Did you know your skin is the largest organ of your body? It weighs around 8 lbs and is 22 square feet in most people. My whole body is not quite 8 lbs! Skin provides a barrier to water and heat loss, prevents infections and synthesizes Vitamin D. But skin has different properties depending on where on the body it is. The eyelid skin is the thinnest, only 0.5 mm thick, while the skin on the soles of the feet is 4mm thick- that’s 8 times thicker.
Another difference is the rate of skin renewal. New skin cells are constantly being made in the deeper layer of the epidermis, migrate to the surface, die and slough off. In babies, skin is replaced by new skin in 14 days, for those over 50 it takes 40-80 days. In addition, skin on the face tends to have a faster turnover rate than other areas such as neck or arms. Daily use of quality skin care products combined with treatments such as chemical peels, microneedling, and lasers can increase the rate of renewal, reduce the thickness of the outer layer of dead cells and thicken the dermis by stimulating collagen and elastin. Improvement from treatments takes longer in the neck and arms compared with the face, but it is worth it.
I enjoy extensive exfoliation of my chest and belly skin with vigorous daily raspy tongue baths; that’s my microdermabrasion. 