Dermatology: Hair, Nails and Skin Conditions

Disabled World: Revised/Updated: 2018/11/04

Synopsis: List of dermatology conditions and articles examining diseases from the branch of medicine dealing with the nails hair and skin.

Main Document

Dermatology is defined as the branch of medicine dealing with the hair, nails, skin and its diseases. It is a specialty with both medical and surgical aspects.

Dermatologist: Takes care of diseases and cancers of the skin, scalp, hair, and nails.

Dermatosis (plural dermatoses): Defined as any disease of the skin, and, while thousands of skin disorders have been described, only a small number account for most visits to the doctor.

Immunodermatology: A specialist who specializes in the treatment of immune mediated skin diseases such as lupus, bullous pemphigoid, pemphigus vulgaris, and other immune mediated skin disorders. Specialists in this field often run their own immunopathology labs.

Skin Diseases

Skin conditions, also known as cutaneous conditions, are defined as any medical condition that affects the integumentary system - the organ system that encloses the human body and includes skin, hair, nails, and related muscle and glands.

Skin conditions that irritate, clog, or inflame your skin can cause symptoms such as redness, swelling, burning, and itching. Allergies, irritants, your genetic makeup, and certain diseases and immune system problems can cause dermatitis, hives, and other skin conditions. Many skin problems, such as acne, also affect your appearance. Your skin can also develop several kinds of cancers.

Research shows that a majority of skin diseases are caused by nutrient imbalances within the human body.

Skin disease usually entails specialized diagnostic processes linked to skin conditions, treatments and preventions of various skin diseases, and may involve treatments such as injected, externally applied, and internal medications, a variety of dermatologic surgical procedures, or cosmetic procedures like chemical peels, micro-dermabrasion, and sclerotherapy for conditions such as varicose veins.

Labeled skin illustration from Anatomy and Physiology, Connexions Web site. http://cnx.org/content/col11496/1.6/, Jun 19, 2013.

Human Skin Facts

• The skin renews itself every 28 days.
• Skin accounts for about 15% of your body weight.
• Changes in your skin can sometimes signal changes in your overall health.
• Dead skin comprises about a billion tons of dust in the earth's atmosphere.
• Your skin is its thickest on your feet (1.4mm) and thinnest on your eyelids (0.2mm).
• Your skin constantly sheds dead cells, about 30,000 to 40,000 cells every minute! That's nearly 9 lbs. per year!
• The average adult has approximately 21 square feet of skin, which weighs 9 lbs and contains more than 11 miles of blood vessels.
• The average person has about 300 million skin cells. A single square inch of skin has about 19 million cells and up to 300 sweat glands.

Further interesting facts regarding skin, as well as a fascinating list of unusual facts and trivia regarding other parts of the human body, can be found on our web page - Human Body Facts.

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