-DR. ARVIND DUBEY
Skin is the largest organ of our body– it protects,
regulates temperature, provides oil and transmits sensations-but, still, often,
the skin is given step-motherly treatment by us! We abuse it with neglect and rough treatment.
You are gifted with a unique covering for your body viz.
skin. When you encounter any noxious
stimulus, it is the skin which faces it first. On entering a warm or cold room,
it is the skin which finds it pleasant or intolerable. It is self-sufficient
and can repair all wear and tear by itself provided it is healthy. It is always with you, walking or sleeping,
working or resting, all through your life.
The total skin in an adult could weigh up to 6 pounds . It
is made up of 2 main layers- Epidermis and Dermis, which in them are made up of
several layers. The outer layers are hard and horny and the inner ones are
soft. The horny layer of skin, forms
nails, over the fingers.
On the fingertips and on the palms, parallel ridges can be seen which
form patterns of fine lines. Rows of
tiny swellings or papillae are found with ends of nerves and loops of tiny
blood carrying capillaries. The size of
these capillaries is controlled by the nerves, which respond to changes in
temperature.
There are several glands found in the skin but the important ones are
the sweat and oil secreting glands. The
sweat glands play an important role in maintaining body temperature. The oil glands open into pits from which the
hairs grow. Oil secreted by these glands
makes skin soft and keeps it from drying.
ROSY CHEEKS:
NATURE’S GIFT
Rosiness of cheeks and skin depends on the number and arrangement of the
blood vessels, the thinness of outer layer of skin and the quality of
blood. A thin outer layer permits the
colour of the tiny blood vessels to be seen through it. Tiny grains of brown or
reddish yellow colouring material or pigment are buried in the inner layers of
the epidermis. In light coloured
persons, the amount of this pigment is lesser than in the dark complexioned. Primarily,
the amount of pigment in the skin is determined by heredity, though this
pigment may vary greatly with exposure to sunlight.
CLEANLINESS OF THE
SKIN
Cleanliness helps to maintain a good complexion and improve personal
appearance. To be clean is not only
healthy but it makes one more attractive to others.
Baths-
- Ordinarily one
thinks of a bath only as a means to clean the skin but it provides more
advantages. It soothes the nerves
and tones up the muscles or relaxes them.
By stimulating the skin, a bath speeds up the circulation of the
blood.
- Correct
bathing at the right time improves health. The water should be at or a little above
body temperature. The warm water
dilates blood vessels and the blood is diverted away from the brain to
skin, often making one feel comfortably sleepy. Such a bath is best taken at bed-time.
- A hot bath,
with water above body temperature should be taken only when one is
chilled. The warmer the water used
for a bath, the more necessary is the protection against chilling after
the bath. Otherwise, the bath may
do more harm than good.
- Bathing with
cold- water first contracts the blood vessels in the skin; so the blood is
diverted to internal organs. It
acts as a powerful tonic to the skin and makes one feel alert. The cold bath can also train the blood
vessels to respond quickly to changes in temperature. So, healthy people who take cold baths
regularly are generally more hardy and less susceptible to cold a chill
than others who do not.
- The cold bath
should be followed by a reaction in which the surface blood vessels dilate
again, so that the skin becomes warm and glowing. Brisk rubbing with a dry and rough towel
will help to secure this reaction.
- A bath should
not be taken within an hour after eating. During this period digestive
organs need more blood .So it is unwise to disturb circulation at this
time. A bath should always precede
a visit to your doctor for physical examination and follow a vigorous
exercise.
- The face and
hands should be washed many times in a day and especially in the morning
and evening. Persons with oily
skins should use a lot of soap and water.
When washing the face, do not neglect the back of the neck and the
area behind the ears.
Use of soap
- For those who
always insist that old is gold, the soap may seem useless or even harmful
for the skin. This is not really
true. Soap is made up of oil and
alkali. The lesser the amount of
alkali, the milder the soap but the lesser is the cleansing action. A mild soap, makes enough lather on
application and does not irritate the skin, can be used.
- Soap coming
for the first time in the market from a non-reputed company should not be
tried easily. Highly coloured or scented soap should be avoided because in
such soaps the colours and odours are often used to mask ingredients which
should not be tolerated even in laundry soap!
- Contrary to
belief, no medicine put into soap, can give it a special advantage over an
ordinary mild soap of good quality.
Similarly, the benefits of glycerin, lime, lemon, lanolin, etc is
questionable ; at times these may be harmful.
- Some
manufacturers claim that their soap is better for oily skin; it is at
times a baseless claim. Any soap
having even a mild cleaning action (which soap always has) is able to
remove that minute quality of so called, “excess oil” from the skin.
- Due to some
misconceptions, especially in the middle income group, the harder soaps
containing more alkali or even laundry soaps are used to clean the hair
and scalp. This results in hair
loss. Ideally, good mild shampoos
should be used. Some mild soap
used for bathing can also serve as an alternative to shampoo.
Use of bath oil
This is a greatly misunderstood topic.
Usually bath oil is applied before the bath, or sometimes mixed in the
bath water. In both the conditions, it
is of no use. It only increases the soap
price and increases the lather produced by it. Bath
MASSAGE OF THE SKIN
Massaging of skin plays an important role in maintaining its youth
especially after 35 years of age. The
movement of the fingers in this process should be from down upwards for the
face massage. This maintains the tone and
circulation in facial muscles and prevents appearance of wrinkles. This fact is true for the skin of arms and
any other part of the body too.
COSMETICS AND SKIN
- It has been
estimated that during the period in which the population of our country
has doubled, the sale of cosmetics has gone up 15 times. To the public, cosmetics are artificial
aids to charm. While ordinarily, no
harm should result from the moderate use of cosmetics (provided these are
not cheap); no real benefit to the health of skin is derived.
- Girls
misguided by advertisements often ruin a good, clear, natural skin with
the unwise use of cosmetics. At
best, the use of cosmetics can attempt to imitate the natural hues of a
healthy complexion. It must not be
forgotten the shutting out the sun rays with cosmetics may actually mar
the skin and therefore the complexion less healthy.
- However, there
are few ingredients which are present in cheaper or sometimes even in good
quality cosmetics, can cause allergic conditions.
- There is no
substitution for the healthy hair, white teeth and clear, firm complexion
which come from a proper diet, rest, exercise and optimistic mind. A good complexion cannot be bought from
a box or a bottle.
SUNLIGHT AND SKIN
Sunlight induces some kind of a chemical reaction in the skin. .
Usually, it causes tanning of the skin but in few susceptible persons,
it may lead to sunburn. In our country,
tanning is not needed. In fact, it is
difficult to avoid the darkening of the complexion especially for those who
work in the sun. A cream containing
‘SUNSCREEN’ should be used to avoid darkening of the skin.
ROLE OF GOOD DIET
AND EXERCISE IN SKIN HEALTH
Good diet, good sleep and exercise can be called, “real cosmetics.” A good protein-rich diet with added vitamins
and minerals, especially of the B-complex group, keeps skin charming, lively
and healthy. Early to bed and early to
rise with sound sleep of not less than 8 hours keeps wrinkled eyes away and the
skin healthy. Similarly, a routine mild
exercise maintains adequate blood circulation in the skin and keeps it fresh
and glowing.
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