Humans, as well as other organisms, are capable of repairing such UV-induced damages by the process of nucleotide excision repair. It forms a protective barrier over the body's surface, responsible for keeping water in the body and preventing pathogens from entering, and is a stratified squamous epithelium, [11] composed of proliferating basal and differentiated suprabasal keratinocytes. Sensation: contains a variety of nerve endings that jump to heat and cold, touch, pressure, vibration, and tissue injury (see somatosensory system and haptic perception). The epidermis is the thinnest layer in your skin, but it's responsible for protecting you from the harsh environment. These cells serve a sensory function as mechanoreceptors for light touch, and are most populous in fingertips, though also found in the palms, soles, oral, and genital mucosa.

Instead, the color of the skin is largely due to chromatophores in the dermis, which, in addition to melanin, may contain guanine or carotenoid pigments. Storage and synthesis: acts as a storage centre for lipids and water, as well as a means of synthesis of vitamin D by action of UV on certain parts of the skin. Adaptation to the land: The skin of reptiles in comparison to that of amphibians and endotherm amniotes". It also contains DNA repair enzymes that help reverse UV damage, such that people lacking the genes for these enzymes have high rates of skin cancer. The provider will aim a specialized laser beam at the lesion, heating up the skin pigments until they burst and can be carried away by the immune system.Thermoregulation: Eccrine ( sweat) glands and dilated blood vessels (increased superficial perfusion) aid heat loss, while constricted vessels greatly reduce cutaneous blood flow and conserve heat.

DVM Center for Comparative Medicine and Department of Pathology Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas . Camouflage, whether the skin is naked or covered in fur, scales, or feathers, skin structures provide protective coloration and patterns that help to conceal animals from predators or prey. The NIH conducted the Human Microbiome Project to characterize the human microbiota which includes that on the skin and the role of this microbiome in health and disease. of the skin are "almost exclusively supplied by external oxygen", although the "contribution to total respiration is negligible") [28] Some medications are absorbed through the skin.It harbors many mechanoreceptors (nerve endings) that provide the sense of touch and heat through nociceptors and thermoreceptors.