– where does skin in your body stop being skin? Is the roof of the mouth skin? The back of the throat? How does skin attach and transition to non-skin flesh?
In: 2793
Skin turns into epithelial cells that line your digestive tract, which is basically just one long tube…imho, we’re just one big worm with a bunch of extra organs and limbs.
It depends on how you define “skin”.
If skin means the epidermis and derma then no, it’s only on the “outside”.
If skin means epithelial tissue, which is one of the most important types of tissues in our body, then yes, all of the organs that comunicate with the outside are covered in epithelial tissue.
The difference being that the epidermis is a type of epithelial tissue that specialized to cover the “outside” of the body (“outside” because as others already explained, some regions inside the volume of your body are actually considered outside too). The epidermis has different functions from the inner tissue, like thermoregulation, sensitivity (or sensibility, i can never remember which one it is) and protection against pathogens and damaging substances.
The inner epithelial tissues, such as mucosae have other functions depending on the specific case. For example the mucosa in the nose and trachea prepares the air for the lungs: it warms, cleans and humidify the air because the lungs can only work in certain conditions of temperature and humidity. The tissue in your mouth is specialized to feel taste and not be damaged by the saliva, which is slightly acidic. The tissue in your stomach is even more resistant, as there are glands that produce acid for the gastric juice. And finally the tissue in your intestines is specialized in absorbing water and nutrients.
As you can see these tissue all have different functions and are actually physically different: if you look at them under a microscope you can distinguish the various types of epithelial tissue as they all look different.
So yeah, you skin and the tissues i listed are all epithelial tissue, but they’re all different per se.
In the area where they border (for example on the lips) there’s simply a transition, more or less sudden, between one and the other.
This is obviously over simplified for the sake of this thread, but these are the basics.
Source: med school
So people have the main thing covered, but it’s worth knowing that our bodies are GREAT at making chemical gradients. Like “industrial processes can’t come close” levels of organizing stuff into more and less of one thing or another. There isn’t, for instance, a defined layer at which your fingernails stop being flesh and become nails.
So to answer your question, there’s different skin configurations that become less skin and more whatever else (mucus membrane, soft tissue) over a gradient of layers until they’re that other thing
The skin on your body stops at your mucous membranes. Mucous membranes are found in your mouth, nose, and throat. They are also found in your reproductive organs and in your anus and rectum. The mucous membranes produce mucus, which is a thick, wet substance that helps to keep your body tissues moist. The mucous membranes also have tiny hair-like structures called cilia. The cilia help to move the mucus and keep it from getting too thick.
This is related to the question whether a straw has one hole or two. Your mouth and anus are just two ends of one hole.
Latest Answers