Photo Gallery: Skin

Epidermis

Photograph by Andrew Syred/Science Photo Library

Seen here in a scanning electron micrograph, the epidermis is a tough coating formed from overlapping layers of dead skin cells, which continually slough off and are replaced with cells from the living layers beneath. The epidermis is the outermost of three layers that make up the skin.

Skin Colors

Photograph by Sarah Leen

Students from the Washington International Primary School in Washington, D.C., form a human rainbow of skin coloration. Melanin, a pigment, determines the color of skin and protects humans from the sun's ultraviolet rays.

Albino Woman

Photograph by Robert Clark

Pale, milky skin, flaxen hair, and light irises are indicative of albinism, as in this African-American woman. One in 17,000 Americans are albinos, and their lack of the pigment melanin leaves them defenseless against the sun's cancer-causing ultraviolet rays.

Testing Skin Resilience

Photograph by Sarah Leen

Braving 22-mile-an-hour (35-kilometer-an-hour) winds at minus 40°F (minus 40°C), a test subject participates in skin reaction experiments at Defence R&D Canada in Toronto. Researchers there subjected test participants to a variety of simulated weather conditions to test how long it takes skin to become frostbitten.

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Freckles

Photograph by Sarah Leen

Australian lifeguard Brad Power bares his freckled back in Scarborough Beach, Australia. Freckles are deposits of melanin that develop on the skin, especially after sun exposure.

Melanomas

Photograph by Sarah Leen

Each adhesive dot on former Banbury, Australia, lifeguard Don Bennewith represents a removed melanoma. Melanomas are malignant tumors that begin as pigmented moles and are caused by excessive sun exposure. Due to their generally fair skin and Australia's high levels of UV radiation, Aussies have some of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world.

Skin-Tissue Culture

Photograph by Jean Claude Revy-ISM/Phototake USA

A researcher handles a skin tissue culture. Surgeons once grafted pigskin onto burn wounds as a temporary bandage. These days they use human skin tissue taken from another part of the body or skin substitutes engineered from synthetics or other materials such as cow collagen or shark cartilage.

Skin Transplant

Photograph by Phanie/Photo Researchers Inc.

A surgeon prepares to transplant skin at a burn victim care center. Skin grafts and transplants help reduce infection and fluid loss (which burn patients with extensive skin loss are especially susceptible to), but transplants carry several risks, including bleeding, infection, and rejection of the graft.

Botox Injection

Photograph by Sarah Leen

Thirtysomething Kelly Curtis braces for an injection of muscle-paralyzing Botox, a popular treatment for aging skin. Americans spend over 300 million dollars annually injecting themselves with botulinum toxin, a poisonous substance that, when used in minute doses, temporarily smoothes wrinkles. It is also used to treat extreme muscle spasms.

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Henna-Painted Hands

Photograph by Paule Seux

Beyond providing armor, insulation, and air-conditioning, skin has long served as a canvas for cultural expression. Here, a woman in Srinagar, Kashmir, displays her henna-painted hands, illustrating one of skin's greatest roles: human canvas for the artistic and the spiritual.