• Question: Can you restore skin cells, if so how?

    Asked by Lilybug005 to David, Eva, Kate, Nicholas, Rachel on 11 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Rachel McMullan

      Rachel McMullan answered on 11 Nov 2015:

      Hi Lilybug
      Your skin is made up of lots of layers. The cells on the surface of your skin are essentially dead but the ones in the bottom layers can divide to replace the dead ones. That’s why even though skin cells are constantly being lost from your body and becoming dust our skin doesn’t disappear, it’s constantly being replaced. As we get older this process doesn’t work quite so well which is one of the reasons why old people have thinner skin. In some special cases, like when you cut or burn yourself, the skin cells that can divide are the ones that will heal your wound.

    • Photo: David Nunan

      David Nunan answered on 13 Nov 2015:

      Hi,

      The skin is actually an organ and is one of the few organs that can regenerate its cells (the liver being another one).

      We lose about 40,000 skin cells every MINUTE, which is about 50 million cells a day and about 4 kg of skin will be shed in 1 year! These cells are therefore constantly replaced to help maintain the waterproof and protective layer over our muscles, tendons and bones.

    • Photo: Nicholas Pearce

      Nicholas Pearce answered on 17 Nov 2015:

      Hey,

      Your skin is always restoring itself as the layer on the outside wears out. You can even grow more skin if you need it to heal cuts and scrapes.
      Sadly the skin is one of the only parts of the body that can restore itself.

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