in our body ensures that the skin continues to function properly. Our body, logically, ‘decides’ that it is important to maintain a sufficient core temperature, and the skin is ‘sacrificed’ in the sense that the cutaneous microcirculation is decreased to 30 mL/min on average. This leads to the skin cell becoming undernourished and a general temperature loss of the skin, which in turn results in an immunological imbalance and a loss in barrier function, for example.